A short video of my holiday in Madagascar

Hello!

As you may have guessed I've been off exploring the world again (that is also why I haven't been blogging recently).

After getting back from moroccan desert I flew off to a a place that I have been wanting to visit for ages : Madagascar. 
I spent 2 weeks in this wonderful country. 2 weeks is really to short, but I got an amazing peek of the island. 
Mind blowing landscapes, meeting wonderful people that live in little villages in the middle of nowhere, stunning animals that you can see nowhere else… 
The 4 days I spent   being rowed 170km of canals on a dugout canoe was a real adventure! 

I'll blog more in detail about this  adventurous trip in future posts :)

In the meantime here's a short video I put together , showing some of the things I did during the 2 weeks I spent in Madagascar. 

Enjoy :)

Bel & Desert Frog meet the Hummer

Hi guys!

So here's a quick shot at when my Jeep (well ex Jeep now) got to meet the enormous Hummer.

How did this happen? Well, when I was in a music festival in the middle of the Sahara desert the guy in the tent next to ours was actually from where I lived in France and his dad owned this H2…

Becoming good friends and discovering my madness for big american 4x4's he asked if I would like to come and try out the Hummer :)

It was really awesome to drive this car!

Let me explain… Not only are there not many Hummer's in France … apparently there are only 2 of these special ones! The only other person that owns one is the famous French singer JOHNNY HALLYDAY!

This black monster is a real beast!!! Just look at how tiny I am next to it!
- I was actually trying to steal one of the headlights on the above picture… the Jeep and the Hummer have the exact same headlights… on this car they were brand new whereas -one on my Jeep was full of sand… -

When you're inside the thing is just as enormous! It is so large, when in the passenger seat you can hardly touch the person in the diving place!

Here you can see just how wide the beast is! It's crazy!!

Time to get serious!! Bel is driving the monster!!! Better get off the roads!!! ;)

Only joking. The Hummer is actually really easy to drive. Of course it's large, a bit like a driving a lorry, but it's tiny sporty wheel, powered steering, and sporty gearbox make it feel like driving any - powerful- car.

Compared to my Jeep , even though it is twice the weight, the Hummer felt so light and sporty.

But when you hit over 90km/h the beast started to roar… It is the military version that has no soundproofing...

That mighty engine would roar like a lion with a nasty soar throat!!  You cannot hear anyone speak inside the car. You cannot hear the radio on full blare. That beastful engine just sings the song of it's people - GRRRRR BRRRR GGGRRRRR - To drive that crazy monster for more than 100km at 130km/h on the highway, either you have to love the thing to bits or be deaf!

So to sum up … driving this car was comply awesome!!

It sure is not a car for towns (my friend admitted that his dad brought it only to go to and 'cruise' at St Tropez during the summer)…
…it's a shame because this beast is made for the hard life, life in the desert.
 No plastic, this monster is 100% metal , 2,6m large and 4,6m long… weighing 3,5 tones! To move this girl,  in a powerful way, the V8 6.5l turbo diesel engine develops 398 horse power! With a low gravity center, this babe is great for climbing and crossing sand dunes.
A real dessert car… I would love her and adopt her straight away… if not for a couple of things…
She is a real thirsty girl … 22l of diesel for 100km!!!! Crazy!!! You can also imagine how much that kind of monster spits out thought it's exhaust… pollution queen…

I had a fine time trying this crazy car out. Great in many ways, powerful, big and beautiful, but to big and expensive for me!

So for the mean time I'm staying 4WD-less…

Gorgeous Burgundy and Grey hair

Hi buds!!

No travel posts today. I'm back home in France, and I made the most of my stay to get my hair sorted out! 

I wanted a reddish color, but with some blonde … this is what my hairdresser friend came up with…

I love it!!! It's a burgundy color at the roots that fades to grey at the tips.

I have been a weird white blond color for a while now. Weird because I have been trying to get all the blue-pink-green out of my hair. That was one hell of task! I will explain how I did it in another post :)

So, here above is how my hair has been for the last couple of months… White with a yellowish tint…

It was time to put some color in that!!! 

Well, those who have been following this blog for a while have seen me with many different hairstyles and colors. 

I love having crazy blue or pink hair … only problem is that my bosses aren't too fond of it. They love my crazy personality and creativity , and I think secretly they like my funky colored hair, but in the mean old work world colored hair doesn't work out too well… 

Even though I work in multimedia communication, which is a kind of arty thing, people still judge you by how you look. Anything like tattoos, piercings, bright colored hair … some people put you straight into a certain category. In their mind you are not a hardworking, trustworthy person. 

You have tats and pink hair, you are a punk, possibly a druggy…  

It's sad but true, this is what I have experienced… 

Lucky for me I have the most awesome bosses who appreciate my work and don't really care about my wacky style. ..

The thing is, I'm setting up my own company … so bye bye crazy colorful hair for now! Sadly, people judge books by their cover…Crazy hair = crazy person, not professional and not trustworthy (which is so not true!)

So I've gone back to a more natural color … but with a hint of fun all the same!

The photos have come out more orangey … the roots are actually a kind of burgundy color that fades to grey on the tips.

I absolutely love this color! 

I find that it makes my skin kind of glow! My natural color brown does have a reddish tint to it… maybe red is my color! 

Please let me know what you think! Should I change, go back to blonde or blue, or stay with this color??

Thoughts and photos from the Sahara Desert

I always have the upmost difficulty of finding words to talk about the desert. Explain what I feel when I'm out there, in the middle of nowhere, far from anything human.

Orange sand, black stones, spiky acacias, tea that is way too sugary, salty warm water, a fierce sun that has no pity against my white skin. A land of emptiness and silence. A unrelieved landscape, and everyday's work. Always the same but never boring. Never.

I don't know why, but this place, this desert always feels familiar to me. 
I was not born here, not raised here, but it is here that I feel at home. Here that I feel at home; safe and serene. I get a certain feeling of freedom. I am always fascinated when I stare at that horizon that seems to have no limits. No end. I like being and living out here in the desert. Trips without detour, nights under the stars, life with no superfluous…

I think there is no real way of explaining what it is like. Only people who have been in the desert can understand what a strange feeling you have out there.

These photos are from my last trip. They may not express the feelings you get out there, but they do show some of the beauty of the landscape.

Cela fait un moment déjà que je voyage dans le désert du Sahara, mais j'ai toujours autant a le décrire. A décrire cette sensation que l'on ressent lorsqu'on est là-bas, au milieu de nul part, loin de tout.

Du sable orange, des cailloux noirs, des acacias épineux, du thé trop sucré, de l'eau salé et tiède, un soleil féroce, impitoyable aux chairs déshabitués de sa morsure. La routine quotidienne du travail. Monotone, sans doute; ennuyeux , jamais. Et puis il y a une certaine saveur de liberté, de simplicité. Une fascination de l'horizon sans limites, des nuits sans toit, de la vie sans superflu. 

Bien que je ne suis pas née ici, ni même grandie, c'est ici dans cet endroit impossible a décrire que je me sens chez moi; sereine et en sécurité.

Ces photos sont de mon dernier séjour dans le désert. Bien qu'ils ne peuvent pas transmettre cette émotion si particulier qu'on ressent lorsqu'on est la-bas, ils peuvent néanmoins montrer l'immense beauté du Sahara.

Kisses from the desert!!