I remember being a different person when I left Sydney. I was full of boundless energy, consumed by a burning desire to travel and to explore different cultures through immersion. Gone was the monotony of my day to day, I was ready to discover the world! Well, a small part of it at least. That was then, some 5 years on and I have to say that I am now completely over it. I've worked in London, visited over god knows how many European cities, laboriously learnt French, realised my dream to live to Paris, and at present, I'm finally back in Mauritius to finish off what I had started not too long ago - a comprehensive photo reportage on the island's rich culture. They sure have been exciting and unforgettable moments during those years, and I would go back and do it all again, but now I feel tired. I have little fire left to pursue the same rhythm of life. To be completely honest I would just rather go back to Sydney and settle down to a nice everyday routine. > continue reading

Il est bizarre de passer son dernier jour dans un pays que l'on considérait chez soi pendant un an et demi. Voilà où je me trouve ce matin ni froid ni chaud, mais douce comme les mémoires que j'ai collectionnés dans ce beau pays la France. Pendant les 3 derniers jours, j'ai dit au revoir à tous mes amis, presque tous. À vrai dire, je voulais partir sans rien dire. On se verra bientôt non ? C'est plus simple comme ça. En fait, ce n'est pas cela qui est difficile. Ceux qui étaient proches, je les verrai dans l'avenir, c'est sûr. Mais ceux qui ne gardaient pas trop de contact, je ne les verrai pas vraiment. C'est un bon filtre, un filtre qui sépare les vrais amis des connaissances brèves. Ce qui est difficile, c'est de quitter Paris. > continue reading

Un petit mot pour dire que j'ai réussi à trouver un poste ! Je suis officiellement un employé de Wengo, une start-up qui appartient à Neuf Telecom. En effet, je suis employé par Neuf, et du coup je travaille actuellement à La Défense - le plus grand quartier d'affaire en Europe. C'est cool non ? Je suis vraiment content de pouvoir travailler dans un endroit uniquement et fièrement parisien et non dans un lieu quelconque, plus que le Français moyen. > continue reading

My intentions were clear - at the very least live one year in Paris to improve the French that I have been studying (on and off) for the past 4 or so years. I've sacrificed a lot to come to France. I tortured myself with French grammar, autonomously practiced speech for hours, and left some decent pay in England to pursue this - a Parisian birth. And now, after spending my first 24 hours in the French capital, I'm not really sure if I want to stay. > continue reading

Trois mois et demi, ça fait assez longtemps à l'île Maurice. Tout le monde me demande "qu'est-ce que tu fais? Tu ne t'ennuie pas?" Malheureusement non. J'ai un grand projet de photographie qui consomme la plupart de mon temps. Ceci dit, cela ne me permet pas de passer une journée à la plage. Alors, c'est vraiment dommage de ne pas profiter de cette belle évasion. Quel est donc mon objectif à l'île Maurice? Il me faut rassembler 200 photos de bonnes qualités pour réaliser mon travail. Le travail est long et dur, et il prend une routine bien stricte comme la mienne écrite ci-dessous. > continue reading

It's hard to imagine that I once had all this time ahead of me. Two years to try to do as much as London England had to offer. Now, after seeing the last two years of my life race by, it seems like I didn't have that much time at all. I realise that I couldn't have done everything. That would be physically impossible. But I had a mental list of things that I could reasonably achieve. However, there still remains quite a fair bit of that list to do. I still haven't visited St Pauls Cathedral, I still haven't seen Macbeth being performed at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and I still haven't had a chance to have dinner at The Fat Duck. I guess I can always come back for a holiday. > continue reading

We finally moved into our new home situated within a quiet Battersea estate along the Thames. I think it's going to be the last time Natasha and I move in London. It was so laborious transporting all of our stuff across, and the weird thing is, we hardly own anything. Well, we don't think we own that much, but it just adds up: clothes, linen, bags, laptops, CDs and DVDs, cameras, books, paperwork, Moroccan rugs, camping gear, cooking utensils, pots and pans, my wok and cleaver, food, anime figurines, and one big TV. Ok, now that does sound like a lot. > continue reading

I was unable to go to work today after some medical treatment yesterday left me somewhat immobilised. After preparing a soothing cup of morning tea I was suddenly alerted to the incredible news of several bombs exploding during peak-hour here in London. There have been about 5 separate and simultaneous explosions leaving (so far) 20 dead and over 100 injured. One tore a bus right open like a thin tin of aluminum, people have been stranded beneath King's Cross underground for the past 5 hours and no one knows what the hell is going on. The whole thing is pretty horrific and I must say I'm quite jarred by it (even though safely at home). This is after all my first taste of international terrorism up close. The Bali bombings of two years ago were pretty savage, but they were far away in another country no one cared much about. This time it's different. This time all that destruction is a lot closer to home. > continue reading