We bought day passes to the "Shopping Bus" which is the most efficient way to see as much as Guam as you can.
There are two companies that have shopping buses -- the Blue and the Red. Tickets cost the same. We chose the Red because they use the traditional trolleys as shopping buses whereas the Blue line has a mix of regular buses and trolleys.
Tip #4 If you're planning to take the shopping bus for more than a day, get the week pass. It costs $2 per ride. The day pass is $6 and the week pass is $10. If you don't mind waiting 20-30 minutes to get to your destination, this is the cheapest way to get anywhere in Guam.
Here's where it gets a bit tricky -- like most subways, the shopping bus has a specific line and, depending on where you want to go, you need to ride a different line. The two most widely used lines are the Green and Yellow, which ply the same route -- but one goes clockwise and the other counter. (Kinda like the Ikot and Toki in UP.)
We were able to visit Micronesia Mall, which is far from Pale San Vitores but is a very popular shopping destination because they have Macy's there -- and they also have a branch of the only known bookstore in Guam. Bestseller Bookstore. Oh, and there's KB Toys there too.
Bestseller Bookstore had a really amazing selection of SF/Fantasy and I think Johann would have wept for joy to see all the D&D novels on two shelves. My main problem was, the books were sold at cover price. (Read: It would've been cheaper to get them in the Philippines or order them through Amazon.) But I didn't want to go away empty-handed so I picked out the most recent releases (2008) and bought about 4 book for Johann.
We had lunch at the Micronesia Mall food court which offers a wide array of cuisine -- a lot of Japanese and Korean and a spattering of Italian and Chamorro.
My sister and I had Burger King and Subway. (Again, I texted Johann and he replied: Stop Eating Stuff that you can eat in the Philippines!)
Burger King was promoting an insane burger called The Steakhouse, which has an Angus Beef patty and (in a nutshell) the contents of a baked potato in your burger.
Yes, I was tempted. But I didn't.
My sister ordered a small burger and I went over to Subway to get a Seafood and Crab sandwich. What I like about the Subway branch in Guam is they let you choose which kind of cheese you want. They had 3 or 4 kinds. They also had stuff like banana peppers!
After Micronesia Mall, we went to the Guam Premium Outlet -- we really didn't get anything from there. But they have Outlet stores for Nike (cheaper to buy it in the Philippines), Nine West (I wasn't looking to buy shoes this trip), etc.
We got back to our hotel at around 4 in the afternoon and rested. That evening, we did one last hurrah on the Shopping Bus trolley -- it was fun. ^_^
Guam is a nice place. I'd go back there for K-Mart. Hahahaha! Seriously, it's a great place to bring your children to because of the beach. (Although I worry about how they would take to the strange flight sked). The walking isn't so bad either, especially if you get a hotel along Pale San Vitores. It's more for younger people and barkadas also because a lot of the "action" happens at night.
One thing I noticed in Guam is the lack of public transportation. I saw one public bus in our area and they don't travel regularly, I'm told. I was planning to go to this used bookstore in Barrigada which, on the map, looked pretty near. But it would've cost me $20 one way by cab. And, no, no bus goes through there.
My sister and I noticed that most travelers just rent a car to drive themselves around. My sister plans on getting an international license so that she can just drive us around the next time we go there. (It is very doable because there are very few cars on the roads and the traffic light system is very efficient.) It's also fairly safe during the daytime. (Majority of the car accidents happen at night and they are usually alcohol-related.)
To end, here are some random shots of Guam:
<-- Fendi stroller!
<-- they have a lot of painted carabaos scattered all over Guam. This one was in our hotel.
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