Flight Home from San Francisco
The flight back from San Francisco to Singapore was uneventful, except that I was quite surprised to learn that I had to transit at the Seoul-Incheon airport in South Korea -- and all this while I had thought it was a direct flight! Oh well, at least I get to say that I have stepped on South Korean soil.
The plane started from the San Francisco International Airport, headed north into Alaska, across the Bearing Straits, briefly crossing over Kamchatka (Russia), heading south towards Sakhalin, briefly scraping the coast of Vladivostok before making a determined push south. At some point in time, in the Sea of Japan, the plane made an abrupt right turn (to avoid North Korea), which brought us into South Korea.
I had deliberately chosen the window seat because I had hoped to get a glimpse of San Francisco. Thinking that we were going to cross a lot of sea instead of flying over such a variety of interesting territory, I pretty much watched TV / slept through the entire route across Alaska and Kamchatka. What a pity! I would have loved to have seen Alaska, even if it were from the sky. A land covered with ice I'd imagine! Alas, I could only see Sakhalin.
Sakhalin was a huge patch of green and gray, sparsely populated. It was generally shrouded in clouds, so it was only in very rare moments when you could see anything. The only obvious man-made objects was a straight line that seened to cut across the island. The line was too straight to be a road ... an oil pipeline perhaps?
Here are some pictures I took on the plane.
This picture was shot from the plane along the Russian coast several hundred miles north of Vladivostok.
This picture was taken over the Sea of Japan (between Korea and Japan). UFO? North Korean warships?
I must admit for a moment I thought they could be North Korean warships, and was half expecting to be shot down by a missile. After all, the North Koreans had shot down a commercial airliner some decades ago.
At Incheon airport, I had my first taste of things South Korean. The beauty of South Korean girls was as my friend had told me, truly exquisite. Surely it is not possible to have such a high incidence of beauty among the population! I have to wonder how much of it is real? Alas, the stopover was only for 40 minutes, and I did not have enough time to fully appreciate the beauty.
The plane started from the San Francisco International Airport, headed north into Alaska, across the Bearing Straits, briefly crossing over Kamchatka (Russia), heading south towards Sakhalin, briefly scraping the coast of Vladivostok before making a determined push south. At some point in time, in the Sea of Japan, the plane made an abrupt right turn (to avoid North Korea), which brought us into South Korea.
I had deliberately chosen the window seat because I had hoped to get a glimpse of San Francisco. Thinking that we were going to cross a lot of sea instead of flying over such a variety of interesting territory, I pretty much watched TV / slept through the entire route across Alaska and Kamchatka. What a pity! I would have loved to have seen Alaska, even if it were from the sky. A land covered with ice I'd imagine! Alas, I could only see Sakhalin.
Sakhalin was a huge patch of green and gray, sparsely populated. It was generally shrouded in clouds, so it was only in very rare moments when you could see anything. The only obvious man-made objects was a straight line that seened to cut across the island. The line was too straight to be a road ... an oil pipeline perhaps?
Here are some pictures I took on the plane.
This picture was shot from the plane along the Russian coast several hundred miles north of Vladivostok.
This picture was taken over the Sea of Japan (between Korea and Japan). UFO? North Korean warships?
I must admit for a moment I thought they could be North Korean warships, and was half expecting to be shot down by a missile. After all, the North Koreans had shot down a commercial airliner some decades ago.
At Incheon airport, I had my first taste of things South Korean. The beauty of South Korean girls was as my friend had told me, truly exquisite. Surely it is not possible to have such a high incidence of beauty among the population! I have to wonder how much of it is real? Alas, the stopover was only for 40 minutes, and I did not have enough time to fully appreciate the beauty.
