how i miss the heavenly bed

since the ship was in port in guam for a few days, after checking in late at night, i left the next morning, got a rental car, and hit the town. stayed at the westin in tumon bay that night and man, was it nice! the first pic was the view from my hotel room. and that's the hotel beach in the second. i've heard guam described basically as if hawaii and tiajuana got together and had a baby. many parts are poor and run down, but the island's also a vacation spot for japanese tourists. so in tumon bay, you have all these high end hotels and high end shopping. tiffany, gucci, cartier...there are actually multiples of all these stores on one relatively small block. i guess may since it's so hot outside, you wouldn't want to have to go all the way down the street to get your ferragamo shoes. luckily for you, there's another ferragamo store just across the street. and everything's in japanese. was able to resist the cpk and the hooters and had some great sushi and ramen instead. good thing since we were only in tokyo for a couple of hours in the airport. i even managed to get my favorite mango black tea with boba.

but i really do miss that heavenly bed. we've been at sea for a few days now and that's me at the very back of the ship. nothing but sapphire blue water and fluffy white clouds. nothing else around as far as the eye can see. it actually feels like we've been out here forever and that guam was ages ago, when in reality, this is day 3. but it's great. the sunsets and the starry nights are pretty amazing. still haven't made it up for sunrise yet, but 4am is a little rough.

and here's to my new travel partners. normally in rads, we like to sit alone in the dark and try to avoid speaking to any other docs, but kelly the peds guy, jen the internist, and flo the ob/gyn, you guys aren't half bad. just kidding. it's been great hanging out and i'm so glad you guys are around. can't wait for the rest of this trip.

internet on the ship is painfully slow, but i'll keep trying. no access to any personal email accounts until i'm ashore in vietnam, so if you guys want to drop me a line, i'd love to hear from you. huy.tran@mercy.navy.mil for the next 6 weeks or so.

35 years later

my parents left vietnam 35 years ago in april 1975, just days before the fall of saigon. they were among millions of boat people who pretty much left all their belongings behind, crammed into a small boat and said farewell to their homeland. after being picked up by a u.s. ship, first stop guam, and there, anderson air force base, where i just visited yesterday. like the few other air force bases i've been to, it's sprawling, encompassing pretty much all of the northern part of guam, and well-manicured, with wide swaths of beautiful green grass (probably the only green grass on the island). drive a little further out, though, and you can't believe you're on a u.s military base..the tropical plants, the cliffs, the hot, humid weather, and the gorgeous, gorgeous beaches.

it's a little surreal to think that i was actually on this island with my parents back then, as a 2 month old baby. my friend jokes that she can't believe they didn't trade me for a bowl of rice. and then she thought, they prolly did trade me for a bowl of rice and these aren't my real parents after all. regardless, i'm incredibly grateful for all that i've received thus far and the opportunities that have strangely led me back here.

pacific partnership 2010....first stop...guam

yet another deployment no longer in the sandbox this time. this one i don't mind so much though. humanitarian mission on the usns mercy hospital ship to vietnam and cambodia. prolly one of the things i always wanted to do in the navy.

so here's my home for the next 6 weeks...and yup, that's my middle rack right there. funstuff, eh? landed in guam late friday night. a couple of days of liberty and then off to vietnam on monday. first time on a boat. should be interesting...will keep you all updated.