World's Greatest Navy Part 7
So now the time had come in Feb 1985, for our 6 month deployment, port visits would be San Diego, California, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Singapore, Austraila, Pakistan, Naples, Italy, Subic Bay, Phillipines, Diego Garcia then back to Pearl Habor and then home, Alameda, California.
Port visit, San Diego, California, now I could really enjoy San Diego, no boot camp or school holding me back I was now, full salty seagoing sailor.
So a Fillipino cook named Louise and I took a walk across the bridge to visit Tijuana, had a few beers from the bottle, of course, it's true what people warn you about, don't drink the water, most foods are safe and the beer is good when it's ice cold.
Afetr a couple of hours of looking around and a few beers, I was getting hungry.
So we stopped at street taco stand, we both had a couple of tacos, they were very good.
Since Fillipinos eat dog, he recognized the bones in the meat, he told me I just ate dog.
I did not become psychologically sick and puke, my response was"They tasted pretty good."
That's one thing about differnt cultures, for instance I have had a camel burger in India, very flavorful.
A Kangaroo burger in Austrailia, they put beets on their burgers, very tasty though.
Horse meat sandwich in France called a smash sandwich, very tender, once you try one of these you will want it again, also had honey roasted frog legs in France.
Korea eats a lot cats, never been to Korea.
After 4 days, the ship was back underway enroute to Hawaii.
After an underway period of 6 days, the California stopped for a port visit in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
This would be the first time I can remember seeing a submarine, there is a joke about Submarine Sailors, 200 Sailors go down, 100 couples come up.
First thing I wanted was to go to Wai Ki Ki beach and sit in the sand and drink a Pina Caloda, so I did, along with a couple of other cooks.
This would be the first time I would eat pizza with pineapple on it, been hooked ever since.
The ship was arranging for California to attend a Luau, if they wished, me I just wanted to party, ports are meant for parties.
I had cousins that lived in Hawaii, but had no idea where to begin or how to begin to contact them, so I partied.
After a three day visit, the California was back underway, enroute to Singapore.
The ship was underway for 9 days, then it was time to enjoy some beer and visit Bugis Street, this is the bootleg cassettes could be bought for 2 dollars a piece.
As I was sitting by the harbor having a beer I made a comment, that how odd that cat looked, a waiter corrected me and told me that was a Wharf Rat.
Singapore has a great system on how they keep their city clean, each morning the Police would gather up the homeless, have them pick up the litter, so the city would stay clean and in return for their work.
The Police would allow them showers and feed them a hearty meal.
Then they would be returned to their nowhere to go way of living.
After 3 days, the ship was underway again, now going to the land Down Under, Austraila.
