45,000 feet above ground (四萬五呎上空)

Before the take off, I looked outside the cabin window

and discovered a whole fleet of Emirate planes all lined up for action or for inspection

finally off the ground now

I discovered once more the importance of water.

Arabs certainly know the value of their palm trees. I remember my trip to Tunisia, where they grow little but olives and palms

Before long, I'd see nothing but clouds

Time for another breakfast.

Another great chance to sample the huge varieties of clouds

They can be packed very close together

with bigger or smaller breaks

through which one can look at the desert landscape below

I have often wondered how it's possible for the land to be so arid when it is right beside water

I also discovered that whenever you find some signs of human habitation below, it most often happens that there'll be some clouds overhead. If so, do the human way of living generate water vapor or is it the other way round ie. wherever there're no clouds and no rain, you won't find people?

a stretch of African coast below me. 

We were just hugging the coast of Algeria.

and a string of wispy clouds above

they seem to radiate out from a common point

some distant clouds linked together as if they formed part of a mountain chain.

clouds can look like water churned up on the surface of a turbulent river.

sometimes, different kinds of clouds can overlap with each other but somehow, each retain their own shape, apparently little disturbed by the other clouds, as if they came from two different races.

and within a short distance, you can find three different cloud groups.

sometimes they can move really quickly.

Sir, would you care for a glass of wine before your meal?

I glanced at the Menu in the front seat pocket

But when I cast my eye down to the floor, I discovered what looks like a white lotus leaf of light.

first some soup and salad.

while the plane was flying over a lake

but the landscape quickly reverted into desert mountains. 

But occasionally, there are some vegetation on one side of the slope or valley.

 

As I was not really hungry, I skipped the main dish.

and had just half a piece of cheese cake

and resumed my cloud gazing.

after what seemed an interminable period of time,

I heard the captain announcing that we were close to landing

I looked down and found plenty of green below me

and a very long coast line

Then we flew over some densely packed housing development with superhighway criss-crossing and over each other in all kinds of directions. 

We're getting really close to the ground

Soon, I passed under this light on the corridor to the luggage reclaim area. 

The luggage reclaim information screen above the conveying belt

The first glimpse of my first  destination: Lisbon.