Rapes, assaults and dowry-related murders, wife-burning, child prostitution, slavery, female infanticide and sex-selective abortions, unequal access to education, maternal mortality rates among the highest in the world in rural areas…While women are guaranteed equality under the constitution in India, legal protection has little effect in the face of prevailing patriarchal traditions. I faced that bitter reality [...]

A little jump back in time. Back in Luang Prabang, Laos, we were lucky enough to assist to The 2nde Biennale Internationale de l’Image – an international photography festival organised under the aegis of the French Centre in Vientiane. Eclectic photos expositions, projections and workshops…The Luang Prabang Biennale Image Festival brings together photographers from several different [...]

I met these lovely ladies in a park in Jaidur. They were chit-chatting, baby sitting their grandchildren and…smoking the chillum*. They noticed me from the distance and when I came closer to ask them if I could take their photograph, they didn’t answer but offered me a smoke instead, showing the small conical pipe with [...]

Well, not real Maharanis of course…To be honest, these wowen were offering henna tatoos to tourists in the city palace in Jaipur… But who cares, they were beautiful in their colourful sarees.

After Agra and its breathtaking Taj Mahal, we headed to Rajasthan, and spent a couple of days in Pushkar, in the Ajmer district. Pushkar is one of the five sacred pilgrimage sites for devout Hindus and one of the oldest cities of India. We were wandering at sunset on the shore of Pushkar Lake when we [...]

Of course, we had seen it hundreds of time before on TV. Of course, we knew that there was ‘this’ famous reflection picture. But still we found the Taj Mahal surpassing all this hype and truly living up to its legend. It was much more impressive, much more beautiful than we can ever imagine. A striking beauty! Magical. Almost [...]

At first sight, the Khajuraro temples have a ‘classic’ Indo-Aryan architecture. But if you come closer and look at the sculptures and carvings, well, it is a completely different story! The Khajuraro temples are the Kama Sutra in stone… All the positions imaginable, included the most acrobatic ones and all partners, two, three, four and even some [...]

Also called the Festival of Colors, Holi is probably India most exuberant festival. It’s a spring festival celebrated by people throwing bright colours at each other, everything from a handful of coloured powder on someone’s face to buckets of coloured-dyed water. The riot of colour broke out during our first day in India. Quite a shock…If [...]

After 2 months in China and in South-East Asia, we were heading to the fabulous subcontinent. Our first stop in India was Kolkata / Calcutta. The city is bustling with life and charming with its decrepit colonial architecture. But it is also India we feared: chaotic, dirty, poor, squalid. Incredibly poor with its cohort of beggars [...]

After weeks of frugal backpacker diet, cheap beers and dry peanuts, it was time for some trendier party… We headed to the Sirocco rooftop bar in Bangkok during our stopover in the city and enjoyed the amazing views. The mojitos were great, but there was a huge bill shock at the end of the night: it was [...]