Safety Tips in Guam

• I arrived at guam this week and I lost my cellphone,then when I go to the airport police and report my lost cellphone they are not helpfull,they found a celphone the day I lost my phone but they do not want to show me if its my cellphone or not,they ask information about the cellphone and then decided and ignore me and just plain said that the cellphone that found is not mine.How could they say such thing if they do not want to show me the phone!!!BEWARE BEWARE 

• I have been here on Guam all my life, and true what others say about Guam. The crime rate is high, every store is expensive, the beaches are trashed, not everyone is friendly, drugs are the in thing on Guam, etc. My plan is to take my family and leave this island because it ain't what it use to be before things were simple and everyone was at peace with their neighbors and community. Now everything sucks I can't get a job because you would have to know someone to get a job, which sucks because if you apply for a job and they don't know you they will put your application a side which is unfair. I do not blame the visitors that come to Guam, actually their the ones that try to make Guam look beautiful, and I do not blame them for commenting about Guam being corrupt. I love Guam, but now I want to take my family out of Guam because there is really nothing here.  

•  Massage Parlors in Guam are little more than fronts for prostitution heheheh. Yes they offer massages and the staff are trained to do a foot massage or a shiatsu massage or a thai massage or a whole body massage that costs from $ 30 to $ 80 and lasts for 30 minutes to 1 hour but they also offer "extra service" for tourists, mostly the japanese and korean menfolk. they don't have the famous "acquariums" found in south east asia where you can pick the masseuses at beyond an acquarium style glass but still they offer the "extra service" that willing tourists indulge.
  
  they are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week and offer room service to your hotel room. the masseuses are a blend of japanese, korean, chinese, chamorro, filipino and the occasional blondes. prices of "extra service" costs $ 80 to $ 200 depending on the service and the number of masseuse doing the service.
  
  you can find them along the hotel row of Pale San Vitores Road besides the usual restaurants or shops or souvenir stands. 

• I've chosen to make my home on Guam for personal reasons, but this is the worst place I've ever lived. I've been to many islands, and most island people are welcoming, friendly, and charming. This place is almost hostile. No concept of hospitality, and the worst waiters and service people I've ever encountered in my life. Try taking care of business at the department of revenue and taxation - you may need a drink or a shoulder to cry on afterward.
  
  Everything costs double, not just because goods have to be imported, but because local business have monopolies on certain industries and charge as much as they can. When first apartment hunting, I was shown $1,500-$2,000 per month apartments so run-down and nasty that I've seen better section 8 housing stateside. This is because all property owners automatically set their base rents at military housing allowance, which is a ridiculously high $1,700. Try renting a decent (one that isn't filthy and will not get broken into) apartment on a regular salary - yeah, not gonna happen. Oh, and if you like air-conditioning (who doesn't when it's 90 degrees outside 90% of the year?), prepare to pay $400 or more per month for a single family home.
  
  I've lived in big, major metropolitan areas, cities people associate with crime. I had never been robbed - until I got to Guam. I was robbed on Guam twice in two years. And when I say robbed, I mean "inside jobs." Staff at the hotel and apartment where I stayed had access to my rooms (duh, they're staff). One day, after a short stay off island, I came home to find everything gone - even my freaking tennis shoes. When the cops came, I pointed out empty beer cans that weren't mine (yeah, the thieves made themselves right at home). Perhaps they should take them for prints....they LAUGHED. The police LAUGHED AT ME because GUAM HAS NO FINGERPRINT DATABASE OR FORENSIC LAB OF ANY KIND.
  
  People still abuse/ignore stray animals and enjoy cock-fighting here. The island's only pound is disgusting and in disrepair (have you been to the SPCA on Oahu? It's like a hotel). Guam's situation with animals is 40 years or more behind most developed nations.
  
  If you get sick on Guam, you are screwed. Basically, if you go into Guam Memorial Hospital for an emergency, chances are you won't come out alive. The GMH emergency room entrance looks like a triage unit for an army doing ground warfare in the middle east. The parking lot is packed 24/7 (when I say "packed" I mean, cars have to park all the way down the street and into a residential area). Why? Because people who have no money or insurance use it as a clinic - because they know they can't be turned away. That's right - they just don't give a damn. They don't care that people with real emergencies may suffer because they caught a cold and don't want to pay for the treatment. Oh, did I mention the hospital is not approved by stateside medical organizations? And that some of its former directors have been accused/convicted of theft and selling prescriptions?
  
  And based on news of late, it looks like our next governor will either be a nepotistic thief of a murdering thief. No, I am not speaking in metaphors - the locals will know what I'm talking about.
  
  Most locals will start getting a rope ready to hang you if you spoke of any of this (elephant in living room stuff) in public. It's because most have never lived any where else for an extend period of time, although more Chamorros live off island than on island (gee I wonder why). And they're really sensitive. Anyway, I'm here to stay, for a while anyway. And I smile and welcome everyone and try to be good island representative and try to pretend like this place isn't going to hell in a hand-basket.
  
  Advice: Shop at Cost-u-less; Other grocery stores, especially Payless, charge double or triple cost-u-less. Kmart may be the only place you can find what you need, but it's not like stateside k-marts - they are (I can't believe I'm saying this about Kmart) EXPENSIVE. They take advantage of us because they're the only place. If you have access to the stores on base, go. Get an ebay account if you don't already have one. Use it, love it, and never let it go. I saw something at Micropac (electronics store that RAPES its customers because they are sole distributor for certain popular electronics products) selling for $400 that I got on ebay for $75!!!!!! THE SAME DAMN THING - only mine was a NEWER MODEL!!!! If people here think they can separate you from your money, they will. You must demand lower prices everywhere you go - including the power authority, phone companies, cell phone companies, etc. Don't be ashamed. The service is so damn bad, we should get discounts for that alone!
   

Guam Safety Tips