Chaos

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s been a while since I’ve joined the dailypost photo challenge, but this week’s prompt caught my eye. Chaos.

Happiness is a warm husky

Atle – Siberian husky, curling up for a well-earned snooze after a hard day’s work

Never having owned a dog, I’m not particularly au fait with the ins and outs of our obsession with “man’s best friend”.

The Land Below the Wind

“In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds” –  Robert Green Ingersoll

Low’s Peak. Mount Kinabalu. Sabah, Borneo

It was with surprise and great sadness that I learnt of the earthquake in Borneo last weekend, which struck Mount Kinabalu and took the lives of several guides and climbers.

Good Morning, Viet Nam

“To travel is to live” – H.C.Andersen

Tran Phu, Hoi An

There are many reasons I consider myself to be extremely fortunate. This week, aside from the usual – sufficient funds to feed myself and keep a roof over my head, good health and a loving and supportive partner – I’m counting my blessings that, from time to time, my strangely precarious job takes me on some wonderful adventures. From Bali to Ethiopia to Panama, I’ve been lucky enough to work on conferences the world over, and what’s more, to be able to take these opportunities to explore places I might never otherwise have imagined visiting.

This week, it’s Viet Nam.

Number 51

“Always do what you are afraid to do” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

*That* ridge walk

Almost as soon as I moved to Geneva, some 12 years ago, I was persuaded to take up skiing. I was sweet-talked into joining a club by a colleague who didn’t want to go it alone. Never having been even remotely tempted to ski – in fact, having been scared stiff of the idea –  I reluctantly agreed. Settling into life in a new country is never easy and I knew that building a social network was important, even if it meant hurtling down a mountain at full throttle, the potential for broken limbs ready to be fulfilled at any moment. So off I went, teeth gritted, in a bid to make a new friend and learn a new activity.

Москва, моя любимая! (My beloved Moscow)

“A city of extreme contradictions” – Daniel Silva, on Moscow.

Of the great loves of my life, the one that has caused me the most heartache and confusion has to be my passion for Russia.

Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen

“It is warm work; and this day may be the last to any of us at a moment. But mark you! I would not be elsewhere for thousands.” – Horatio Nelson (at the Battle of Copenhagen)

Nyhavn

The most striking occurrence of love at first sight I have ever known happened when I first set out to explore Copenhagen.