A picture of a Gulf Air A340 over Turkey. We were at 41,000 feet and Gulf Air at 39,000 feet. The mountains below are about 10,000 feet high. 

Manchester

Manchester is a city obsessed with their football (soccer). There seems to be billboards everywhere about it. There is a rough element (of people) around and a person can see where the soccer hooligans come from. The accent of the local yobs (hooligans) is so thick that it is almost not English. There are security cameras on every street corner and every shop. The newspapers are full of stories about violence and people getting bashed (beaten up) by the yobs...Besides all this downtown Manchester is a pretty place.
It seems that every old building (there are quite a few - all renovated) had clocks on them. The city looks as if it is doing well economically.
I am finding the flying on the A330 to be away from Doha a lot (that’s a good thing I think). By the time I arrive home form a flight I only normally have about 10 hours to wash clothes sleep and get ready to leave again. I am off to Paris this morning arriving back Saturday morning about 07:00 AM.

The Concorde at Manchester Airport. 

An old English Pub. 

There are a lot of clocks on the buildings in Manchester! 

Park in downtown Manchester. 

Churh in Manchester. 

Part of a church. 

River through downtown Manchester. 

A goose on the river in Manchester. 

The hotel we stay at is in China Town. (This is about 30 metres from the back door of the hotel). 

The Pyramids with the city of Cairo in the background. 

Manila and the Pyramids.

Manila is a very nice place and the people are very friendly. All signs are in English and it seems to be the main language spoken so it is very easy to get around and communicate. I was surprised by the amount of security guards and police. The area where I stayed all of the shops and hotels had security guards at the doors and most you had to walk through a metal detector to get in. The hotel I stayed at also had a bomb sniffing dog.

The weather was hot and humid. I didn’t get any pictures because the day I was going out to go sight seeing it was raining.

When I returned from Manila I flew the next day to Cairo. We flew straight over the pyramids. The weather was a bit hazy but I got some good pictures.
My schedule has changed a bit for the rest of the month. I next fly to Manchester, Paris, a few days of Standby and then a 6 day trip to Beijing (The Great Wall of China here I come!).

A Pyramid. 

A Pyramid flying into Cairo. 

Sunrise from the cockpit using Solarize funtion on my Sony T1 camera. 

Just before sunrise from the cockpit...unfortunately I get to see a lot of the these! (flying all night) 

Church near hotel at London. 

Double decker bus. 

My first English Pub! With Joachim my first officer (German).  

I am really enjoying flying the A33o and its route structure. I had a nice trip to London but did not get out to see much of the sites. For one of the first times ever I woke up with a sore back... after all of the crazy things I do I get a sore back from sleeping in London! It is much better today and I am off to do some kite surfing and then stick fighting tonight. If my back holds out I also have ju-jitsu tonight.

Tomorrow I am flying to Manila for the first time. I have about 36 hours off there and hope to do some sight seeing and come back with some great pictures. I have bought a new camera (Panasonic FZ-20). It is a very nice camera I hope to be taking some better pictures!

Sign entering Johannesburg Airport! 

South Africa!

I just returned from South Africa… What a great place! I had a very nice crew and we went on a few tours.

Johannesburg – About 40% of the world’s gold has come from this area! There is a great amount of wealth and poverty apparent here. From Lamborghini car show rooms too shanty towns –the city has it all. The houses (and shops) in the affluent neighbourhoods have high fences with razor wire on top and electric fence on top of that! The city is fairly clean. There is a high crime rate there but I didn’t see anything bad. There is about a 48% unemployment rate in South Africa!
When we arrived I set up a tour with a very nice local named Nelson. We spent 2 days with him and I can highly recommend him for his great nature, knowledge, tours and value.

I spent 1 night In Capetown. It looked very nice but all we had time to do is go out for a quick bite to eat at the waterfront.

I am back in Doha with a standby day tomorrow and a trip to London scheduled for Thursday. Today I plan to try some more kitesurfing and later tonight some sticks with Steve.

A few nice cars in Johannesburg. 

Guess who? 

Nelson Mandella's house.

Shanty town by a freeway.

Woman in Johannesburg. 

De Beers Diamonds headquarters in Johannesburg.