CHEAP & EASY EUROPEAN GETAWAYS

So you may have gathered, from my posts, that I like a weekend escape. I like to take a break from the every day 9-5 lifestyle, and visit new places as much as possible. And living in Europe means I have the opportunity to fly to lots of different places very easily, and most importantly...cheaply! 

In 2017 I spent a lot of my weekends travelling to various different cities, within the UK and Europe. I thought I would compile a list of some easy and cheap destinations to visit if you are short of time, but still needing that escape. 

Now with this list, it's one that i feel can continuously be added to. Cheap air travel around Europe, with budget airlines, makes it easier then ever to book a last minute weekend away. This list consists of all the weekends away i did across Europe, in 2017, to try and show how easy it really is! 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

From my local airport, Amsterdam is only a 20 minute flight, though this can be quite pricey at times. But if you fly from one of the London airports, you can get a great deal on flights, making this beautiful city perfect for a weekend break! Amsterdam is one of my favourite places in the world, and there is always something new to be discovered. Museums, parks, and shopping. It's a great place for people of every age and background to visit. You don't necessarily have to visit a certain place in Amsterdam, as you can just walk to your hearts content and admire the beauty that this city holds, just make sure you look twice before crossing the streets!

We all know why most people go to Amsterdam, but when you get there you realise that there is much much more to be explored. The Jordaan area is a particular favourite of mine, and it is where the Ann Frank Huis is situated. You also have Vondelpark, which is beautiful in both winter and summer, and close to museumplein which is where you can find many of the top museums that this city has to offer. 

A visit to this city is not complete without a trip to the infamous Bloemenmarkt, a flower market full of all the tulips you could ever want or imagine. If you're a big foodie like me then you must also visit the Foodhallen, a place full of different cuisines for an affordable price, and a great picture taking opportunity too! I could go on forever with my love for Amsterdam and recommendations of must do's. 

Dublin, Ireland. 

A few years ago I visited Ireland for the first time, and to be honest it was quite a rushed visit, as we only had two nights to experience such a vast and exciting place. It was our second weekend in a row, in a different country, with very little rest period in between. Not that i'm complaining. But we managed to score some low cost flights, around £40 return each, so we thought why not head on over and tick another place off our bucket list! We decided to stay in a private room in a hostel, to save on money, and ended up staying in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. Now Temple Bar is the spot to be for nightlife. Though if you are like me, and wanting a nice quiet place to stay, or a light sleeper, then it's probably not the best place to stay. Saying that, if you're coming to Dublin in the aim to drink to your hearts content, then this is the perfect place to walk in at 4 a.m.

Transport from the airport and into the city centre is very easy to navigate and also very reasonably priced. There's lots to do in Dublin and lots of Guinness to be drank! 

During our two day stay we managed to visit the castle, the oldest pub in Ireland (The Brazen Head) and of course Temple Bar. We explored the side streets, walked across the river, and had time for a little bit of shopping in between. Our step count was through the roof! 

Dublin is a great place for a weekend away, and has something for everyone. Families, couples and a group of friends. I will definitely be returning.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Not a very commonly talked about city, and one that I never realised was so important. There isn't a lot of activities to do in Luxembourg, but it is still a good place to visit, especially for a weekend away! Though, just be warned, the vast majority of shops and restaurants are shut on the first Sunday of each month, so if you are like me, then you'll just end up going to the airport 6 hours early to avoid getting soaked in the rain. 

There are some beautiful parks, and walks to go on within this small city. Definitely a place to be explored by foot, and maybe one to visit during the summer months. I find it fascinating that the country has three official languages, French, German and Luxembourgish, and every person is fluent in all of them. When you go to buy something, you're not sure which language is going to be used. 

Luxembourg is also one of the safest countries in the world, which is good for solo travellers and families. Flights are relatively cheap from London airports, and there are plenty of reasonably price hotels going around. I visited with no knowledge of what to expect, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. The scenery is beautiful and you don't feel as though you are in a capital city.  My favourite thing to do here was to take a leisurely stroll to Casemates Du Bock, and then follow the river back to the main city. The buildings are beautiful and there's some great picture taking spots along this route. 

The country is small, and so is the capital. Allowing you to be able to visit most, if not all, places on your list. I was pleasantly surprised, and i think it's worth a visit at least some point in your life.

Edinburgh, Scotland
A lot closer to home for me, and with lots of different transport options from London, for every budget. Edinburgh is a city that everyone should visit at least once in their life. Flights are relatively cheap and trains can give you great views of the English countryside. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, with beautiful buildings, friendly faces and lots of little cafes. You can visit at any time of the year, which is a reason i would love to go back. Maybe to a Christmas market this time around.

The castle is definitely a must visit on your trip, and offers stunning views of the city below.  Make sure you visit the Greyfriars Bobby, a statue of the famous little terrier that spent the last 14 years of its life guarding the grave of its owner.  And if you're in to walking then make sure you venture up Arthurs Seat, in Holyrood Park. 

One of the best times to visit Edinburgh is during the Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world. Thousands of performances across hundreds of venues in the space of just over three weeks, with most being free or very reasonably priced. Whilst you're their grab yourself a deep fried mars bar!


Cologne, Germany

I have a whole post on my blog dedicated to this city, so go on over and give that a read if you're looking for a more in depth experience! Cologne is very cheap to travel to, and a very easy city to explore.  

It's home to one of the most spectacular cathedrals in the world, and one of the most famous landmarks in Germany. Nearby, is the Hohenzollern Bridge, famous for the thousands of love locks that are placed in every little nook. If you're visiting, make sure to end each night with a stein of beer, and give the traditional foods like bratwurst, spätzle and sauerkraut a try. 

There are plenty of cafes, and bakeries to stop for a coffee, especially in the streets of the Old Town, so picking one will probably be the hardest decision of your visit! If you're a big chocolate fan then make sure you take a visit to the Schokoladenmuseum, where you can grab free samples and finish the day with a hot chocolate in the cafe. 



I'm sure in a few years, I will be making a "Cheap & Easy European Getaways Part II". But for now i hope this post has given you some inspiration for your next little trip! As always, feel free to leave a comment, and/or message me if you're wanting any further advice on these wonderful places.

Thanks for reading, xo

*As with all pictures featured on my blog, they are all taken by me unless otherwise noted. I use a Canon S120 and iPhone 6S.

COLOGNE | A WEEKEND AWAY

Hey everyone! 

I usually start my blog posts by saying 'recently I visited...' but I'm not going to lie, I visited Cologne in April 2017, deciding this is were we wanted to spend out long Easter bank holiday weekend. So it's been a while, a full year in fact. Nevertheless, my memory is still as vivid as ever with the help from the many photos that were taken, and a previously half written blog entry that I've decided to re-write before sharing to the world! 

We stayed in a small hotel, Hotel Alt Deutz, which was across the river from the main city. Meaning we could take a lovely little stroll across one of the many bridges every day, including the infamous Hohenzollern Bridge (also known as the one with all the love locks!)

After a short flight, we landed in Cologne, and navigated the trains to reach our hotel. Luckily we could check in early, so went straight to our room to abandon our belongings so we could head straight out and grab some food. We found a restaurant that looked over to the river, and grabbed our first taste of sauerkraut and bratwurst! (In the traditional setting, I might add) And of course, a stein or two of beer. 

I always say that the best way to discover a new place is to walk around, so that's what we did for the next three days. Though, after some food and a few hours walking we decided to head back to our hotel for an early night, seeing as we had been awake since the early morning travelling...

The next day we visited the love lock bridge of Cologne, where everyone writes their name on a padlock, adds it to the bridge and throws the key into the river below as an act to show that their love will never end. There where thousands of them on every single part of the bridge, in all different colours and all shapes and sizes. Both with our cameras in hand, we spent a good few hours strolling up and down taking hundreds of photos and watching people at new ones.

After this we decided to visit the famous Cologne Cathedral, and Germanys most famous landmark (according to Wikipedia!)

It's a truly beautiful building, with incredible architecture. The cathedral itself is close to the central station, so it's very easy to get to. You could stand for hours looking at all the details on each spire, or the carvings around each door.

The rain then decided to come down, so we took shelter in the train station for a snack and much needed coffee. Soon enough we were back out exploring the Old Town with its many side streets, grabbing pretzels, spätzle and of course more beer! Finishing the wet and windy day off with some ice cream... of course!


The sunset on the walk back to our hotel that night was beautiful, with the cathedral and the river creating a beautiful scene.

On our final day we made a last minute decision to visit the schokoladenmuseum, basically a chocolate museum that has partnered with Lindt. Meaning lots of free samples! Better then we were expecting, and you also got the opportunity to create your own Lindt chocolate bar. After eating too many samples, we made the decision to visit the onsite chocolate cafe, to eat yet more chocolate. Slowly but surely we then made our way back to the airport to catch our evening flight home.

Cologne is a perfect city for a weekend exploring, and definitely one that I will be back to explore some more.

Thanks for reading, xo

*As with all pictures featured on my blog, they are all taken by me unless otherwise noted. I use a Canon S120 and iPhone 6S.

THE OUTBACK

Hello!

I know, i know. It's been over a month since i last posted on here. Firstly, i spent almost two weeks travelling through the outback. Starting in Darwin and finishing thousands of kilometres later in Adelaide, which is when i realised that i have a busted laptop screen and still haven't gotten round to getting it fixed because i don't want to spend money on it until it becomes necassary.

So, let's have a catchup shall we?

We decided in Cairns to do the middle, whilst we still had money and weren't desperatley seeking a job. There we found ourselves planning the next part to our adventure.

After a week in Cairns, we took a flight across the country to Darwin. Here was had a good couple of days before our tour started.

The first tour, which took us 6 days and down to Alice Springs was with a company abtly named WayOutback. It was decided into two sections.

For the first 3 days we travelled down to Litchfield National Park, and then across to Kakadu National Park. We spent out time swimming in waterfalls, crusing in crocodile infested rivers (where we saw two saltwater crocs! Crikey mate!), viewing ancient Aboriginal Art, seeking out some amazing views and meeting some awesome people.

The next 3 days we had a different tour guide, taking us down to Alice Springs. Again, we started in Darwin and then drove and drove and drove! Again, we met some lovely people and did some amazing things. Such as swimming in thermal pools, watching glorious sunsets, climbing The Devils Marbles, visiting the infamous Daly Waters, hiking to view Katherine Gorge and also cutting my knee open. Yes, this is something that happened and the following day i passed out at a service station whilst trying to get the bandage off. All fun and games here.

Finally we made it to Alice Springs. One place i have always wanted to visit, one place that isn't high on my list to visit again. It was an experience, and was pretty. But there isn't exactly alot to do without a car and the crime rate is very high. Someone described it to me as 'the bad side of Cape Town, for Australia'. We did end up in a weird little "club" though, which was an experience. On our second, and final, night in Alice we were downstairs and overheard the women at reception telling another women who had just arrived, that she wasn't allowed to go out after 10pm on her own because the risks were too high. Saying all this though, it was a good few days spent with friends.

I preferred the second tour to the first one, mainly because i fianlly got to see Uluru (Ayers Rock), which is something that i have been waiting to do pretty much my whole life. We did this tour with a company called Groovy Grape. The first day we got picked up around 6am and drove straight to Kings Canyon, which is a big canyon with amazing views. It also includes The Garden Of Eden, which is a big waterhole with trees everywhere, in the middle of all this dry sandstone. It was truly beautiful, and a lovely (apart from the uphill climbing) hike. On our drive here we stopped at the only service station, and ended up bumping into a friend we met on Fraser Island and continued to follow up the East Coast... how weird!

We then spent one night at Kings Canyon before continuing on to Uluru. We arrived around lunch time and ate food. Then we drove into the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and hiked Kata Tjuta, also named The Olgas. They are made up of 36 individual rocks, which altogether is bigger then Uluru but equally as beautiful in my opinion. It is also lesser known, due to the fact you cannot take photos for commercial use or for photography that will then be sold.

Sometime between 5 and 6pm we walked up to the Uluru Sunset lookout, and viewed a pretty amazing sunset. Although the one on the second night was better. When the sun is setting, it glows off the rock creating an intense red colour. The next day we woke up early and viewed the sunrise, which made Uluru go a beautiful purple colour. We then hiked around the base of Uluru, and i took some great photos which are unfortunately stuck on my camera because i can't transfer the images onto my broken laptop.

Finally it was time to leave this incredible, spiritual place and head to a town called Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world! We had to leave at 4am and the drive was near enough 8 hours long, which meant that i slept for the majority of the morning until we arrived at lunch time. After a bit to eat we headed to an Opal Museum, where i spent alot of money of buying jewellry, we also got to take a look at an underground house. This is what makes this place so special in my opinion, about 80% of the people who live here, do so in underground houses. Which just seems so awesome to me! Next on the list was to go to a Kangaroo Sanctuary, one of the only ones in South Australia. Here we fed the kangaroos and saw a joey who was so tiny and adorable. We then went for pizza and then our tour guide and asked a DJ to play for us, so we partied until the early hours of the morning.

The next day was got a lay in... 7am! And after a night spent in our underground hostel, we were as fresh as a daisy, if not then a little hungover. But we had one more long drive, which meant more sleeping! Sometime in the evening we made it to our last camping spot for our outback adventure. We pulled up at our campsite, situated somewhere in the Flinders Ranges. Here we drunk some more and gave one of our new friends a terrible hair cut, much to his dismay.

Our final day was spent hiking through a section of the Flinders Ranges, before driving to Adelaide. Bringing this incredible experience to an end...

If you are travelling in Australia, then this should all be on your list of cool stuff to do because it was phenomenal and probably my favourite part of my year out here so far.

I then went on to spend a week in Adelaide, which has come to be one of my favourtie cities, and am currently back in Brisbane looking for work. Hopefully i will get my laptop fixed soon, and then i have alot of catching up to do with putting photos on this blog. But i will get there eventually! Anyway, thank you for reading! xxx

MADE IT TO CAIRNS

Hello!

Finally we have made it to Cairns, concluding our East Coast adventure! Not that it's fully over yet because this city has so much to do!

Since Brisbane we have visited ... towns and seen some incredible sights and met some lovely people. My highlights include Fraser Island and The Whitsundays. I think one of the main reasons I loved these two places the most is because they were both tours, meaning we were with a group of 20+ people and both groups were awesome!

But everywhere we have visited has been nice in its own way.

Starting from Brisbane, my first stop was Mooloolaba. Home to the largest aquarium in Queensland. Which I found to be a disappointment because it was exactly the same as my nearest one in Great Yarmouth. The town itself was beautiful, and felt like a typical holiday destination.

From here I went to Noosa to meet with the person I am traveling with. Noosa is a lovely place, especially the national park, which we were lucky enough to see a koala in. Also it was a clear sunny day so the sunset was stunning over the beach.
Our next stop was Hervey Bay which we only visited due to it being our gateway to Fraser Island, and this is were we began our tour. We went with Palace Adventures which is a tag-along 4WD tour, meaning we were able to drive our own cars behind our guide. We camped for two nights on the island and saw plenty of dingos, due to then constantly coming up to the barbecue or sitting and waiting next to a car.

From here we went up to Bundaberg, which has been by far the worst hostel I have stayed in but nevertheless we had a good time on our one night there... We went to the rum distillery!

After drinking two free rums we headed to the coach to make our way to Agnes Water and Town of 1770. Aptly named after the year that Captain Cook landed in Australia. Here we stayed at a little hostel called Cool Bananas, which has so far been the best hostel I've ever stayed in! One day we hired bikes and cycled the 14km round trip to 1770.

Rockhampton was our next port of call, arriving at half past midnight and checking out by 10am. It was a full on day. First of all we visited the heritage village before ending the day chomping on steaks whilst watching the rodeo.

After a night of traveling we arrived at Airlie Beach early in the morning. The day was spent chilling at the lagoon and then getting ready to go on the Whitsundays the following day. I fell in love with Airlie and will 100% be back at some point! If you see my previous post, this talks about the tour I did here with Wings.

After this place we caught the bus to Townsville to get a boat across to Magnetic Island. This place is stunning! One day we decided to hire "Barbie" cars with a couple from our sailing boat and drove to the Koala Sanctuary and then to a walking track which took us to a couple of old WWII forts with an amazing view of the island and surroundings.

From here we went to Mission Beach, our last stop before Cairns, so that George could do his long anticipated skydive.

Now finally we are in Cairns where we will be staying just over a week. Leaving on Sunday to fly to Darwin, where we begin our last trip before seeking out work!

I will talk about my plans and about what we've done in Cairns before we leave Darwin, but until then ciao!

TILBA TILBA & BERMAGUI | PHOTO DIARY

We came off the Princes Highway onto a 'tourist drive', this took us through two villages of similar name, Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba. They were tiny in size but beautiful, surrounded by mountains and farmland.

On our way to Bermagui we passed a place called Wallaga Lake, and the road goes straight through the middle of the water which gives you an amazing view. Our view included pelicans sitting on a sand bank. 

We then made it to Bermagui and pulled over to take some photos and adjust the GoPro on the side of the campervan. There was a little port in the town as well. We then went to get a cold drink from a petrol station and the mad inside informed us about a natural pool which had been created through erosion. So we decided to check it out. 

We were expecting just a small little rock pool but the natural pool seemed to be a full size swimming pool situated at the bottom of the cliff surrounded by rocks. Quite spectacular and amazing how this place came to be. The sun was beaming down and i kind of wish we had enough time to stop for a swim. 

We spent a good amount of time here, mostly trying to rescue a hat that the wind had blown into the rock pool which you can see in the picture below. But finally we managed to get it without having to get wet. 

JERVIS BAY | PHOTO DIARY

Our first night in the campervan was spent in a small town called Huskisson, situated on Jervis Bay. When we arrived it was dark but we could work out a lake next to us, but when we awoke it was a white sand beach! The photo above is what was covered in water,  but look how pretty it is with the sun beaming through the clouds. I've also just decided that this photo looks severely photoshopped, i can assure you that i have done nothing to the initial photo.

We were also awoken to a kookaburra laughing from a tree above us. 

This is the view i woke up to. It's beautiful even with the rain clouds (which luckily just missed us)

All the sand was white and the beach curved around the length of the bay. The town we were in was right in the heart of it.

KIAMA BLOWHOLE | PHOTO DIARY

Kiama Blowhole was the first place of many that we wanted to visit on our drive down to Melbourne from Sydney. Although we arrived later then planned, it turned out to be the best time to visit. The sun had just begun to set and the horizon had a lovely pink and orange glow.

The blowhole itself is created when waves from the sea rush into a cave under the rocks as the water tries to rush back out, another wave comes and pushes the water out of a hole above, creating a blowhole. 

The white lighthouse in Kiama was also very pretty.

This is when we knew we had made the right decision, to drive the coastal route to Melbourne via the Princes Highway...

We were treated to a gorgeous sunset on our drive from Kiama to Jervis Bay. The first of many. 

ROYAL NATIONAL PARK | PHOTO DIARY

Royal National Park is situated near Cronulla, about an hours drive from Sydney's CBD. It is also a national heritage park. The green colours of the many plant species stand out against the background of both the sea and the sky. This is what our first view on this roadtrip looked like!! 

The roads are very windy, and are hardly ever straight. 

So beautiful! All the blues and greens lining the coast.

SYDNEY TO MELBOURNE, AND THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

Hello again!

Nine days ago we picked up our campervan from Jucy rentals in Botany Bay, ready to start our adventure. Now i could spend forever talking about everything i did and the places i've been too, so i'll try not too go on for too long. I will add photos of all the places we stopped, but i'll make each place a separate post and include more photos.

First of all, after getting some supplies from a supermarket, we headed into the Royal National Park. Our first view of the roadtrip was honestly quite breath taking.

We stopped a couple of other times throughout the park before joining onto The Grand Pacific Drive, which took us across Sea Cliff Bridge. Before finally heading to our first planned stop, Kiama Blowhole, very behind on schedule. Because the sun was setting fast we decided to go straight to our planned sleeping spot, but we got lost and didn't arrive in Huskisson on Jervis Bay until 10pm meaning we had no chance in getting a camp site for the night and ended up having to pull up in a carpark. 

After a surprisingly decent nights sleep, we were awoken to the sound of a kookaburra perched in a tree. When we had pulled up the previous night we were surrounded by water, but by morning the tide has gone out and we were parked up next to a white sand beach that stretched for miles. 

Mollymook was next on our list, with a lovely yellow sand beach. Two minutes up the road and we were in Ulladulla. Searching for a place to stop on our map, we came across a place called Pebbly Beach. And am i glad we did decide to go here. When we arrived, after what felt like miles of dirt track roads, we stepped on the beach only to find it scattered with wild kangaroos. We spent a good couple of hours wandering around the rocks and watching the animals. Once done we headed straight to Narooma to find a campsite, this time with luck! 

Day 3! We drove to a little town called Bermagui and found a naturally formed swimming pool carved into the side of the rocks. It was yet another beautiful place. Then to Meribula and through to Eden, the last town before crossing the border into Victoria. Greeted to a bush fire. 

Towards the end of the day is when things start to get exciting... 

We decided to go and see the big sand dunes in Croajingalong National Park, by the Thurra River. But our van isn't sounding so good so we pull off to a campsite in the middle of nowhere called Tabooma. Were we actually brake down. The only plus side was that the sunset was stunning and lit the sky red. 

The following day was mainly spent in a town called Orbost, getting the exhaust fixed. Turns out it has been pretty much ripped apart and sounded like a Harley Davidson! Our next stop was a place called Lakes Entrance which was a town situated on the entrance to the Gippslands Lakes. Afterwards we tried to find a place to stop in Metung, with no luck, but got to see the lovely views it had to offer and instead found a cheap campsite along the highway.

Back on the road again with a working van we headed to Golden Beach, also known as Ninety Mile Beach due to it being, well, ninety miles long. It was stunning and full of shells scattered along the shoreline. 

We then drove to Phillip Island, famous for its Penguin Parade, which we were too late for and glad we didn't get to see in the end. But we did get to camp on the island and visit the Koala Conservation Sanctuary to see them close up. Early evening we made it to Melbourne to catch up with the girls we had met in our Sydney Orientation. It was Grand Prix weekend though so there was F1 gear on literally every corner and every other person! 

Saturday night was spent at the beginning of The Great Ocean Road in a place called Torquay, which thankfully we were allowed to camp in even after the office had closed. 

The first place along the famous road is Bells Beach, famous in itself amongst surfers who flock every year to take part in the Rip Curl Championships. Then we passed under the Memorial Arch. Between here and the next village of Lorne we stopped about every kilometre to take photos of the scenery. Then finally we made it to Apollo Bay, situated directly on the Great Ocean Road. 

Our second day on the Great Ocean Road was amazing. First of all we did the Maits Rest rainforest walk in Otway National Park and then headed to Cape Otway. The drive to the lighthouse was filled with wild koalas clinging onto the trees that lined the road. 

Then we drove for a bit longer until we reached Gibsons Steps which lead down to Gibsons Beach which two of the apostles are situated on. After walking back up all of the steps we drove merely 100 metres before pulling off to the Twelve Apostles lookout. It was quite spectacular to finally see them in real life. The next place along The Great Ocean Road is Loch Ard Gorge which has to be my favourite place along this stretch. It was so tranquil. 

We spent the night in a very small town named Port Campbell before finishing off The Great Ocean Road the following day. The Arch, London Bridge and The Grotto were the names of the limestone rock formations situated between Port Campbell and Peterborough. The Grotto was very pretty and had a little fairy pool in it. We continued west until we hit Port Fairy which wasn't as nice as i heard it was, still glad i visited though. Knowing that we had to drop the van of in Melbourne we decided to drive straight to Colac which we worked out was roughly half way. And there we spent the night before heading straight back to the city to get rid of our loved Jucy Julie. 

  

CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE, SYDNEY 2015 | PHOTO DIARY

The crowds gather to watch the Sydney Chinese New Year 2015 Parade. 

Some entertainment before the parade begins. I'm not quite sure what was happening, but it was part of the Korean section and they were "fighting" each other. It got the crowds involved though.

The men must be very strong to walk around holding these people up! My shoulder aches just looking at them.

Finally after waiting for about 2 hours, the parade begun! A lot of my pictures turned out blurry due to the constant dancing and movement that took place, but here are a few of the better ones. 

So much colour everywhere! 

The sheep shearing shed. (No real sheep where involved in this parade) 

The dresses and clothes worn were stunning! 

Everything was so bright and i'm glad i had the opportunity to go. If you're in Sydney around this time of year then it's a must do, though i think once you've seen it once, you've seen it every year. I probably wouldn't go again to the Sydney celebration but maybe a different one. It was a good cultural experience. 

Finally, my favourite section of the parade. I knew i wouldn't get any decent photos of the dragon at the end so i filmed it instead. It was beautiful and i was in awe of the detailing that went into the design and bringing the dragon to life.