pelled to show the enemy that the cost of invading the Japanese mainland would prove to be unacceptably high. Their men were ordered to fight to the death.
A loud blast shook the ground and we involuntarily leapt. One of the thousands of old bombs still strewn about had spontaneously exploded. For a moment the blast seemed to tangibly connect us with the rusting helmets, canteens and cooking pots still piled about in cave entrances.
But times have changed. Young tourists with tatoos and navel rings come here intent only on sun and fun. Today Peleliu is better known in some circles for its local strain of cannabis.
We returned to Belau's main town of Koror to pick up the vital generator part air freighted in from our son in the States, glad to have a replacement for the one Michael had desperately fabricated from Marine-tex in the Philippines. Had he not been successful we would have lost our full freezer of food.
  A final car excursion took us to northern Babeldoab, the largest island of the Belau group. At the magnificent Bai of Melekeok, authentic in every detail, we studied the symbols decorating gable, walls, and rafters and the story telling carvings.
We continued on to the ancient site of Badrulchau.  Thirty-seven monoliths stand there, a double row of stone pillars weighing up to five tons oriented north and south and notched to take floor joists. With sweeping views along the coast make the site a great lookout. Carved stone faces, their basalt

features almost totally obliterated, mark the perimeter. The history of the stones has been lost, but pottery shards reveal them to have been placed there by the 1^st century B.C, if not before.
Stone heads, called Klidm, are hidden all over Babeldoab, but a goodly number were defaced when the Japanese tried to introduced the compelled to show the enemy that the cost of invading the Japanese mainland would prove to be unacceptably high. Their men were ordered to fight to the death.
A loud blast shook the ground and we involuntarily leapt. One of the thousands of old bombs still strewn about had spontaneously exploded. For a moment the blast seemed to tangibly connect us with the rusting helmets, canteens and cooking pots still piled about in cave entrances.
But times have changed. Young tourists with tatoos and navel rings come here intent only on sun and fun. Today Peleliu is better known in some circles for its local strain of cannabis.
We returned to Belau's main town of Koror to pick up the vital generator part air freighted in from our son in the States, glad to have a replacement for the one Michael had desperately fabricated from Marine-tex in the Philippines. Had he not been successful we would have lost our full freezer of food.
  A final car excursion took us to northern Babeldoab, the largest island of the Belau group. At the magnificent Bai of Melekeok, authentic in every detail, we studied the symbols decorating gable, walls, and rafters and the story telling carvings.
We continued on to the ancient site of Badrulchau.  Thirty-