Another place we stopped to eat was “Daylight Robbery” on Dublin Street. A quirky little cafe with a bar that offered a slightly different vibe in the evenings. The menu was great for vegetarians, vegans or the health junky and I ate the most delicious french toast I’ve ever had whilst we edited and did a bit of a work catch up. We also visited The Grassmarket on my mums recommendation (she’d visited a couple of days prior to us). In Grassmarket there were lot’s of cute little shops and amazing views of the castle. We stopped by “Pumpkin Brown” which was a really lovely little cafe with fresh juices and healthy snacks (I wanted a massive slab of chocolate cake at this point so I didn’t go for any of the raw cakes, however, Poppy tried some and said they were delicious). Eating in Edinburgh was so easy. There were so many different places to eat, you have all your traditional chain restaurants and so many independent places too. We had such a long list of places we wanted to try, but we didn’t have enough meals in the day to do so.
On day 2, we decided to go to Edinburgh Zoo as it was our only cloudy day. It was very easy to drive to from the center of the city and the zoo itself was very spacious (and hilly – DEAR GOD…I had no idea how up and down Edinburgh was. I gave my legs the best work out whilst I was there). We even got to see a panda and feed the penguins, but the one thing that made the day so great for me, was getting to feed an armadillo. Those things are just TOO CUTE and not something I’ve ever really thought about before. The shopping in Edinburgh is amazing. There is every single shop you could ever want and need. The one thing I also loved was the huge amount of independent shops selling all kinds of very interesting bits and pieces. Although shopping was actually the one thing we didn’t do that much of (I know..shocking).
Due to the fact that we were visiting Edinburgh over Fringe Festival, we were handed flyers for hundreds of different shows and performances happening in multiple different venues all over the city. We had decided that this visit was to make the most of Edinburgh and it’s beautiful sights (i.e. to be the biggest tourists ever), but we did manage to fit one show in which was “Castles In The Sand” by James Loveridge. James is the boyfriend of my friend Lucy, and I was desperate to see his show as I knew it would be hilarious. We met up with Marcuswho was also visiting Edinburgh around the same time as us, and together we all sat in the downstairs of a bar and watched the show. I’ve never really been to see a stand-up comedian and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. It was brilliant and gave me a sudden desire to want to come back next year for Fringe and make a list of all the shows and performers I’d love to watch. Before leaving, we went to a little cupcake shop on Dundas Street called “Cuckoos Cupcakes” which I urge ALL OF YOU visiting Edinburgh to go to. They were some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. They were HUGE and they had them in every single flavour you could imagine, In fact I’m drooling just thinking about them.
I felt so comfortable walking around Edinburgh, although it was a large city, it never felt overwhelming, even with it being one of the busiest times to visit. Everything I found myself standing in front of, I wanted to take a photograph of it. It was so breathtakingly beautiful and it completely captured my heart. On the 9-hour drive home (I know, call me crazy) I was already thinking about when I could plan my next visit and I miss it already. It’s one of those places I could definitely see myself living (it’s even near the sea). Although slightly a little too far for me to set up home, it’s definitely one of my favourite cities and I will be going back on the regular! Thanks for having me Edinburgh.
Paris
I’ve never been to France before, and Paris was the one place I had always wanted to visit, so when I did get the chance to go, obviously I took some snaps to share with you all. I ate far too many crepes and macarons and came to the conclusion that Paris is very expensive. I also did a bit of sneaky shopping in Mac, Sephora and City Pharma which is the shop that everyone goes to when in Paris to pick up cheaper french skincare (which might I add, was an INTENSE experience – think smallest ailes in the world with double the amount of people for the available capacity). That was definitely a grab and run shopping spree. I got to see some of the main attractions of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower (which when seen in real life is slightly more disappointing than you might think, but still beautiful from afar none the less), the Notre Dame which was amazing inside and out, the “lovers bridge” across the river Seine and the Louvre Museum. I had an amazing couple of days & highly recommend that if you’ve not yet hopped across to Paris, please do (Although be reminded that the taxi drivers drive like absolute maniacs & I did think I was going to be involved in many an accident).
Au revoir mes amis x
There are several options to visit Kuang Si waterfall such as:
As we like freedom and riding bike we choose the third way. We rented a motorbike from our guesthouse for 100,000 Kip per day. Motorbikes in Luang Prabang are the most expensive ones in Laos. Kuang Si waterfall is located in 30km from Luang Prabang. There are some small villages along the way and few cafes.
At the entrance to the waterfall there are cafe as well but be ready to pay more for the same food as usual. There are souvenir stalls, too.
Entrance fee for Kuang Si is 20,000 Kip. Just after we entered the territory of the Kuang Si waterfall we saw black bears who freely walk, play and some of them lay behind not so high fence. There is rescue bear center on the territory of the waterfall where Moon bears live. It is very nice, each bear has a name and his short story that you could read on the board.
After this we continue walking by the path that very soon leads us to the beginning of the waterfall. People were swimming there and even jumping into the waterfall. There are restrooms and changing rooms.
We wear our swimsuits and I jumped into the blue water - it was wonderful. Water was cool and very refreshing. It was hard to stay long in such cold water but it was so pleasant to plunge into the coolness of waterfall.
After swimming we continued walking, we had a plan to walk around the waterfall. We continue walking along the path and soon we reached the bridge from where it was seen the main waterfall and continued ascending, first by steps and then by steep slippery path.
Ascend took about 10-15 minutes, we were tired a little bit but it is worth for sure to make it! It is very nice atop, with wooden bridges you can cross the waterfall and descent by another path on the opposite side of the waterfall.
Don’t forget to wear comfortable sandals or shoes as paths are really a little bit dangerous, slippery and steep!
Visiting this waterfall was one of the best experience in Laos, I liked it too much. There are plenty of tables with benches where people drank beer and ate some snacks. Atmosphere is very relaxing and the nature is amazing.