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.

Siberia

On the way to Taiwan we took a more northerly and westerly route than I ever had before. That put us over northern Alaska and Siberia. Following are some pics I got over Siberia, approximately at the X on the route I drew. Pretty desolate. I wouldn't want to do anything wrong in Russia.

I didn't get any pics over Alaska - the window shade patrol was going by.

Traveling Home

The trip home offered a few more opportunities for pictures.

The ING Renault F1 car on display in Amsterdam

Strands of icebergs in the Atlantic
Clouds casting shadows on sheets of ice
An iceberg up close
We had company up there - another plane, maybe 1000 ft. lower, flew right under us.
Clouds dot the landscape with shadows near Detroit