And where I’ve been – Page 7

Tropical Sunsets

Guam might not have clubs or a lot of job opportunities, but it does have beautiful sunsets. I could post a picture every few days, but it seemed better to put all the sunsets in one Gratuitous Sunset Post.

So here is that post. Please enjoy forty sunsets from me to you.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

Sixteen.

Seventeen.

Eighteen.

Nineteen.

Twenty.

Twenty One.

Twenty Two.

Twenty Three.

Twenty Four.

Twenty Five.

Twenty Six.

Twenty Seven.

Twenty Eight.

Twenty Nine.

Thirty.

Thirty One.

Thirty Two.

Thirty Three.

Thirty Four.

Thirty Five.

Thirty Six.

Thirty Seven.

Thirty Eight.

Thirty Nine.

Forty.

Forty One.

It turns out that Forty is the maximum amount of photos that this format allows me in one post, so there will definitely be a part two.

These were taken all over the island, but mostly at various spots in Tumon Bay (where I live.)

Talofofo Park and Falls

You can’t see Talofofo Falls unless you pay to get in to Talofofo Park. The admission price is steep; it’s $20 per person. I want to say it’s worth it, but it’s not much of a park.

There is a very small garden of “sexy” statues which is sort of like LoveLand in Jeju, but much smaller and closer together.

I don’t like to be negative, but if I am honest, it’s a really small area with a few very generic statues. It doesn’t add much to the park.

There is a very small haunted house under the cable car entrance. In the style of haunted houses worldwide, it has a few things that pop out at you.

When you finish walking through the haunted house, you can go up to the cable car. Take it over the waterfall, and down to the trail head that lets you walk down below the waterfall.

After that, you can walk over a bridge to the side of the pool. At the top of the stairs, you go up and are faced with two choices:

1. You can walk straight and go into a “museum” full of dioramas depicting the Japanese occupation and the US occupation. It’s very small and not historically accurate, but I suppose it’s good for a laugh.

2. You can head left and walk down a long path to see a reproduction of Shoicho Yokoi’s Cave. Really, it’s just some bamboo lashed together and a hole in the ground (which you cant get close to.) The most interesting part is the shrine next to the “cave,” where Japanese tourists leave coins and gifts.

It’s not that there isn’t a lot to see. There is a lot of walking and you should bring plenty of water and maybe a snack. The park definitely covers a large area.

It’s just that all the attractions are sort of cheesy and second-rate, so you walk away feeling disappointed even though you have seen a lot of things.

I went with my friend Mel, who had just finished a tour of North Korea with a Chinese tour company. As she put it “There are better amusement parks in North Korea.”

If you like cheesy though; this is your thing. Neil Gaimen said in American Gods that roadside attractions are the best part of America. If you are the sort of person who would be excited to see the world’s largest ball of twine or a giant frying pan, then you will probably enjoy Talofofo Park.

Fish Eye Marine Park

Since I loved to Guam, I feel like I spend a lot of my time underwater. One of the best places to do that is Fish Eye Marine Park.

Grab your snorkel and wade out under the bridge. When you get into water that is too deep to stand, start swimming to the left.

This will bring you through an ancient forest of coral, and give you the opportunity to see a lot of cool fish.

Normally, you wouldn’t want to feed the fish in the ocean. However, they already feed them as the fish eye tourist attraction, so sometimes I bring along some rice or peas to give them.

They are so used to eating food from humans that they swam all around and it’s cute.

I am trying to learn all the names of the fish, but unfortunately the locals want to teach me the Chamorro words. That’s not something I will ever use outside of Guam.

Once I find a fish guide for this (very remote) part of the Pacific Ocean, I will try to caption future fish pictures with the names of the fish.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of things you can see at Fish Eye.

I think this is a butterfly fish.

And, I know this one is called a flounder.

As for this little guy, I know he’s a rainbow parrot fish.

This seems to have a shape like a damsel fish.

And, this one I do know. It’s a Picasso Triggerfish. They bite, so avoid them.

Here’s a star fish. Ours our blue, but usually they have five arms. I am not sure why this one has six.

And, this is a Picasso Triggerfish with a Wrasse. I really enjoy the different kinds of Wrasse, but I don’t know all their names.

Whatever this one is, it has a great pattern. Shame they’re always digging up the sand so it’s hard to get a good picture.

This is another kind of Triggerfish, but I don’t know its name.

And this is a soft coral forest full of fish. This is to the left of the Fish Eye, swimming into the Piti Bomb Holes. However, there is a lot of soft coral to the right of the bridge as well.

Some of the bomb holes are very deep, but there are lots of shallow places too. Don’t be afraid to swim over the deep parts to get to the shallower parts.

You can go all the way out to the second reef, which is past the Fish Eye bridge and the Fish Eye structure at least another 100 meters.

There are great views and huge coral forests covering a huge area, so look around a lot!

Where is Guam?

Guam is a US territory located in the Pacific Ocean.

The United States took ownership of Guam from the Japanese during WWII, and since then, the islanders have been trying to work with the US government in partnership.

The island’s current status is a U.S. territory, and it has a huge U.S. military presence.

All children here in Guam learn about the United States in school, but I had never heard of Guam until my husband orders here in 2015. This leads people to constantly ask me when I was we moved to Guam:

“Where the hell is Guam?”

This questions is so common that the local dive shop sells shirts with that phrase and a map. By the way, this is an amazing place to dive or snorkel. It’s also just an amazing place to hang out at the beach. Guam is beautiful.

I like to find out everything I can about a place as soon as I get there. When I moved to South Korea it was easy since I could just look things up online. Guam is a different kind of place. People still draw maps on paper with a pen as they tell you where to hike or swim. It’s a little like traveling from the future to the past, but you won’t here me complain. I’ve never been the only person on a beach before, and since I moved here, I’ve been the only one on several beaches.

At first it was hard to adjust, because it is a very small island and it is very isolated. That means giving up things like most fresh fruit and vegetables (which don’t grow well here because the island isn’t volcanic).

However, the most I explore, the more I like it.

I will make sure to tell you all about the exciting things that I learn about Guam here on my blog.

Travel Series

I have written about places I have been and things I have done.

But, a friend asked me to write about tips for travel. I think what she wants to know is: What is it really like?

That is a hard question, because so much of going places is what you bring with you. Not in your backpack, but in your head.

I don’t have any mystical knowledge. I mean, you read these blogs by travel writers and they always have their “Five Hot Tips” for seeing some part of the world.

Then there are those introspective pieces trying to tell you how you should act on vacation, claiming that it’s important to “embrace the loneliness” and “just be.”

I have traveled Europe, Asia, and the Americas. So I guess I am allowed to have a say. And as far as I can tell, it’s really an experience too individualized to be neatly put in a box where it can be said that “this is how it is.”

I won’t tell you how you should travel. I don’t know. But I do have a few things that I can share from my experiences.

So, let April be the month of travel tips!

P.S. Remember that no one can tell you how you should do things. This series of posts will be nothing but my opinion.

Cherry Blossoms

One of the most popular things to do in spring in South Korea is to look at cherry blossoms.

There is an island called Yeouido in the middle of the Han River (which runs through Seoul) and it is the best spot to see the cherry blossoms because the trees ring the outside the island.

The walking trials under the blossoms allow you to go all around and see the trees from lots of different angles.

Vendors set up stands to sell snacks and drinks in case you need refreshment, too.

Of course it is crowded. That’s what most Americans notice in my pictures of South Korea. But I guess in Asia you sort of get used to sharing all the pubic spaces with other people.

Crowds are just as much a part of life as the air or the trees themselves. It’s not as daunting as it seems, either. Koreans keep to themselves.

I think one of the things that can make crowds in the US seem so overwhelming is that people talk to each other, and so you are forced into social interaction just by virtue of others being around.

In Korea, people don’t talk to you unless they know you, so as odd as it sounds, you can have a peaceful day free of any unwanted social interaction even when there are millions of people around you.

Yeouido is a wonderful place to see the blossoms and it’s right on one of the main subway lines so it’s easy to get to. I went to a few other cherry blossom festivals in Jinhae and some of the more remote cities, but this was the best!

Busan Sand Festival

Every year there is a sand festival held in Busan, South Korea. The theme for the year I went was “Once Upon A Time,” and so most of the sand castles were based on fairy tales.

I had no idea that sand art could be this detailed or beautiful. I mean, I built sandcastles at the beach when I was little just like everyone else.

However, the sad little things I built were nothing compared to what I saw at the Sand Festival.

I should warn you that Busan is short on accommodations, and the sand festival is a huge draw. Because of this, I would recommend making a hotel reservation well in advance if you want to go.

Once there, you can rent a spot under a huge beach umbrella and even rent a cooler if you want. That way, you have somewhere to stretch out and enjoy the waves when you aren’t admiring the art.

Like most things in Korea, be prepared for crowds. Of course, with crowds comes ice cream vendors and stands selling everything you could ever want, so in some ways that is a good thing.

Buddha’s Birthday

The biggest holiday in South Korea is Buddha’a Birthday.

It was very hard for me to adjust to different holidays. Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Easter passed without note. The 4th of July was just another day.

Living in a new culture means adjusting to new holidays.

As it turned out, Buddha’s birthday was my favorite.

All the temples put up these beautiful lanterns, which are multi-colored. Of course the temples are beautiful on their own, but the addition of the lanterns adds a festive and colorful touch to already impressive surroundings.

I went to Bonamsa Temple because they had a lantern-making class. Anyone could show up and make a set of lanterns to celebrate the occasion.

I put my lanterns together with some friends. This is me (below) with my friend Coleen Monroe, another teacher at Avalon.

We only meant to put together some lanterns and celebrate, but the Koreans pushed us into a line of people.

We soon learned that the cluster of people we were moved towards were park of the parade through Seoul.

Although it wasn’t the plan, we ended up marching in the parade. And because Koreans love to see foreigners doing Korean things, the TV cameras followed us as we marched.

So, without intending to, I was in a surprise parade.

Suwon in the Spring

I am not saying that Suwon is the best city in the world, but it is definitely forever nestled somewhere in my heart.

I love my neighborhood (Yeoungtong.) I love the old fortress in the center of the city. I love Everland, our amusement park. And I love out folk village.

Spring in Suwon is full of wonderful flowers, and the weather is amazing.

It’s fantastic to have a hike around the old city walls and look out at all the cherry blossoms below.

In Arizona we didn’t really have flowers in the spring. A few, I guess. But not like in a place with seasons.

Suwon was a really good home. All three years I lived there, I loved it.

Sometimes it was hard to be “the foreigner” and to have to try to learn all the customs that Koreans grow up with overnight.

But in the end, I am glad that I took some time to live overseas and to have all those different experiences.

And by the way, each Korea city has an English catchphrase like “Dynamic Busan” and “Hi Seoul.” (translations not done by a native English speaker.) Suwon’s English catchphrase is “Happy Suwon.”

Every time I say it around it did make me happy to be there.

Around Jeju Island

Jeju is an island that belongs to South Korea. I am going to write separate posts about Jeju Loveland and Jeju Mini Land, because they need their own posts.

However, this is just about Jeju in general.

First off, the island is famous for Jeju Black Pig, which is a kind of pig that they BBQ. It’s wonderful, and we ate at restaurants that served it every night while we were there.

There are lots of beaches to enjoy, and the water is fairly warm and inviting. This is in contrast to the Korean mainland, which has colder beaches and colder water.

We stopped at every temple we saw to have a look around.

We also stopped at every cemetery we saw, because I enjoy the stone tablets in grassy pastures. It looks so peaceful.

We went hiking in the forest on top of the mountain and had a good time there as well. All the trails are very well maintained so that you could mostly do it in sandals if that was all you happened to bring (which was the case.)

There are lava tunnels that you can tour because Jeju is a volcanic island.

You can see the old statues that used to cover the island (they look a lot like the Easter Island statues

Like most islands, it’s just a wonderful place to relax and see the sights. I highly recommend it for a weekend trip.

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