Charlie Wilson's War

I was just on a non-stop KLM flight from Bangkok to Amsterdam which follows pretty close to the path I drew below. After take-off I had dinner, then slept all the way across India, which was about four hours. When I woke up, I didn't know where we were, but I looked out and saw a line of light on the ground across our path, continuing with a few zigs and zags as far as I could see to the horizon. Looking at the flight map on my monitor, I realized I was looking at the India-Pakistan border. It was completely lit, and prabably completely guarded. If only our borders were that secure.


After waking up I decided to watch a movie. I thought Charlie Wilson's War might be good, although I didn't really look into what it was about. I relied more on the names in the cast.

The movie turned out to be how a relatively unknown congressman from Texas managed to secure large sums of money to covertly help Afghanistan defeat the Russians. He made it possible for them to obtain Russian weapons in order to down the Russian helicopters and destroy the tanks, weakening the Soviets and thus helping to end the Cold War. I enjoyed the movie, as I remembered that time period in the 80's. What I didn't think about, until it was over, was where I actually was when I watched the movie, which was directly over Afghanistan - just seven miles away, straight up.

Catching Up

I never had the time to finish finish the last trip, but wanted to catch up and post a few more pictures from it. I did end up spending yet another night without luggage in a hotel in Amsterdam before reaching Germany. Needless to say, I was the most tired that I could remember being when I finally reached the Alte Schule Hotel. I spent a day and a half in Germany before leaving the next morning for home. While there, I went with Erik on an unexpected fishing trip that was a delightful escape from what I had been through. We went out in a rowboat on a lake near his home for a couple of hours one evening. It was pouring when we arrived at the shore, but soon let up and cleared off to let the sun through. I captained the rowboat while Erik tried some new lures. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the camera.

A rare stairway boarding of a 747

Flying over Afghanistan

I love clouds