Flying Across the Equator from Australia to Southeast Asia

One of the reasons I love doing this kind of trip is that I get to partake in a life-long passion of flying. When I was a kid I wanted to be an airline pilot and as I got older I aimed for the stars and wanted to be an astronaut. (I had to settle being a geologic lecturer on a private jet but it still gets into the air).   I love to fly and always have and so far, I show no signs of tiring of it, even though the airlines do everything they can to make it a miserable experience. I like seeing the earth from above. This flight segment went from northeast Australia to Cambodia.

A part of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. I gave a lecture on the jet as soon as we climbed out of Cairns Australia and so I missed photographing the York Peninsula, the Gulf of Carpenteria, and Darwin.

A large distributary river system on the eastern side of the island of Borneo, just south of Tarakan.

A huge river in the jungles of eastern Borneo. The largest island in Asia and third largest in the world, Borneo is antipodal of the Amazon basin.

A huge thunderhead over Borneo. We had to divert slightly off our course to miss some of the big vapor towers. The photograph does no justice to its immense size.

I suspect this is runoff from some sort of mining project ,although who knows. It looks like a pipeline is leading toward the coast from some sort of industrial center next to the river.

This is Brunei, the tiny nation on the northeast coast of Borneo. The island is divided among three countries Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

After crossing the South China Sea, we entered the airspace of Vietnam and the is Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon. The Mekong River bisects the city.

The Mekong River, the planet's 12th longest river, shown north of Ho Chi Minh City.

Landing at Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Cambodia is not so much a country as it is a body of water! At least in the rainy season. There had been very heavy rains and we visited at the end of the long rainy season. Watch for my post from Angkor Wat next.