Addis Ababa

Ten-year-old Dawet.

Solomo, the gate guard on one side of our hotel.

Sunday Street Market in Liege.

A cafe waitress watches the crowd.

A sunflower from one of the flower vendors.

Liege Walkabout.

The Face of an Angel-St Paul's Cathedral Liege.

 Stumbled across this wedding going on at St Denis's.





It started to rain so I sought shelter at my favorite sidewalk cafe for a cafe au lait.

Philly.

Saw the Liberty Bell. Only had to stand in line for 10 minutes.

Another 5 and we were out the door.

Had a Philly Cheesteak at Jim's Steak House.

Philly and the Delaware.

On the way to Philly Friday evening.

Church Cemetary in Ramstein.

We were out walking in Landstuhl when we came across the church cemetary. Many of the people buried there passed away in 1944-45, several were teenagers. Makes you wonder how they died, in battle, starvation, as part of the Hitler Youth?

Oshkosh-Where is everybody?

Vintage parking from our plane. Empty. EAA is blaming weather but the homebuilts and warbirds made it in okay. It was so wide open people were flying rc planes and two boys were playing catch several nights. It was this way until Friday morning when I left.

Burg Nanstein in Landstuhl, Germany.

"Grumpy old troll" along the trail to the castle.

Burg Nanstein is a castle in Landstuhl, Germany dating to the 12th century. Having the morning off, we hiked up to it and took a look around.

The rocks in the area reminded me of Sedona.

The knight overlooking the trail to the castle.

 

A stern look from the knight.

Top of the Castle.

A long day.

Mountains northwest of Incirlik AFB, Adana, Turkey.

We had a long day at the beginning of the week. Double-crew, we went to Baghram AFB is Afghanistan, then to Incirlik in Turkey and then back to Ramstein AFB by Frankfurt, Germany.

We leave tomorrow afternoon for MaGuire AFB in Jersey and then ferry it up to JFK for a 1/7. Then back down to Dover and across the pond the next afternoon.

Boat

A boat moored on the side of the river.

Dinner in Liege

Out for dinner at the Brasilia in Liege with the fella's.

Beautiful stone pllarts at the old Palace.

Dodging boomers on the way to Jakarta.

Had to dodge several boomers on the round-trip to Jakarta.

The Fountain at the Tashkent Opera House.

This fountain is located across the street from our hotel, background, and has

many lights illuminating it cause the water to appear to change color.

Trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-a real eye-opener.

Looking forward to two days off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I asked the Captain if he was going siteseeing. When he said yes, I quickly said I'd like to go with him and he said we'd all go exploring, buy some coffee and look around. 

We left the hotel at 10 AM and as I left the compound and walked across the street, I saw a military guard carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. Great.

The first thing we saw was a real eye-opener to me. These people lived in abject poverty. I asked the guys if the whole town was like this and was this just a "bad neighborhood." They told me it was representative of most everything they had seen in Addis.



As we started walking thru the neighborhood, which was located next to another modern hotel. Most of the houses we saw were nothing more than shacks, with lots of debris for a yard and tin metal for a roof.

As we walked across a street, this young man saw the Captain and came running over and gave him a hug. Turns out the Captain had known him for years, met him on previous visits to Addis. His name is Bengm Thomas. His mom is dead, his father working in another country and he lives in an 8' X 8' shack with a friend, follows soccer and has an infectious smile.

Here I am with Bengm and his friend Honeck, who we hired to be our guide so we didn't go somewhere unsafe.

A fast-food restaurant in Addis.

Walking around, I saw these two young girls that had a dress shop. I pointed to the camera and smiled and Honeck told them I'd like to take their photo and they agreed, laughing all the time. Their names are ShuShu and Ferahutt.

An old abandoned Foosball table left on a sidewalk.

Honeck and Bengm pose besides the latter's home.

We walked around the area for about 3 hours, stopping for a Coke at a place that Honeck recommended and at a coffee shop where a couple of the guys bought some coffee beans. (Ethiopian coffee is great btw, not acidic like here in America.)

Then we headed back to the hotel and Bengm took us off the alleyway (?) to show us his "house." Really a shack made up of wood, sticks and mud with a tin roof overhead to provide protection against the sun and soon the rain.

We paid them well for our "tour" and wished them the best but I couldn't help but think as I walked back into the hotel compound that though I was able to leave, this was all they knew, it was their home. I felt guilty for all I had and that I should have given them more.

I did get Honeck's email address and hope I go back to I can do some more for the two young men.

More from inside the Cathedrals.

More pictures from inside the two Cathedrals I visited yesterday.



Walking around Liege

I got into Liege this beautiful spring afternoon and had to set out to see what was going on. Lots of people were out, it seems like nobody works in this town. The cafe's were full, people were everywhere.

Batu Caves

I thought about going up to Batu Caves today, north of Kuala Lumpur. But after looking it up and seeing the 272 steps that one had to climb in order to get to the caves, my calves and knees decided it was not a good idea.

I was going to go downtown but since I couldn't find anyone that wanted to go with me and I'm here all month, just decided to take a nap and drink some beer tonight.

A Visit to China Town in Kuala Lumpur

 We went for a tour bus ride around Kuala Lumpur yesterday with the intention of going to China Town to do a little shopping and picture taking. We saw all the "usual stuff" in Kuala-the Petronis Towers, KL Tower, downtown. I wished we would have gone up the KL tower to get a panoramic view of the city but it'll have to be another day.

I'm always surprised by the sheer number of vendors and volume of goods in China Town. Everywhere we turned it was "Hey Mister, dvd's? Hey Mister, genuine fake Rolex's, Tag Heuer! Mister, you my first customer, give you good deal on Ray-Ban"s!"

 

Guard at the National Palace. He's for ceremony only, there were policemen standing right behind me.

This young couple had just gottem married and was having the wedding photo's

 taken in front of the National Palace.



Leaving China Town, this young man gave me a grin from his scooter

as I snapped his pix.

Free lunch at the Hotel

    
     This lovely young lady invited all our crews to a free lunch at the hotel held in honor of a local holiday. Thank you! It was greatly appreciated and the food was superb.

Vendors at Alskiy Market

Vendors at the Farmers Market in Tashkent.

A Walking Tour of Liege, Belgium.

Nothing beats drinks with friends after work.

 I wish I would have had one of these when I took my tour. I would pay for the next two days with calves that felt strung tighter than tennis rackets.

View of the city from the top of the steps leading to a World War I Memorial honoring members of the Resistence.

The steps which caused me so much pain. There are about 100 of them, 10 sets of 10, more or less. They go uphill at about a 45 degree angle. After 4 sets of them, I had to stop and rest between each set, the gradient is a killer.