And the award goes to ...

After a long wait, the tender has finally been awarded! Work on the land will begin soon.

How many more years will I have left to prance around before calling at the port of responsibility? Not many I think. So I must seize the day!

My most favourite picture shot taken with the S95. This is Cat Cat village in Sapa more than 1500m above sea-level. 

"Did he enjoy being alive? I wonder now. He was not a joyful person; but then, neither was he miserable. I should think he was a genuine stoic, one of those who do not attach overmuch importance to themselves, who are emotionally uninvolved, content with their limitations, their dark corners. I wanted to get to know the old man better, to sound him out on the immense questions involved in roasting peanuts all his life; but it's too late now. Today his dark corner was deserted; the old man had vanished; the coolies had carried him down to the cremation ground.

'He died in his sleep,' said the tea-shop owner. 'He was very old.'

Very old. sufficient reason to die.

But that corner is very empty, very dark, and I know that whenever I pass it I will be haunted by visions of the old peanut vendor, troubled by the questions I failed to ask." 

- Notes from a Small Room