LONDON to DARWIN #6: Seeking a Siam Sunset
The flight to Yangon was another 5 hours but pretty easy and landed right at the end of the day. I was directed to stand 1, alongside all the Airbuses and Boeing’s which I thought was pretty cool, and was soon welcomed by the delightful young James and his team.
Then things got weird. Ok, wrong word, perhaps, unusual. I don’t think they’d seen a plane with a tail wheel before, they wanted to tow the plane, but the series of tow bars they had connect to the front wheels of passenger jets, and even smaller planes - but not a boat!
So... they had decided they would push the plane from bay 1 to inside the huge hangar, to park next to a jet... because is not allowed for visiting planes to remain outside. (Which made me wonder what happens f Air Force 1 visits…) We’d moved about 3 metres when I realised I couldn’t live with myself sitting in the pilot seat as instructed, so jumped out and helped push from the tail. It was a couple of hundred metres and still high 20’s - so a tad tiring to boot!
I went downtown to an old guest house amongst the old part of town for two nights and a day of exploring planned for the next day... I hadn’t done any research beyond a hundred year old magazine, but it became clear in the taxi that tomorrow morning I’d be heading off the golden structure that dominated the skyline, which was also visited by the VV crew and the Nat Geo had two photo.
What an incredible sanctuary, multiple smaller temples surround the bold gold pagoda. Not thinking I headed off in the heat wearing a pair of dress shorts, but no knees please - so was asked to wear the local dress worn widely by the men - and I must profess, I kinda liked it…
A local guide, Khin, sought me out and I was glad, a I was having trouble working out the old photos and how to position to get one shot, and which structure was which. He explained that the smaller temples have changed many times over the years, but when I showed him the photo he found it - it had been reclad and detailing changed, but we could make out the outline of the original structure.
I chose this spot as a great background to do a few video posts needed and then walked around for a while, enjoying the serenity… well, until the workman started dynadrilling and chiselling away at the marble floor!
I wandered off and found a local eatery serving the famous local dish of Mohinga Anne had dropped me a note on - and it was delicious. Thanks hon.
When I was asked to speak to some students in Darwin “when I got a chance”, this seemed like a great spot…
I went down to the river, and came across the Strand Hotel on the way, one of the hotel built by the Persian family responsible for Raffles, and decided that would be a nice place for dinner and some writing. But first - the river…. It was awesome - brimming, bursting with life, an organised mania of people walking down the river banks boarding boats that went off in different directions without a sign, ticket, or seemingly any system in place - but clearly it worked. I just had to get out and see the city from the river… and had no trouble finding a willing driver.
It was a day of much walking and wandering, in city I hadn’t visited before, but some nice discoveries along the way. The Strand was a nice way to finish the day, with a flight to Bangkok tomorrow morning.
Bangkok
The team had moved the plane out of the hangar when I arrived, and as usual I left about an hour after planned… which, yes, I realise means it was actually when I expected… kind of…
The flight was high and uneventful, and was landed around noon local time. An the prise for the quickest handling goes to…. BANGKOK - fuel truck pulled up within a minute of the engines topping - incredible. Much appreciated too, as I was looking forward to an afternoon in the city. I’d realised when on the river yesterday, hat I’d never done a small boat cruise in Bangkok and this was surely the day, given the boat theme to the trip! 90 minutes of infamous Bangkok traffic later, I had secured a boat for our little adventure, up the river, into the canals. The floating markets weren’t open so we took another branch and just explored where many people are living in small waterfront and over water abodes. As we came around a corner in the canal, there was lurking a small boat, with an enterprising lady selling many things no one needed. I irresponsibly bought a beer for my boat driver, a coconut juice for myself, and an artefact of which it’s mystical powers I’ve known about since 1997, but previously not had the good fortune to be offered. Take a look….
It’s trunk is up, and I reckon I’d been having some pretty good luck on this trip., and I was keen for it to continue…. thanks Trace. Some street food followed with some more slow driving, with a rendezvous back at the airport hotel imminent.
Jee, my handler for Thailand, who had helped me in Chang Mai on the last trip, and gone way above and beyond to show me around her home town, had taken my request (made of each handler) to get me a sheet of 50 local stamps so seriously, that she flew down to Bangkok to greet me and hand them over personally. At first I thought this was sweet, but perhaps a little over the top - that was, until we met. Turns out Jee is an avid stamp collector, and she had completely over delivered - she brought me an entire stamp album of mainly aviation themed stamps from her personal collection going back decades, as well as the plain stamps requested. An incredibly kind gesture, I felt bad I was flying out so early tomorrow and couldn’t chat more - so I put my departure back an hour and agreed to meet for breakfast.
It’s these acts along the way that make this kind of travel so rewarding. These are quick visits, I know I’m not allowing enough time to really get into a place, but the way people will take the time to proudly show their city or share their time to make the most of the opportunity is constantly rewarding and reinforces the inherent good in people across this world.
And just when I thought there was no chance of me finding a Thai cultural event to recreate a certain photo, along came this wonderful modern incarnation! What a great way to finish Bangkok.
Singapore was going to be about an 8 hour flight, I was lucky the weather was going to be a clear run, the Gulf of Thailand can be a tough place wen the CB’s decide it’s time to dance. BUt in fact the flight was pretty dull, unventful, and I was looking forward to two nights staying with a pilot mate, Brad Smith, and a day in Singapore. That is, until on landing I took another look at the weather modelling for the next few days, and it became clear that there was bad weather coming, and if I didn’t leave really early in the morning, I’d be in Singapore for days, and almost certainly not make it to Darwin on time. We went back to Brad’s apartment, where he used some better tools than I had (he’s an SQ captain) and confirmed it really had to be a quick departure. Having made that decision, there was only one thing to do - head to the local Hawker centre for local dishes - Singapore has this side of society down pat - you can still eat for just a handful of small notes delicious, healthy food. A good catch up over a bottle of red ensure a good sleep, and while I was disappointed not to have a whole day in Singapore, it’s a city I’ve pent much time working over the years and had a good sense of. I just wouldn’t get to try and take the matching photos from the Nat Geo. But I figured I’d make up for that with a whole day in Surabaya now, where there i a fantastic story to be told.
The following morning brought the toughest few hours I think I’ve had, I was determined to remain visual, I flew by hand and flew around many, many clouds, CB’s rain. I only got rained on a few times, but it was demanding, taxing, but I realised I’d matured a lot as a pilot since I headed out from Australia in the Searey in 2015. I was incredibly focussed, in a great platform to be managing in and remained calm - but not overconfident. Having said that - boy I was glad when I was clear of it, which took about 4 hours. I crossed into the Surabaya airspace 100 miles out, and experienced something I haven’t had on the whole trip so far - something I had dealt with so often on my circumnaviation, but but some freak of good luck on this trip had been foreign to me. A head wind. Yes, I hadn’t wanted to say it out loud but I had enjoyed a tailwind on EVERY flight since leaving London. A 5 knot headwind for the last 4 hours just didn’t seem so bad…. And that, brings us to…
Surabaya.
I was most keen to visit this Indonesian city, as it had a special story to tell, so most lost day in Singapore became a gained day in Surabaya. I already knew where I was going to stay, but now I would really enjoy two nights - the Hotel Majapahita, once the Oranje Hotel, payed host to the aviator a century past… it was a wonderful older hotel, built by the Raffles family… The hotel was such a beautiful, tranquil place, I spent most of the day writing, editing and catching up… but did find time for a walk, some shopping essentials, and - a quick visit to, yes, you guessed a - a Submarine smack bang in the middle of town! Some lovely street man holes too, which I think is the mark of great civic leadership. I’ll let the video below tell the great Surabaya story, then folks, after a quick stop in Timor, I’ll next be posting from…. DARWIN !
to be continued…