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Yap

Yap

Bec
2004-09-17 14:09:14

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was this interesting boat that had been transformed into a restaurant. I found it interesting because it reminded me how close Yap is to Indonesia where the first Yapese came from, possibly 4000 years ago.

I remembered seeing that same kind of sail powered ship in the old port of Batavia (part of Jakarta), in 1994 .

Colonia, the capital of Yap State is quite small with a population of not much more than 1000. On my second day, Mary from Bechiyal village came to pick me up for the 15 km drive to her home at the north end of Map Island.

Most Yapese still live in traditional thatched hut villages but some have built modern galvanised iron roofed houses like this one seen on the way to Bechiyal.

Bechiyal
On Yap most of the land is owned by clans or families rather than by individuals. In this small village, the clan had decided to build four huts like these for tourists to supplement their fishing and farming.

The tourist operation was run by James Gilgoofigir (son of the chief) and his wife Helen Matinag shown below with her daughter and another member of the clan The little girl was a darling but I forgot her name. Helen's blackened teeth are the result of constant betel nut chewing.

This village was organised to show something of the Yapese way of life to visiting tourists but it was not contrived and it was done with simplicity and real warmth. I loved it as you can tell from my smile below.

Once again I had the good fortune of meeting a fine bunch of people, Will from Washington DC, Avner from Israel, and Nuno from Switzerland.

Here is the chief's traditional house built on a raised stone platform called dayil. It is beautiful but he does not use it for he finds it more convenient to live in a smaller plywood and corrugated iron house with electricity and modern plumbing.

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