This past weekend I got to visit Guam thanks to the latest typhoon
Shanshan which passed close to Okinawa. It's a US territory but with all the Japanese tourists it feels like you're still in Okinawa. It was still nice to catch up on American things we don't have here like Wendy's, TV commercials, or the lastest movies. The military bases on Okinawa have just about every fast food joint except Wendy's. So I had to eat dinner there once. Our TV is not regular cable...it's called the Armed Forces Network. There are no commercials because the military doesn't pay for it...they put together the most popular programming including sports and replace the commercials with local public service announcement stuff that gets old fast.

My favorite restaraunt at Guam is easily
Stanlee's. It's a liquor store slash sandwich shop slash ice cream shop. The guy is from Australia and his store carries a good selection of down under beer...no Foster's by the way. My favorites are Castlemaine XXXX lager
and Hahn premium lager.

You would think that Diego Garcia and Okinawa both being tropical islands would have the same humidity. Well I can confidently say that it's not even close. Okinawa is hands down the winner. As soon as you walk out the door you're instantly sweaty. I ran about 9am the other day for about 6 miles. Afterwards I sat down on a park bench to rest. In about 30 seconds I was sitting in a puddle of my own sweat.

Luckily I got a few days off to explore the island after returning from my stressful tdy to Diego. Somehow I lost the pictures from Cape Hedo. It's the northern most spot on the island. When Oikinawa was officially under US control the locals would light signal fires here to show their solidarity to mainland Japan.

The fireworks are from the Orion beer festival. As far as beer festivals go it's a little disappointing. There's no beer garden....just a bunch of food booths with the usual yakisoba and other healthy fried food. Although the fireworks are worth sticking around to see.