I just got back from a trip to Bali, Indonesia. While I was on my way there, the People’s Alliance for Democracy, or PAD, stormed Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK), in Bangkok, Thailand. The rebels want to force change in Thailand and they feel that shutting down the airport can help their cause. This is somewhat scary because I was just in BKK a few nights ago and have friends doing their 747 training who are flying there right now. I don’t have a way to get a hold of them, but Cathay does a pretty good job of avoiding trouble. Many flights have diverted away from BKK, so hopefully, there is no trouble. Undoubtedly though, there are Cathay crews that are overnighting there right now, so I hope all is well with them.

By the way, if you are an American, I must say that you accidentally mispronounced Suvarnabhumi Airport. It’s pronounced “su-waan-na-poom” because the transliteration from Sanskrit to English doesn’t accurately portray how the word should be pronounced. Now you can sleep tonight!

Going back to Bali was amazing for me. Growing up in Yogyakarta, (pronounced “jo-ja-karta”) just a little West of Bali, it was great to visit the amazing beaches there. Bali is a resort for Western tourists because it has a great tropical climate and white, sandy beaches.

As we approached Bali, we passed a dormant volcano just off our right, that extends upwards of 11,000 feet. At 14,000 feet as we passed by, the peak looked pretty close, and I was able to snap a photo, the one you see at the top. Click that photo to see a few more photos that I took during my short time there. I was lucky enough to get a smooth landing into Bali and pull up to the gate where I had last been as a child. As we taxied into the gate, we could see the ocean waves washing up on the beach, just off the runway, and oh, how I wanted to stay!

The last time we were there was 1983-ish and I was only 5 years old. Back then, it was my dream to fly 747’s and it was so neat for me to be able to go full circle and pull up to the gate as a 747 pilot for Cathay. It just goes to show that anything is possible with God’s grace. If you have a dream, follow it with all you’ve got, and it very well may come true. I get pretty sentimental, so when I did the walk around, I took my camera and relished each step I took, thinking that the last time I walked here, I was 5 and living in Indonesia.

The air was clear and cool and I desperately wanted to stay longer than the hour we had on the ground there. I got a few snaps of the airplane, and then with me (Phatty McButter Pants) in front of it, to give some perspective on size — no, not of me, but of the 747. :o)

As I took my last step off the tarmac and onto the jetway steps, I lingered for just a second. I didn’t know when I would be back to Bali, and wanted to savor the moment. It was not unlike the scene in the movie “We Were Soldiers”, where Mel Gibson is one of the first American soldiers to step foot onto Vietnamese soil. He makes note of that moment, wondering what the future will hold for him and his U.S. troops there. My moment wasn’t so serious, but I was just glad to be there.

The high terrain around the airport climbs to around 10,000 feet, not including the volcano. What looks pretty for tourists is actually a real concern for us pilots. In good weather, avoiding the “terra firma” is no big deal, but with fog, clouds, and air traffic controllers without the latest technology when it comes to radar and training, makes the situation a little more serious. In those cases, the onus is on ourselves to keep everyone behind us in their seats eating meals and drinking wine, safe and sound.

On the taxi out, heading back to Hong Kong, we saw an MD-80 off-loading it’s passengers, a regional flight from somewhere. Stairs were wheeled up to the front door of the plane, while passengers also disembarked out the rear of the plane. The rear entrance always brings back memories for me because it was always so scary for me as a kid. The APU, or auxiliary power unit, sits back there and is a small jet engine itself, that powers the plane with electricity and air conditioning while the engines are shut down. It’s loud, and sits in the tail section of the plane. Because the engines are also in the rear (see the pictured link) small kids like myself think the big scary engines are running and are going to get them. I loved planes as a kid, but cried every time we embarked via the rear steps of the DC-9’s and MD-80’s. So as we taxied past, memories from Indonesia as a kid flooded back to me. I had to focus on the job at hand, but it was great fun to be back.

At some point, I’d love to get my family back over to Bali and Yogya, so we can remember old times. For now, I’m left with the sweet memories that I made when visiting my old stomping grounds, this time, on the other side of the cockpit door as a pilot. It was just an hour, but it was a great time in Bali.