As we climbed into the air and the seatbelt sign came off, I made my bed and got comfortable. It was the last leg of my journey, Doha to Da Nang. I tried to stay awake to eat my dinner, as a full belly often promotes sleep, I wasn’t sure I would make it. About 30 minutes after take off, we again without pomp and circumstance, flew into Iranian airspace. This time for a more prolonged period, For almost an hour we moved above the southern part of Iran on the Arabian Sea.
The attendant showed up just in time with Thai noodles and a cognac. I hurried my meal and drink and settled into a deep cat nap. Before I finished dinner, we took a sharp arc south into the deep, lightless emptiness of Pakistan before plunging into the Indian subcontinent. Just as I dozed into no man’s land a baby cried, but it was not enough, and this time the plane was smaller, and its ambient noise drowned out almost everything, it was too late. My dream began before I could close my eyes. While I slept, the Subcontinent would make way for Southeast Asia. My home for the next three weeks.
I awoke abruptly to seat belt dinging sounds, a stewardess asking me to buckle up, and the captain asking for the crew to take their seats. It was a bit rocky for a few minutes, but nothing bad enough to do any more than silence the crying boy with momentary fear of uncertainty. I peered out the window into the darkness and checked the flight map and the time. It was half an hour to midnight in whatever time zone my phone and watch were holding onto. We were over the far eastern side of India and apparently ahead of schedule. Our arrival time had been adjusted almost thirty minutes ahead to 6:30 a.m. Da Nang time. This was promising. The earlier, the better. I didn’t want to sit in customs too long while my Visa was being processed. Hopefully, the earlier time will give me a good spot in line. I hear communist bureaucracy can be tiresome.
About half an hour later, just west of Kolkata, I settled back in, hoping to catch a few more hours of sleep. As Kolkutta’s amber glows began to dot the horizon, I nodded back out into the depths of a light groggy sleep.
As I slept for the last time, we crossed into Bangladesh and then Myanmar (Burma). It appeared our flight path would take us through Thailand and Laos before landing in Da Nang, but I couldn’t be sure. As we left India and began entering Southeast Asia, the Journey to get to Vietnam was almost over. I awoke over Myanmar to coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Egg, turkey, and vegetables in a beautifully crafted breading. It was light and delicious. I was in Southeast Asia. It was time to freshen up and get ready for the descent. The coffee was quite timely, with just over an hour of flight time left. Just over an hour out of 24. It’s almost over.
With the flight continually being pushed ahead, I can’t be sure if daylight will have ascended over the horizon by the time we land. The flight path shows that we have crossed into our last time zone, the 12th of the journey. I am officially on the other side of the globe.
As I look out the window, I am reminded of a movie scene. I can’t remember the movie, but the scene is that of miles of soldiers walking a footpath with torches and candles and what it appears as from above. Though too dark to photograph, the jungles beneath us are filled with rivers that are lined with flame light from the villages and homes that line her long and winding flows. like glowing serpents slithering through the dark, endless void before disappearing into the deep.
As we cross into Laos, the sky above is clear and star-filled. Just a few minutes later, we officially crossed into Vietnamese airspace. We begin to descend with no sign of light on the horizon. It may yet still be night as we touchdown in Da Nang. Though with the plane speeding towards the sunrise at 577 miles an hour and the sun barreling towards us at relatively astonishing speeds, she may find us yet. And there it is. A simple faint pastel rainbow of glowing hues of orange, pink, and blues begins to spread from above the earth’s curve. rapidly soaring up as the sun slowly warms the sky with his masterful brilliance. I stare out the window as the stars are one by one consumed by the ravenous light, as the darkness is banished from sight and the dawn embraces the morning.
As we descend below the cloud layer, it is so thick the dawn is once again hidden from sight. It has rained in Da Nang for almost two months straight. The tail end of the monsoon season. Slowly, as the dawn grows stronger, she begins to show herself again. Though now through the haze of clouds only offering up her natural light. keeping her colorful palate only to warm their fluffy cotton tops.
We break through the clouds, and the beautiful horizon shines brilliantly again. The jungle-laden mountain ranges come into view out of the escaping darkness. Even from this high up, you can get a sense of the morning dew in this tropical land as it settles across the morning. Valleys are filled with fog banks that give the mountains an appearance of ascending from the depths of a fjord or lock.
The call is made for the final approach. Da Nang is dead ahead. I can see the bottom layer of thick rain clouds beneath us as we drop towards the city. As we touched down through the thick clouds, a warm, smoggy haze began to descend with us as if to blanket the whole city. We had finally arrived in Da Nang.
