Bali Photo Diary

I shall try to keep it short and sweet. Bali is beautiful. Yes, what with the bright blue sky, the crystal clear sea, friendly locals and a reunion with my best friends, it's safe to say that a two week vaction to Bali was perfect. 

Here I am posting some of my fave snaps of the holiday which I have shared on Instagram. Believe me I have taken hundreds of photos so trying to cut it down is a big challenge. I hope that the beauty of this country shines through in my photos (and the fun we had). 

Kuta - dubbed as the party town of Bali. But we're not big party people, so we found a pool bar (HQ) which looked over the beach and there we stayed with our Bintangs and scrabble for the duration of our stop over days. 

Gili Meno - possibly one of the most incredible islands I have ever visited. The Gili Islands are made of three small islands off the top of Lombok, the one we stayed on was so small you could walk around the island in about 2hours (if you didn't get sucked in by quaint beach bars and the clear water calling out to you in the heat of the day) and there is no public transport, just bicycles and horse and cart. At night with no street lamps (or streets for that matter, just sand covered paths) you can see the milkyway, during the day you can bask in the heat on beautiful secluded beaches and eat fantastic food from plenty of beach front bars and restaurants. We stayed in a brilliant bungalow, with stone walls and a thatched roof, with an outdoor plunge pool and shower (watching the night sky twinkle whilst you shower is a must) and we made full use of our little front porch for evenings playing scrabble, the game of choice between our travelling group. 

 

Tulamben - the last stop on our adventure was up to the Northern Territory of Bali, where volcanoes, mountains and black beaches rule all. Our resort was spectacular, I opened the curtains each morning to the views of our beautiful pool and the sea lapping onto the black sand beach. We went on a day exploring our surroundings which lead us to Lake Batur, a crater lake surrounding a volcano. It was spectacular, we got taken to some hot springs where we relaxed in the natural hot water overlooking the lake. It was a great end to a very memorable trip, I found time to reflect as we watched the sunrise on the last morning and had delicious fresh fruit smoothies overlooking the sea.

If you're planning a trip to Bali make sure you plan time to explore all the beauties the islands have to offer and allow plenty of time to sit back, relax and enjoy the time with your loved ones.

 

Edinburgh Adventures

In my eyes, Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities and to me it is a 'walking city', you just have to get out and explore by foot. I spent the weekend in the city with my boyfriend and his fam, so we had a huge apartment to host the eight of us through until the morning after a big ol' Scottish birthday do.

Here I am just going to share some images and hot spots to visit on a short break away.

 

Day trips:

The best recommendation I can give for Edinburgh is to just put on your walking boots and take a stroll. The architecture and highland back drop is so spectacular that I could just wonder around all day taking hundreds of photos. We started at Edinburgh Castle for a little history lesson and to take the opportunity to look out over the city and out to sea! Well worth the hike up the street to get there. From the castle, follow the Royal Mile road straight back down (stop by Just Burgers and Beers to refuel) through the town, taking in the wide variety of 'Scotland souvenir' shops and get ready for some participation activities at Dynamic Earth. An activities centre which looks through the history of the universe, from space, the Big Bang and volcanoes to rainforests, the ice age and costal changes. 

 

 

Dinning:

For breakfast I would highly suggest you find the Smokestack on Broughton Street. With a wide selection of options from a slap up Full Breakfast,  bagels, and other savouries, to my choice of banana and chocolate waffles. A truly sweet way to start the morning and washed down with a 'morning glory' (ahem) smoothie; a mix of melon, banana and strawberry.

After reading The Little Magpie's recommendation to try Just Beer & Burgers, my boyfriend and I happened to stumble across this diner after a hearty walk around the Edinburgh Castle, so we figured it would be rude not to try it out. I can safely say it was a fantastic choice! The choice of burger is vast, pretty much any toppings you want in the 'build your own' or you can go with one of their combinations. I opted for The Brinner, basically breakfast in a burger, hash brown, fried egg, bacon, caramelised onions and the beef burger. Yum! As I'm not a massive beer fan I tried a kiwi and lime cider, which was so light and fresh I could probably have drunk them all day. 

 

 

I had such a wonderful weekend with my boyfriend and his family, ending with a party Saturday night to celebrate his Aunties birthday. Getting dolled up and drinking and dancing the night away with loved ones is the perfect way to end a great trip (the five hour journey home at 9am the next morning was not so much fun).

Let me know any places you'd like to visit in Edinburgh or places you love :)