Palau & Australia : Trip Report

Around Guam

We visited Guam only because the only way to get to and from Palau is through Guam. On the way there we had a 13 hour layover and an overnight layover on the way back.

The first time we visited we arrived early in the morning with no plans for the day. I found the flyers for local tour operators and after talking to the guy sitting at the information desk we decided to just hire him to take us around. He drove us around some of the sites around Guam for a few hours until it got hot and Lily got cranky and just wanted to hang out someplace with air conditioning. That place turned out to be various malls around downtown Tumon, Guam.

If you're interested in World War II history or name brand shopping you probably won't find much to do in Guam. Much of the land on the island of Guam is dedicated to US Air Force and Navy bases. This is still one of the largest US military bases in the Pacific.

Besides World War II stuff there were a couple sites that featured historical artifacts dating back to the time of Spanish control. The museum on the island is also very interesting and well worth the visit. It contains exhibits on the native Chamorro people, the surrounding reefs and plenty of World War II artifacts including an exhibit about the Japanese soldier found on the island in 1974 who thought the war was still on!

After the tour we hung out in the center of Tumon Bay where we found little else besides expensive malls catering mostly to Japanese tourists. We still had a few hours so we sought out an Internet Cafe to check out E-mail in an air conditioned environment. After much trouble we finally found the CyberUp Cafe located at 221 Farenholt Avenue in Tamuning, Guam. The number there is 671-646-2292. There we caught up on what was going on back home and enjoyed some traditional american food.

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