Follow the Journey ☩𓀙𓃦☉
Take that fever! Been feeling ill a lot recently - seem to be getting one illness after another. This winter has been unkind... If you don't know what neutropenia is you should look it up. It's hell. But spring is finally here! Apart from planning my next trip through Africa (Ghana again, Burkina Faso, Mali, [...]
As the taxi turned the corner, heavy and slow (as somehow we'd managed to squeeze in about eight passengers into a five-seater (of course, this is Africa)) the Adaklu Mountain first came into view. The air was hazy, heavy and humid, swirling vultures and black eagles the only thing breaking up the patchy white and blue [...]
"Through the eyes of a child you will see the world just as it ought to be" - unknown. Welcome to Ghana, West Africa - a country with a people so open, welcoming, soulful, you will instantly find yourself in the arms of one great family. This is a story about my African family, and [...]
I felt very free in Mysore. A beautiful city. They call it the City of Palaces. I remember vividly watching the glorious domes and arches and spires whirl-by around me as we sped through, in and out of people, cows, cars, tuk-tuks and market-vendors. Travelling around a city in India, come day or night, on the back [...]
Behold! My global pilgrimage has thus far brought me to some truly extraordinary places, and for the first time brought me on safari in Masinagudi, Tamil Nadu, and the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve - in southern India. Here, cut off from all main roads, noise and chaos, the stampede of big towns and bleaching light pollution, you are surrounded by [...]
~ Sponsors, Partners, Collaborations ~ Write yourself a page in the diary of an aesthete... Since the launch of dairyofanaesthete a couple of years ago this family has grown daily. Thousands of people from all corners of the world have connected over the medium of this site and I couldn't be happier or more inspired by this incredible [...]
Dodamarg. Maharashtra. India. Alone. Free. Alive. You are deep in the jungle in South India, wading gently downstream, on the very edge of a river: fast-flowing, powerful, and swollen with fresh monsoon waters. You are in the safest, shallowest waters, under the thick canopy of tropical trees. You are alone, and you have never felt more [...]
"...Then with nothing at all, But the little we are, We'll have conquered all time; All space, the sun, and the stars." - Jacques Brel Take yourself on a journey through the centre of Europe, the heart of Belgium; to Brussels - a city of no fuss, no pretense - just a mirror; a canvas to arrange the colours of [...]
How the Lord has blessed me with a life of distinction! As I take the narrow gate, this beautiful and heart-breaking existence, I look back, remember, recall, celebrate the many colours and emotions of my journey... and what a journey! Thank you to all those who have helped me along the way. There has been [...]
I have had a season full of love and beauty. So blessed. How thankful I am! These last three months in Europe have been a blessing, truly - time spent around grand architecture, in medieval towns, with dear old pals, precious family, breathing clean air in the mountains, feeling the creative waters flowing, connecting with [...]
Old stone, flat and cold, Solid as steel beneath my feet. Jesolo. Concrete miles line this beachy isle That sits, shallow - across the sea. La laguna. I reach the shore and can feel her: A siren call. That sacred hive over yonder, Where glass and sky and mist All rise – to crown the [...]
Oh, the colour, the spirit, of India! Honestly, the sort of things I got away with in India would be impossible in Europe; and trust me, I've tried to crash weddings in England... and failed. Bangalore is a city of colours and flavours, and I was keen to taste as much as I could. I made [...]
I lived in Shanthi Nagar, at the 4th Cross, for my time in Bangalore. From there I went to school, crossed paths with new souls, ate, danced, laughed and sang, even had my own 'local' temple, wandered happy and aimless with naught by my eye, and all other things which make life's living; another page of memories [...]
...through the streets of India. After a twelve-hour journey on the oddest sleeper bus on the sub-continent, cramped-up next to some stranger who kept calling me "James Bond" every time the bus turned a corner and he rolled into me, I arrived in Bangalore, Karnataka... thankful to get away. After quick negotiations, I made my way to Shanthi [...]
So majestic to see the wild peacock dash through the jungle, in his natural habitat, a predator, snake-killer, in all nature's glory, prancing around in the undergrowth, then pausing, perfectly poised and vehemently vain, on a grassy verge, ready to be admired by my lens... A jungle prince. Happy to be admired, but with gaze ever ready [...]