Around the World With Uncle Moose: Days 0 to 3: South Korea and Guam

(The title of this entry refers to Days 0 to 3, because Day 1 of the tour was in Guam, but I wanted to add some stuff from my stop in Korea on the way to Guam).

Thursday, June 14

It turns out that immediately before the trip, I had to be in Detroit for a family event, so I was able to fly nonstop from Detroit to Seoul (12 hours), overnight in Seoul, and fly the next day to Guam (6 hours). My flight left Detroit at 2:00 PM and got to Seoul at 3:30 PM, which meant that I could go to the hotel, get dinner, and go to bed. With a great deal of difficulty, I bought a train ticket from the airport to the town of Incheon (where the airport is located), checked into my hotel, then headed for dinner.

Central Incheon

As you can see in the above picture, there's not a lot of English used in Korea (kind of like Japan). Fortunately, it was pretty easy to tell what was a restaurant and what wasn't, so I dodged into a place that looked like Korean restaurants in the United States. I knew enough names of Korean dishes that I could have just blurted out "kal-bi" or "bulgogi", but they had an English menu and the waitress spoke enough English so that we could communicate. I consumed a *lot* of Korean barbecue as well as several accompaniments that I couldn't name. I washed it down with a Cass beer, which is named after Cass Technical High School in Detroit, where Diana Ross, Lily Tomlin and my brother went to school.

The label is right side up--it's the logo that's upside down.

Friday, June 15

My flight arrived in Guam at about 3:30, and I got my baggage and stepped out of the airport to get a taxi to the Guam Reef and Olive Spa Resort. As soon as I walked out of the terminal, my glasses steamed up, which was an indication of the weather we would enjoy in Guam. After my lenses cleared, I noticed the following on the back of the front seat of the taxi. It seemed to represent America in a nutshell. I was later informed that it was an ad for a gun range.

Guam, being an American territory, was more prosperous than any of the other islands we would visit. Unfortunately, Guam suffers from Equatorial Mildew Syndrome, which causes buildings in the tropics to deteriorate rapidly. They look good from a distance, but not so good up close. The hotel, while livable, needed a good scrubbing. Like Guam itself, the hotel gets most of its business from Japanese tourists. The members of my tour group were among the few Caucasians I saw in the hotel.

Guam Reef and Olive Spa Resort

Infinity pool at the hotel

View from the hotel down the beach

This evening the members of the tour group met each other and our guide. Our tour leader was Serra Hughes, a native Canadian, who now lives in Sweden. If you ever have the opportunity to take an Adventures Abroad trip with her as a leader, do so, no matter where it goes--she was terrific. Besides Serra, there were 16 of us on the trip, all of us Americans, except a gentleman from Montreal. I was one of the younger members, with most folks ranging in age from 70 to 80. They were the most well-traveled group of people I've ever been with, with several people having been to more than 130 countries. Of course there was ample discussion about what constitutes a country or "being in a country", so comparing our numbers was something like comparing apples and oranges.

Our group, with newfound friends, in Vanuatu. Serra is in the red shirt at left.

Saturday, June 16

Today was devoted to sightseeing around central Guam, including the capital, Hagatna (or more specifically, Hagåtña. Lots of the sites were World War II museums, memorials, and battle sites.

Street near the hotel

Typical housing around Hagatna

More housing

Japanese World War II memorial

Spanish-era fort in the center of Hagatna

One of the stops in Hagatna was the Guam Museum, which opened in 2016--beautiful architecture and interesting exhibits.

Exterior of the Guam Museum

Interior of the museum

Across the street from the museum was a monument to Pope John Paul II's visit in 1981. In the center of the picture below is Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral, which dates from 1959. To the right is the Insular Guard Monument, which honors those who defended Guam in World War II.

We then headed to the remains of an old Spanish fort for a nice view over Hagatna.

View of Hagatna from the fort

After lunch, we went to the Guam Pacific War Museum, a private collection of World War II artifacts. Lots of military vehicles and guns, among other things.

World War II guns and ammo

Inside the Guam Pacific War Museum

After the museum, we headed to the Underwater Observatory, where you can go into a building beneath the water and observe the sea life.

Boardwalk to the underwater observatory. It's low tide.

View through one of the windows at the underwater observatory.

Sunday, June 17

We started the day by visiting War in the Pacific National Park, which consists of an excellent museum and various other sites from World War II action in Guam.

Entrance to the museum

Japanese midget submarine (with a large American)

Inside the museum

From the museum, we headed to Asan Bay Overlook, on the top of a hill that the Japanese were defending when the Americans landed in 1944 (the Japanese had taken Guam in 1941).