Well, it has been two weeks since Hong Kong and the USS Ronald Reagan has pulled in again in Guam (we flew in though)! Although two weeks really isn’t that long between port visits, the stop in Guam is a much needed one for the ship after all the hard work in the Philippines. Our Det flew into Guam though because we provided some hits to the boat right before they tied up. The intention was also to get some much needed training events for myself and another junior pilot in the Det, but that plan came to an abrupt halt when we found warped turbine blades in the engine of one of our planes. So, most of the time here in Guam has been spent changing out the engine on that plane (not an easy task, especially away from our home squadron).
Now back to Guam! Guam is a tiny little island in the Micronesian island chain which is east of the Philippines (barely visible at first glance on a map). It is a long haul here from pretty much everywhere. The island it self is like 232 square miles (don’t quote me on that), but needless to say, it is small. Most of the other islands in the Pacific that I have seen so far seem like little mountain peaks sticking out of the ocean, but Guam isn’t. For the most part is a little plateau that barely breaks the surface. Before I actually got here I pictured Guam to be like a little third world Hawaii. I was totally wrong (except about it being little…). Guam, if you didn’t know, is a U.S. territory that is highly commercialized. Besides the U.S. Air Force Base that is here, there is a Naval Base, a decent sized international airport and a bunch of resort style hotels lining the coast of Tumon Bay. Tumon Bay is on the northern coast of the island approximately in the center. About a dozen hotels look out over the pristine beaches on the bay. While I have gotten to look out over the beaches from my room in the Westin, I haven’t actually been able to get into the water since we have been working so much. I am told that the water is the perfect temperature though. Going on, there is a main drag down Tumon bay that follows the hotels. Along this stretch of road are a multitude of restaurants, bars and clubs. There is a major Japanese influence here so of there are a few sushi and ramen bars. I actually had my first fresh ramen (as opposed to the $.20 bags) and was very impressed, it is really good! There are a few Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese places as well. For our American tastes there is a TGI Fridays and a Hard Rock Café and I heard that there is a Planet Hollywood too (I didn’t expect that here in Guam…)! If you want to shop while you are in Guam don’t fear. It looks like Rodeo Drive in one part with designer stores on either side of the street. If you were to need any random thing while you were visiting you could stop at a Wal-Mart, or perhaps the worlds largest K-Mart for one stop shopping. Also, it appears to me that Guam natives love Guam as much as Texans love Texas. You can’t go anywhere around here without seeing “I Heart (the shape, not the word) Guam” printed on a tee shirt. I guess that is their thing here… Anyways, here are some random facts about Guam: the capital is Hagatna, the flower is the Bouganvilla (I don’t know what that is), the bird is the Ko’Ko, the native language is Chamorro, and the most commonly displayed phrase in Guam is “Hafa Adai!” (always with the exclamation point by the way) which means “Hello! How are you?”.
One interesting thing about Guam is that it is a major Japanese tourist destination. You couldn’t swing a dead cat (as my father in-law Bobby would say) without hitting a Japanese tourist. I have heard Guam called “a poor mans Hawaii”. Evidently it is a cheaper vacation from Japan to Guam than to Hawaii, which I can believe. Anyways, since a large majority of the tourists here are Japanese, Guam really caters to them. There are billboards written in Japanese all over the place and at the bottom of our hotel the cab stand is written completely in Japanese. Also there are a ton of gun ranges…. I guess Japanese people love to shoot guns, but not just pistols and rifles, they like to break out the sub machine guns (just like in the movies). You can shoot an Uzi, a Mack-10 or a Dirty Harry style 45-Magnum revolver on about every street corner in Guam. Every taxi has an ad for a gun range in it….Strange… I just thought it was sort of funny. I haven’t gotten to spend much time in Japan so far, but I am interested to see if Japan is anything like this! Haha.
Well, that is pretty much it for Guam. We have been here once before and now we are about to depart it for the second time. It has been and experience for sure! Please be sure to check out the pictures listed above! There will be more blogs to come!
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