Jmorg's World Tour '08 (and now '09!!!): Finally, a new post!

It has been a while since my last blog, and for good reason... We have been working our butts off! Shortly after leaving port in Hong Kong we were assigned, by the President himself, to render humanitarian aid to the Republic of the Philippines. We actually left Hong Kong a day early so that we might circumvent the storm. I am sure you all probably heard about Typhoon Frank (I can’t remember the Philippine translation) and the devastation it brought there. The storm caused a ferryboat with 600 passengers and 200 crew members to capsize leaving only a few survivors. It also created some high winds and flooding, washing away many homes and buildings adding at least 600 more people to the death toll. This was evident as we flew over the coastline, as many homes were in shambles and there was debris covering the coastline. We worked hand in hand with the Philippine government to provide food, water and engineering expertise to their citizens. It was a very rewarding experience for me personally, but I think everybody else involved probably has a sense of pride for having helped out. Our squadron was largely responsible for carrying bottled water, rice and medical supplies. Once on the ground we (pilots too!) would help unload the goods and reload (onto helos) whatever might need to go to another location. It was really neat seeing pilots and aircrew from not only our squadron, but the helo squadrons as well, working hand in hand with Philippine Air Force and Army troops. The whole process was very complicated and sometimes confusing and stressful, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything! There is a lot of satisfaction to be had in lending a hand to people in need.

Let me get back to Hong Kong now!

This visit, along with every other place I have been to so far (we, COD guys, have been to some other places, but they will remain nameless for now), has been completely new to me. This was the Reagan’s first port call of deployment. We parked the ship out in the bay and local water taxis worked day and night trucking people to and from the boat. I must say that our parking spot could have been closer (in my opinion) seeing as though it was a 40-minute commute through the always choppy water to the pier, but the view from the ship was worth a million bucks. I will be sure to include the new pics with the link! You could see the entire HK skyline from the deck of the carrier and it sure was a sight to see. There were skyscrapers as far as the eye could see and they were all sandwiched between mountains and the harbor. Pretty cool! Anyways, we rode the liberty boats ashore and proceeded to set up shop at the JW Marriott (highly recommended by the way!). The view from our room was awesome as well. The first night there we ate dinner at a Chicago bar and grill downstairs in the mall below the hotel. Now, I know what you are thinking… We went all the way to Hong Kong and then ate at an American restaurant? Yup, we did. Haha. Hong Kong is actually very “Americanized”. The way I understand is that the British were in control of it until 1998 when China took over. Almost everything is printed in both Chinese and English. Besides the currency difference (they use Hong Kong dollars there) I didn’t really feel too out of place. The only language barrier came when we had to deal with the taxi cab drivers, who don’t speak very good English. We managed to get by though. Getting back to our night, we then proceeded to the nightlife district and met up with the rest of Carrier Airwing Fourteen! It was as if the whole ships crew was invading the city! Although nobody was in uniform, it was not hard to pick out the Navy personnel clogging the streets. I, and presumably the rest of the boat, enjoyed myself the first night in HK! The next morning we treated ourselves to room service for breakfast. The JW Marriott is top notch. I ate quite possibly one of the tastiest meals ever while sitting in my boxers! After finishing up breakfast we decided to trek over to Stanley Market. It was a large indoor/outdoor swap meet over the mountains from Hong Kong. It was only a 20 minute cab ride away (only like $15 American, cabs are cheap there!) from the waterfront. There was a lot of cool stuff for sale there. A lot of nick knacks and trinkets and Chinese memorabilia, but I really didn’t buy much there. In hind sight I probably should have found something for my wife….. Sorry Shannon! We rapped up the afternoon and headed back to the hotel. That night we ate dinner in the restaurant at the bottom of the hotel. I don’t remember the name, but it was a formal Chinese place. We had some interesting food there. Suckling pig, shark fin soup (which cost Ben like $70), jellyfish, etc. That was my first taste of true Chinese cuisine and I must say that I like the American version of Chinese food better. Maybe if I had more time to try out some of the authentic foods I would have enjoyed them more…. Later that night was more of the same, back out to see the nightlife. The next day (my last day in port it turned out) we headed up to see Victoria’s peak. It was awesome! After a little sightseeing trip in the cab (not intentional) we were dropped off at the base of the peak where we boarded a train car, which took us to the top. The track at one point was 45 degrees up. I was rather concerned that we would lose our momentum and fall back down to the bottom, but we didn’t! The top of the peak had big observatory buildings that looked out over all of Hong Kong and also back over the other side of the mountain. It was very scenic and I got plenty of pics, so please check them out! We then proceeded back to the hotel for another American dinner at the Chicago joint! That night I was very privileged to be able to serve as a “Boat-O” (otherwise know as “boat officer”). All the pilots in the airwing stand a watch on the liberty boats while the boat is in port. We get to make sure all the drunken sailors get back to the ship in one piece. I was lucky that my watch was on the third night and that most of our patrons were already “partied out”. I only had one girl puke while I was on the boat and she made it to the side under her own power, so there was no cleanup on my part! All in all, Hong Kong was a great experience for me. I am very fortunate to have such a great job! I am finally getting to experience the Navy and the world!