Even the flight's exciting!

I've just got to Singapore and the things I saw on the flight were incredible. Firstly, flying over Iran, Pakistan and India, the sky was completely clear and I could see hundreds and thousands of cities, towns and villages all the way to the horizon - a million inidividual streetlights, in every direction. Then, over India, off in the distance there were flashes of red - a thunderstorm on the horizon. It put me in mind of the long range shots of Mordor in the Lord of the Rings films - towers of lava, billowing smoke - it was incredible, even from so far away.

Then the plane flew right by a big electrical storm, and then another. Sparks of lightning every second, from cloud to cloud, lighting up storms that were miles across with yellows and blues. I've never seen a lightning storm from above before, it was really breathtaking. I pointed it out to Charmaine from Perth, who shared my row, saying "you have to see this" and we both stared out the window for ten minutes. It was better than most of the films they were showing.

As we flew down over Malaysia, the sun came up over the horizon, and there were rich blues, over soft yellows, over oranges, and then clouds. The gaps beween the clouds and the horizon showed cracks of deep red, like the whole landscape was one big volcano.

A nice smooth touchdown and I was here, with Alec waiting at the gate ready to plonk me on a bus and drag me back to the flat, where I'm currently sat sweating like a pig, at just 10,10am. I'm going to have to get used to that, I think. I only hope the next five days in Singapore are as much fun as those thunderstorms.