Guam

Guam - where greetings by handshake or kiss cannot compare to a friendly leg massage.

Island Life

The island flavor was very similar to Hawaii. 

Guam was great becuase I have family on the island. My cousin Aaron has lived there for a couple years workin and enjoying the island. This is the view from the front door of his place. 

The Hike

Aaron and I went on a hike to a couple caves. It was about a mile hike to this hidden entrance

Aaron was instructed just to scream if anything tried to grab or bite him. I just made sure to leave adequate distance between us 

To get to the inner cave we had to slide through a crevass which apparently is one of the hot spots for the local cockroach population 

Once in the cave, Aaron (cousin) and I set out to explore 

The lights we brought showed off the cave's white limestone

After emerging from the cave, we made our way to the coast 

Probably not the best place for cliff diving although we watched for a while trying to figure out a plan to survive the plunge. 

The coastline was made of reef and uninhabited for the most part 

Singapore

Singapore is the cleanest city I've every seen. It's also one of the most strict, enforced through public canings. But, due to our extreme level of maturity, there were of course no issues. Clarke Quay, pictured here, was one of the places we frequented throughout our stay

One could shop for weeks in this town and never visit the same place twice. The American dollar also spends well here. 

The live music in the city had a pretty incredible back drop. 

The Accomodations

This is what I saw when I looked over my shoulder while at the pool, located on the roof of the City Bay View Hotel 

Singapore had a wide selection of American style food to enjoy 

I also made sure, however, to enjoy some of the local cuisine such as this BBQ'd snail. 

Flashback

In many of the countries we've visited so far, I'm pretty sure it's safer to drink the paint thinner than the water.

Hunchback

Unfortunately the periscopes are designed for a man of average height. It's worth it though cause time at periscope depth means we can get our email. Also, notice the bed head which is sported approximately 90% of the time underway. 

Thailand

On the way back from India, we stopped in Phuket, Thailand for a few days of liberty.

The port couldn't support our ship, so we anchored in the harbor and caught liberty boats to shore.

We stayed on Patong Beach which one one of the many places hit by the Tsunami. It has now been completely restored, but many of the shops had pictures of the death and destruction the town suffered.

Anyone for Lobster Thermidor?

The view from my hotel room

Certain shops make it tough to argue against Thailand being the sweetest place on earth

SCUBA - Yes, More Time Under the Sea

Easy, ....of course I'm gonna look the whitest when I hang with a Dominican, a Filipino, and a Mexican

India

After our time in Japan we got some last minute tasking to participate in a few naval exercises off the coast of India. We pulled in to Goa India for one day initially before the exercises and then for four days following. During the exercise, I had the opportunity to act as one of the submarine liaisons and ride the USS Higgins, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, and pretty much tell them their efforts to fend off the mighty Santa Fe were useless.

Since we only had one day initially, we decided to live the life of luxury and spend it at the Park Hyatt with various activities to include...

...experiencin the Indian Ocean...

...partyin by the pool...

...and of course a full body massage.

After the exercises, we pulled back into port and set it off with a social event with the INdian navy on the helo deck of the USS Higgins

We had the opportunity to do some painting at one of the local youth centers. When we arrived we were greeted with a local custom on the forward which meant we were welcome.