Mooney eastbound

Arrived last night just before sunset at Shangjie, near Zhengzhou. This is a large city in central China and our final destination. Shangjie has a small airport, with an airshow being held over coming days. Our arrival was greeted with great ceremony, introductions to dignatories, photo shoots etc etc.  A group of charming volunteer translators were on hand. Then we went to a welcome banquet at our hotel. The internet has been a problem, direct access to this blog seems to be impossible.  I am only able to update via my mobile phone.  Therefore no photos for the time being unfortunately. I will have another attempt this evening but it looks like a system block for now......  ======  Edited later: Now here are some photos: Refuelling on arrival at Nanning, south-west China Arrival at Shangjie Air Show (Shangjie is near Zhengzhou in central China), meeting the air show boss: Photos with local dignatories and officials, AOPA representative ...

Today at last we departed Chiang Mai (a good few dollars lighter) at about 0930 local time and flew east.  This was first over the jungles of Laos - over the city of Luang Prabang - then across into Vietnam.  The route passed overhead Hanoi, but it was cloudy and we saw nothing of Vietnam. We even got some airframe ice. In due course we passed into China without incident, and landed at Nanning's large airport. We had thought it  always possible that we might be turned back at the border, so at least that did not happen. Progress throught Nanning airport was slow, and dogged by language obstacles. The avgas did not appear on arrival but has been ptomised for tomorrow morningn I could not connect my cimputer the internet so I am doing this on my phone ..... 

By the way these flights' path can be tracked at: https://share.garmin.com/PeterGorman They can also be seen via Flightradar24 although I have not tried this.

Some further thoughts at the end of today: 1.   Our very good friend Joan Feeney died in Dublin, after a year's battle with an aggressive cancer.   Very sad end to a nightmare for Joan, her husband and family, and her parents.  Our thoughts are with them at this time; but that sounds so inadequate. 2.   Dimorphism is very much more pronounced among the Thai people, compared to westerners, I wonder why this is so?   Some evolutionary selection?   A more violent past (I can hardly imagine this is the case)?   And another thing: male pattern baldness is far less than in western populations – why is this?   We need to know. 3.   I have been suffering from - er - intestinal turbulence for the past few days.   Since I have brought a lot of muesli, I don't know whether consuming this instead of local staples such as chicken green curry is actually helping or harming the situation.   Anyway I will keep you posted!   S...

Just when we were about to head out from the hotel for a tour of the attractions of Chiang Mai, news arrived that our Chinese agent was proposing a new routing in China that would avoid Guilin and its Customs problems.  Assumptions about the China legs being abandoned proved premature. Thus much of the day was taken up with revising all flight routes, fuel uplifts, etc etc so as to land tomorrow 26 April at Nanning in the south of China instead of Guilin. Then, the plan now goes, we would proceed from Nanning to Zhengzhou on 27 April, and then return Zhengzhou - Nanning - Thailand on Monday 1 May. This change involved further changes to our Laos and Vietnam overflight permits being obtained. More money is involved. Time was spent juggling the fuel uplifts in each place that would get us back to Thailand with enough fuel to continue to Bangkok on 2 May.  When standard approx 200 litre (50 US gallons) barrels at Nanning were assumed, this seemed to work out ok, but we a...

Now tonight we hear that we are definitely not flying to Guilin tomorrow (for my Irish readers that is pronounced like that estimable organisation Gael Linn).   So the morning after tomorrow is the last, last chance. The overflight permits for Laos and Vietnam have been extended another day. Hey, ho.  Let's see what tomorrow brings .........

Still holed up now in my bedroom at the Kantary Hotel in Chiang Mai.  Cabin fever. Sidebar:  good news about the French election, crazies held at bay there for now..... We were supposed to leave for China (Guilin) early tomorrow morning.  The initial crisis over the various handling, customs and other fees at Guilin seems to have subsided, the air show organisers agreed in somewhat imprecise terms (that I hope we can rely on) to cap us at a swallowable level of cost. But then a new crisis erupted when we sought confirmation that the light aircraft plus contents arriving at Guilin would be cleared onwards by Chinese customs there to the airshow in Zhengzhou (or its satellite Shangjie nearby) without problems or duties etc being levied.  The aircraft appeared to be classed as "goods".   The airshow organisers are trying to work this out, we have given them a further 24 hours maximum (really 0930Z on 25 April) to provide the required confirmations....

Hello to anyone who has looked at this blog and wondered why there have been no new posts.  This results simply from a lack of time and more urgent must-do items to attend to, including meals and sleep. The route went from Al Ain (in Abu Dhabi) to Ahmedabad in India. From there we flew across India to Chittagong in Bangladesh. Photo:refuelling at Chittagong Then we went from Chittagong to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, arriving there on 20th April. These were all long, long flights.   Parked at Chiang Mai International Airport   Here is route map for the itinerary from Abu Dhabi to Ahmedabad (India), Chittagong (Bangladesh), Chiang Mai (Thailand).  Marie asked for a map!   It was good to spend a few days in one place here in Chiang Mai after having long flights every day. Street scene   Bar menu Two crews planning flight into China ....   On Saturday 22nd April we flew the Mooney to the nearby airfield...

Here is a map of the early part of this trip: Habsheim (France) - Portoroz (Slovenia) - Heraklion (Crete) - Aqaba (Jordan) - Bahrain - Al Ain (Abu Dhabi)

Peter Gorman This was the sendoff party at Aviatik Club at Habsheim 5d Peter Gorman a lot of baggage required .... 5d           Peter Gorman Crossing the Alps on a fine day always looks spectacular. 5d           Peter Gorman Now at Heraklion Crete. Tired after a 850 mile flight,and an unsatisfactory steep descent to the RNAV instrument approach at the airport. We did not book a hotel in advance, which at the airport looked like a mistake as many local hotels were full. Hordes of Easter tourists were pouring out of the airport terminal to their tour buses. The Greek Orthodox Easter this year coincides with the Roman Easter. A taxi driver took us to the Oasis Hotel, basic but clean and fine for an overnight. A few beers settled us down...... 5d             Peter Gorman Easte...