Fire in the skies

KL-BWN

Altitude: 2000ft

Time: 1603z/0003local

Position: Final approach RWY03 BWN

In all my years of flying commercial jets, this one was a first.

Night approaches into the Kingdom are a pretty mundane affair. It's rarely busy and i would call it boring even but i like it boring. It keeps my grey-hair factor down. 
Tonight though, the skies above our sleepy town was alive.

As we break cloud, i notice fireworks. 

Not one but two, three, four. Wait a minute. What's going on? Then i realised, its Chinese New Year and we were witnessing what would probably be a grand total of over a million brunei dollars worth of paper and gunpowder burning in the skies.

Its everywhere. Over Sengkurong, Gadong, Bandar, Subok, Berakas.

I got over the PA and told our pax to look out as this was a rare sight.

What i didn't expect was that as we got closer to ground, there were a few being lit quite close to our flightpath.

I told the first officer who was flying the approach to just fly it steady on the ILS glidepath. 

It wasn't that close but it was enough to have me worried for a second. 

Although if i looked at it from another perspective, we were being welcomed to land with fireworks. 

My trusty and able lieutenant smooched it on the tarmac and we landed with great fanfare into the Chinese Year of the Horse.

Life on the line continues....

HongKong

We are here. It's pissing down but no matter. We brought raingear and we were ready to trawl the streets of Kowloon and Canton.
The Hongkong Tourism board provided sufficient info for us to make our own self-tour. We ventured to Granville Road on foot to look for Nining's rings. Yes, rings. We passed The Kowloon Mosque, a white building which can house 3,500 muslims. Note: Have to pray in there before we leave.q
Granville Road itself was filled with fashion shops with their own local designers.
We found a local eatery called The Great Indian Kebab Factory and soent a fortune on poppadoms, saffron rice and butter chicken. I must admit they served really good curry which was probably why it was pricey.
After our stomachs were filled, we headed south for the harbour.
The Symphony of Lights starts everynight at 8pm sharp and lasts for 15 minutes. Its basically over 40 buildings and skyscrapers from Hongkong Island providing a terrific lightshow. A bit like the one at Jerudong Park but 1000 times better. Throngs of tourists filled the Avenue of Stars, myself included.
We ended the night looking for Bruce Lee's statue and we were not disappointed.

Cats & Dogs

Tis the rainy season and i ask myself why am i not on leave and basking away in the sunshine.
Last night's pummelling of water droplets by a few testosterone-filled cumulonimbus clouds over the Brunei Ayerport(pun intended) had triggered viral pictures aplenty.
The Company's instant reaction to an obvious photoshopped photograph in the social network had me in stitches.
Ah well, life on the line continues....

'The World Is A Book And Those Who Do Not Travel Read Only One Page.'

I've been thinking of visiting Hongkong for the last few weeks. I've flown to Chep Lap Kok a hundred times the last 16 years but i've never actually visited the place.

So after sending my medical in to the office and getting my roster updated, i saw that i had 3 days off next weekend. Allah is the best of planners i tell you!

So now i'm taking Nining to Hongkong with me in sha Allah and staying for 2 nights. Booked 2 nights at the Kowloon Hotel via Agoda.com and planning on sightseeing with 3 things to do in particular.

Visit The Peak at sunset and view the city, visit the mosque at Nathan Road and take a cruise boat from Kowloon to Hongkong island.

Can't wait.

 

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I hate queues

Location: Ninoy Aquino International Airport

Sector: MNL-BWN

 

49 minutes. That's how long it took us from pushback to take-off in this miserable airport. The Cebu Pacific A320 ahead of us just called tower reporting a technical problem and they had to return back to stand. This isn't helping my cause. Have a flight to catch to Singapore once i reach home for the Kingdom.

My annual medical check at Medora's clinic was scheduled for the day after but i hate rushing on a daytrip. An early arrival to SIN city would have me relaxed for my check-up.

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8279/8699636117_0daae461b6.jpg

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Traffic? What traffic?

I woke up earlier than usual today in anticipation of the traffic that was pre-warned by everyone from high up in the government right down to the aircraft cleaners.

Rode early on the Vespa to find the road was clear. This was probably because everyone was already in their office or at school. Like how it's supposed to be.

 

 

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The Return of the ......

I am back to writing a blog again. The last attempt failed although now that the Company has issued a notice not to express our working conditions over the social network, i feel that blogging has gone back underground.

Everyone seems to have a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account. It's all gone mainstream. I'm not one to conform though. Well not all the time. Maybe deep down i am a hipster.