Petites vacances en famille dans la presqu'ile. Depuis le cap de la Chèvre, on voit les Tas de Pois qui se dessinent au loin.

Les champs de bruyères témoignent de la désolation de la Bretagne...

...quant au festival du bout du monde, il témoigne de la perdition des Bretons.

Heureusement que Robert Plant était la pour relever un peu le niveau...

Harlingen in Netherlands is home to two atypical hotels: one in a lighthouse, the other one in a harbour crane. I spent more time working than taking pictures, but still, it gives you an idea.

The story behind the crane is that you can move it around. Therefore you enjoy both sunrise and sunset, from the very same room. You can also hang a giant wedding ring to the hook and ask your fiancee if she wants to marry you. It worked for a guest!

καλημέρα...

Athens was on fire when I arrived. Demonstrations of angry highschool students ready to fight with the police, smell of burning tires and tear gas. I could smell it but I could not find the place. Damned, I always wanted to shoot a demonstration that turns bad after my failure in Paris (April 2006 Anti-CPE). So, it will be again some nice touristic pictures...

For 5 days, I enjoyed the small streets, the mediterrenean feel of Athens...

And the paintings on the walls, the doors... Sleepy Athens.

I spent very little time in Cairo, only four days, so perhaps, I should not write too much this time. Problems to get autorizations at the airport, problems to film the pyramids, problems with the police, afraid to hurt people's feelings...but still, I had my share of sensations! I have to say Cairo is a jam, polluted, overcrowded city, but I just loved it.

And of course, the Pyramids and the Sphinx... You experience very profound and personal moments on site.

It felt good, to be one among many...

...and realizing everything is impermanent was even better. 

I could write pages about Thailand. This country, where I spent three years, has become the country of my heart. For its beauty and for its people. "Sabai sabai..." It has been two years since I left the Kingdom but little has changed to me, even after the coup d'Etat.

Here are some pictures of Maldives. I have had mixed feelings about this country. I guess it is a paradisiac place for Europeans fleeing the cold winters but for Maldivians, it is more like a dictature.

If Male remains a rather large city, the rest is just small islands, about to disappear and the distance between the various atolls casts away 400 000 Maldivians .   
But if our eyes are just to see and not to think, to make a statement and not to analyse, then Maldives is one of the many wonders in this world.

Maldives is also well-known to divers. Coral riffs are home to thousands of species. I had the chance to swim with Manta rays. But I believe this place is not for me. I was the only one using an umbrella, for my skin is quite fair!

Manchester

I came for work but I had only one obsession:  board on of these beautiful traditional boats and leave the island.

Minus 20 degrees, only 6 hours of daylight... I went to another desert, but of Ice this time.
Kiruna, in Sweden, is beyond the Arctic circle and in January, it is pretty cold down there.

We head to the Ice hotel, which melts every summer and is rebuilt every year, in a different way. This is how it looked like in Winter 2006-2007.

Whatever the outside temperature is, it can be -40 or +10, inside the Ice hotel, it is always -5. So sometimes, it is good to have a sip at the Icebar. Garçon! Vodka!

Back from Kenya, I had no time to rest. Voyage TV gave me another assignment. "Where would I go next?" "Jordan". I started to feel dazed by the countries I was sent to.

"Jordan" did not mean much to me. I knew very little about the Kingdom, and I had just a few days to research about its history, its culture and its landscapes. But after a while, I understood that my assignment would be a fantastic journey. Along the King's Highway, I will eventually get lost into the Wadi Rum desert and the ancient city of Petra.

The mountains in Wadi Rum are made of sand stones. Erosion for thousands of years led to spectacular rock formations.

Mohammed, our guide, told about the story of the beduins, their generosity, and the absolute necessity of sharing in such hostile environment. Not long after, we heard a Jeep roaring in the distance. They were about to pass us when they saw us. Quickly, the driver did a bend and came in our direction. "How everything is going? Are you ok? Do you have cigarettes?" I gave them my pack and was a bit surprised when they took half of it. But weren't we beduins for a day? 

Desert can be surprising. I had just learned it. Generosity is a key word, as much as survival. And you can be moved by a single little plant. Or by stunning sunsets.

The next day, early morning.  We hit the road again to get to Petra, the forgotten city. On our way, we met a shepard. Ali and his family were living in the mountainous region of Petra. Sheeps were like cottons flowers in the distance.

What could be said about Petra, home of the long gone Nabataean civilization? The Nabataeans were an ancient Semitic people who loosely-controlled trading network between Syria and the Red Sea. If the origins of the Nabataeans remain obscure, their heritage is still there and is a testimony of their great architectural skills. Trajan definitively conquered the Nabataean kingdom, annexing it into the Roman Empire, where their individual culture, easily identified by their characteristic finely-potted painted ceramics, became dispersed and was eventually lost.

Nabataeans lived in troglodyte houses like these ones.

And like Nabataeans of yesterday...

Jordanians of today still use camels

We arrived early morning at Nairobi airport and, half asleep, I stepped outside the plane in the tropical heat. The smell of the frangipanea woke me up. God I thought I was back in South East Asia... until I saw a couple of giraffes just behind the tarmac fence.

I did not see much of Nairobi, a supposedly dangerous and violent capital city. The cameraman and I were escorted to a small photoshop and among young kenyan girls and boys in their best outfit, we have been portrayed so we can get a work permit.

We had to catch another plane, so we rushed back to the airport. This plane was much smaller than any other I had taken before. The pilot and his assistant were chichatting outside the cabine, waiting for us.  We were only four in the plane. And pretty soon, I would encounter Africa in all its beauty.

After few minutes only, we got to the Lake Natron area. Lake Natron is a salt lake located in Africa's Great Rift Valley. The lake is quite shallow, less than three meters deep, and varies in width depending on its water level. 

The alkali salt crust on the surface of the lake is often colored red or pink by the salt-loving microorganisms that live there.

Lake Natron is the only breeding location for Lesser Flamingoes because its caustic environment is a barrier against predators trying to reach their nests.

Temperatures in the mud can reach 50 degrees Celsius, and depending on rainfall, the alkalinity can reach a pH of 9 to 10.5.

We went on, over the rift valley and huge placid lakes.   

The vegetation is quite diversed and soon we came across a much drier land.

We finally got to our final destination: the land of the Masai, near the Mount Shompole. Andrew, a Luo, was waiting for us by his jeep.

Mount Shompole in Masai means "Henna head Mountain". Koike, a father of three was our guide. We could not understand each other, as Koike, beside his mother toungue only spoke Swahili. But it did not matter, his land spoke for itself.

The Masai have a colourful way of dressing and they developped the art of beads.

However, I have the feeling that, like many other ethnic groups throughout the world, Masai live in the margins of the national culture. But for how long in the future?