. Just above them was the tail of the SQ plane with the Singapore Airlines logo shining a brilliant yellow against the night sky. I soon passed them and made my way to my seat, which was the last row on the plane, which unfortunately I later found out, had a restricted recline. But I was too excited to let that bother me. The flight attendant looked out of my window, as she bent to see the last of the little vans pull away and a solitary passenger made his way up the stairs. Soon, we push backed and were leaving the bright terminal area to the dark remote corner which was the start of our take off position, the cabin lights dimming as we positioned ourselves on the runway. The small yet powerful jet roared to life and I pressed my face into the glass, even though what I saw from my seat was good enough already. The bright terminal area raced by briefly illuminating the dark wing as the light on the tip of wing blinked away almost as excitedly as my heart raced in excitement, and we pulled up into the night sky. The airport lay below us and the few PIA planes lined up the terminal area. The blinking wingtip lights danced in and out of some low lying clouds, briefly lighting them as the city passed under us like a million diamonds strewn on a black velvet blanket, the large clusters then turning into one big cluster of light as we travelled SE towards Singapore.Soon the smell of fresh hand towels filled the air and once refreshed, drinks and snacks were provided. We then had dinner and immediately once that was cleared the cabin plunged into darkness as all the lights were turned out. It was a moonlight night outside and the small wingtip light continued to blink like a solitary star against the clouds that lay in the distance. We would soon pass some heavy clouds on the way and our jet would shake like briefly stirring some of the sleepy passengers and then all would be calm again. Just an hour before touchdown on our +6 hour flight the light came back on and we were served breakfast. We were soon in our descent mode and before long were on finals to Singapore Changi http://www.airliners.net/open.file/306292/L/. http://www.airliners.net/open.file/280677/L/ The jet touched down gently as possible on 20R and you could feel the plane then braking as the spoilers went up and the famous SINGAPORE CHANGI AIRPORT http://www.airliners.net/open.file/187792/L/ sign passed outside my window. We made our way to the terminal area and were soon inside the very impressive Changi airport which seemed like a mini city with so many shops around. The ceiling to floor glass windows provided ample view of the parking areas and we choose to sit at a spot from where you could see the planes pass between the two terminal buildings 8). Time passed quicker than I thought and soon our flight to Sydney was boarding. The otherwise medium paced terminal during the day, became uncontrollably busy as flights departed in all directions at night. I was now terribly sleepy and could only think of shutting my eyes as soon as I sat in my seat.
The flight was full and boarding took quite a bit. I had a window seat and even though it seemed like a lot to watch outside I just shut my eyes instead. I woke up to the sound of the engines roaring down the runway only to see the runway lights left behind as the B747-300 BIG TOP http://www.airliners.net/open.file/053344/L/ http://www.airliners.net/open.file/053342/L/ climbed into the night sky. I opted not to have dinner and I actually slept through the entire flight. I was definitely not prepared at that time for long haul flights. It was to the smell of breakfast :drink: and the hand of the flight attendant on my shoulder that I stirred out of my sleep, upset that I had slept through the whole flight
, yet relieved that I had at the same time . Rays of sunlight danced in certain places in the cabin, as window blinds began to be pulled up and breakfast trays were put down in front of the waking passengers. I myself pulled my blinds up and thought I was seeing things. The sky which was it’s usual blue seemed to have penetrated into the mountains we were flying over, which actually blue in colour due to the eucalyptus leaves that grow on them. It was a beautiful sight and some accents of small white clouds passed by over them. By the time breakfast was done :fork: and the trays stowed away we were commencing our descent into Sydney. The morning sunshine danced on the top of the roofs of what seemed like an industrial area. We were soon passing over houses, some inlets of land and water and before long seemed to be heading out towards the sea., which I later learned was Botany Bay. We were approaching land again after briefly out at sea, and the scene of choppy waves though small from our height could be seen crashing on the shores photo: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/172029/L/ I almost thought we were landing into the sea as that is all I could see, before the wheels slammed onto 34L, spoilers activated and the brakes kicked in. We made our way to the terminal area where other early arrivals in the morning stood parked at their gates, including a British Airways B747 which I never knew at that time, would bring me some six years later back to Sydney, Australia 
. SYDNEY-SINGAPORE-KARACHI
Two months in Sydney passed so quickly. I could not believe it was time to head back
. We had a late afternoon departure out of Sydney, which made it easy for all the family to come goodbye on the weekend afternoon. The goodbyes done :waving: , we proceeded to the departure gates after checking our tickets, passports and boarding passes in hand. It looked like we were going to have a delay as the SQ jet was just being towed into the airport area from a remote area. It finally pulled in and it was a B742 http://www.airliners.net/open.file/744721/L/ unlike the SQ 743 BIG TOP http://www.airliners.net/open.file/447641/L/ we had flown into SYD with. The Singapore Girls on board were busy assisting passengers and one even helped a big Aussie guy with storing his hand carry. They served drinks as an hour passed and we did not push back. I could not see this from where I sat, but my cousins later told me there were two men on the port side of the plane fixing something?? We did however push back much later and were going to take off south which would take us over the sea. I had my headphones on it was like the captain hit the play button of George Michael’s “Monkey” as he powered the jet to life as we raced down the runway. I had my camera in hand, and the song blasted into my ears as we climbed up into the afternoon sky. And then, the shadow of our B742 passed along the runway and the beach and I captured that on camera. I was just so pleased. We turned left and continued into that position till we were now flying directly over the airport, the two runways could be seen stretching out like two fingers dipping into Botany Bay http://www.airliners.net/open.file/294638/L/ (view is from the south side, while we flew over the northern side) We then passed over the suburbs and the red roofed tops stretched out in all directionshttp://www.airliners.net/open.file/255905/L/ , some curving streets going through the maze of houses. George Michael’s monkey was coming to a close and I decided to see what else was playing. That was a great song to take off to!!. Lunch was served and when the trays were being cleared I decided to look out of my window and noticed we were cruising at a high altitude as the earth now a shade darker merged into the horizon where the setting sun seemed to be the border where the earth met the sky. We watched this movie about twins, can’t remember the name, and almost as soon as the movie ended the entertainment system gave way to a scratchy blank screen with the passengers quickly removing their headsets to free themselves of the noise. The cabin lights blinked momentarily and all was good again. An uneasiness filled the cabin as the Singapore Girls were bending towards keen ears assuring passengers all was well, later confirmed by the captain who came on to confirm the same message. Perhaps the delay at Sydney and the problem of the men fixing something on the wing had something to do with it . Dinner commenced and that cleared and done with, our descent into Singapore was starting to take place. The cabin lights were still bright and even with the slight glare on my window I could see the moon shining outside in my window’s top right corner. I placed the blanket over my head and pulled it towards the window and I could now see the moon shining even brighter in the night sky. It was all dark outside except for the moonlight that shone on the wing. The lights dimmed in time and I threw the blanket off my head in time to see the wing lift upwards towards the moon almost in an attempt to reach it, but the moon danced away now to the left and disappeared all together. We were turning right and the darkness below gave way to ships shining like tiny lit gifts in the bay. We continued to turn right and the bright lights along the coastline twinkled in the distance as we approached them descending lower in altitude, yet still keeping the gentle turn we were in. Our turn complete, the coastline travelled alongside us it’s bright city lights and buildings sparkling below. What a change from the darkness we had just come out of
. The lights moved into the distance even though we got much lower and the lights of airport area raced under our jet. An airport vehicle it’s lights blinked as it passed by under us, raced along the border of the airport perimeter, and before long our wheels slammed onto the runway. We passed by a British Airways B747 that was in the holding area getting set to take to the skies we had just descended from. After we had gone down the length of the runway and had turned to head back south using the taxiways to the terminal area, I looked back and saw the BA 747 climbing into the Singapore night sky as it commenced it’s long journey back to London Heathrow. We turned right on the taxiway and passed a whole line of SQ jets being readied for flights to places all over the world. Another SQ BIG TOP stood at the edge of the terminal. A twinkle of light that started on it’s tail moved down towards the body, along the length of it’s body, up towards the upper deck and then disappeared into it’s nose, as we passed by it towards the other side where we were going to park and then once in the airport to Immigration and Customs. http://www.airliners.net/open.file/314469/L/ We had 3 days in Singapore.The flight back to KHI was now boarding as I got to the gate. The temptations of Changi airport duty free was too much to miss 8) . We boarded the A310 http://www.airliners.net/open.file/751239/L/ and pulled out of the terminal area and were making our way to 20L http://www.airliners.net/open.file/533104/L/ from where we would soon be racing down towards the sea on runway 20L from where we had landed in the other direction on 02R some nights before. Almost as soon as we climbed the jet http://www.airliners.net/open.file/218591/L/ turned left passing by the airport http://www.airliners.net/open.file/175848/L/ and continued that way until we now flying over Malaysian airspace. We progressed north west towards Burma (Mynamar) from where we could fly over the Bay of Bengal into India before we would be into Pakistani airspace. And so before long after 6 hours or more in the SQ cabin http://www.airliners.net/open.file/231221/L/, and having flown over greenery and blue seas, the earth started to take a brown hue as we passed dry arid lands below. The approach into KHI is always this way and especially during an afternoon arrival the bright sun and the sandy brown earth below cause a blinding effect 8) . Patches of greenery started to appear as we closed in on the city and tiny houses appeared in places here and there. Roads moved close to these and the roads stretched for miles. Soon the houses increased in numbers and the suburbs filled the view of my window outside. We were now on finals and the flaps had descended and the jet moved gently from light to right to position itself correctly in line with the runway . Buses, cars and other vehicles passed under us and we passed over some houses and a place of prayer where the minaret could clearly be seen as it passed by under us. We touched down gently onto the runway and the warm afternoon sun :cool2: welcomed us to KHI. The familiar PK planes we had left some two months before passed by outside http://www.airliners.net/open.file/444446/L/ as we progressed towards the terminal area. We were back!!
