Lates Update from Cebu

Dear Family and Friends....
It is now Thursday afternoon from Cebu...and yes I got a sunburn! We did not get out of Seoul on Wednesday night til almost midnight and it took us about 3 hours to fly to Chunghou China (FedEx hub). It was a beautiful night to fly ...but I got to ride sideways in a jumpseat in a MD-11 since our bird was broken. When we got to China, our hub turn was delayed another 2 hours because our Airbus was having some maintenance issue. With that resolved we got airborne for Cebu about 0540 this morning and flew about 2 more hours into Cebu.
China was incredible. The airfield and FedEx facility is brand new. It's huge. The aircraft was met with very impeccable looking Fedex employees with several military/political officers all around our airplane. It didn't take but minutes to remember you are in a very controlled Communist nation. Everyone was very courteous and efficient and we were driven by van into this new facility built next to the 25 wide body gates. The Fedex sort facility is very large and looks similar to the one in Indy except there were prison type fences (security) around the bldg, that looked like they were to keep the employees in, since it was already within the secure confines of the entire airfield. It reminded me of a gulag. Of course the Chinese security was very serious and their Custom procedures were methodical and repetitive. We stayed inside for about an 90 minutes and then went through the same drill just to go back out to our airplane. The maintenance issue took another 3 hours to resolve once we got to the bird...but the Chinese workers were very courteous and thorough ...and all spoke very good English. It was impressive.
When we finally go airborne our flight to Cebu was awesome. I got to see the most incredible dawning of the day watching the sun rise over the South China Sea while we were cruising at 12500 meters (FL 370) which was the most complicated part of leaving China. We never use meters in our flying, so trying to decipher their broken English and convert meters to feet had me hopping. The best part of the morning was flying directly over Luzon, which is the major island of the Philippines. This is where we lived from 1980-83. It was an incredible view and I actually got to fly over the same places where we used to fly F-4s during our training missions. The mountain ranges that start at the north of Luzon near Baggio and then One Hundred Islands and on down into the Camp O'Donnell where the Death March of Bataan ended after the fall of Corregedor. (Kelly...we hiked part of that trail while you were in school here). I flew directly over Clark AB and got to see Mt Pinatubo which was the volcano that destroyed most of that base in 1991. This volcano erupted in the same mountain ranges where we flew our F-4s and where Camp O'Donnell use to be. It was quite a morning flight for me! I took several pictures ....but it was from FL370.
We then flew directly over Manila on our flight into Cebu, which is part of Mac Tan Island, Philippines. This island is the Carribean for this part of Asia. Lots of Asians come here to vacation. It is famous in history as the place where the explorer Magellan was killed by a Philippino native named Lapu Lapu, which is the name of the airfield we landed. It is a little airport but Cebu is the second largest city in the P.I. It reminded me of the old tv show Paradise Island! It was really a beautiful setting as you came into land. We were met at the airplane with about 15 men, at parade rest, wearing yellow shirts, waiting to greet and unload our Airbus. Smiles everywhere and lots of "welcome sirs". Nothing had changed! The same industrious and courteous people that I knew 26 years ago!
The Shangri-La Hotel has lived up to its name. An open aired entrance, lots of security and waitstaff, all in colorful uniforms waiting to meet your every need! It was awesome. The large fans were turning, and plants and greenery everywhere. The entire first two floors of the hotel has no external walls. The bars, resturants, main check in, etc are open aired. The grounds were lush green and led to the several pools and decks and then down into their own beach. Not many Europeans ....just mostly Japanese and Korean guests. I did meet one fellow from Kuwait who took my picture..which will be posted once I return home. I naturally held true to my promise....went to the beach (after 1 hour nap) and got sunburned. I love it! I had a late lunch and then crashed again which now has me writing at 7pm. I am going to get a light dinner and drink one San Miquel for old time sakes. We leave the hotel at 6:30 am for a long day tomorrow. We fly to Jakarta, Singapore and end up in Penang Malaysia which is another lush beach resort. Man this is a miserable job but I don't mind the sacrifice.
Ok ...enough of this saga. I hope you all have enjoyed my description of this journey. I wanted you all to be a part of this adventure through my eyes and then my words. I will write more tomorrow.
Love to all
Moose