Back to the lake with Jie ♡

Justina came to visit before heading to Italy for her exchange!! 

First thing we did the morning Jie arrived - ballet class! ☺

We then went to Hula Juice Bar for brunch ☺

The rest of the day was spent walking along Princes street, chilling, packing, cooking dinner and then sleeping! 

The next morning, we got on the 10:15am train to Penrith and this marked the start of our 5 day trip to the Lake District 

The train ride there was stunning!! However, at some bits it got a little worrying as it was so foggy I could barely see past 15m. But thankfully, the fog cleared up as we neared our destination  

After getting off the train, we hopped on the X5 bus for a 45 min journey to Keswick

First thing we did was lunch at Kat's Kitchen which is a 100% vegan cafe in Keswick (the same place that Beverly and I went to when we had a day trip to Keswick to get on the 77A honister pass bus). I had the vegan breakfast and it was sooooo yum 

After lunch, we checked into YHA hostel which I highly recommend to anyone planning on visiting Keswick (which I also recommend). It was extremely clean, warm and spacious! The staff were very knowledgable about walks that you could do and really friendly and helpful when recommending things to do :) 

Justina and I decided to do the Castlehead walk before the sun set 

Views were amazing from up here :')

We then walked around the town for a bit, Justina did some shopping as she was not very well-equipped for the trip and so she bought a pair of hiking boots and a proper outdoor jacket. We then had Thai takeout for dinner (there was 15% discount as takeout meant no service charge) - I had a red curry and Justina had a pad thai and it was really delicious! 

The next morning, we did the Latrigg hike and boy was it beautiful! On the way to our destination, an old man who was walking his dog striked up a conversation with us and he actually told us not to go on the hike as the weather didn't look too promising. However, we just thought we'd try anyway and it turned out to be such an amazing hike in the snow!!

(take note of the weather contrast from here to when we started our hike 20 mins later)

The entire hike was just so breathtaking because snow was just falling everywhere!!! ❆

On our way down, the snow started to clear up as the sun came out, just to show how variable the weather was here (in the UK in general to be honest)

With frozen fingers and toes, we headed back to the town centre to have lunch and settled for pizza and sweet potato fries! It then started to rain and so we decided to just head back to the hostel to chill - I had a nap hehe and then because I wasn't feeling too well, I just had some granola that we bought the previous day for dinner and Justina had a tom yum soup from the same Thai restuarant that we ordered take out from the previous night. 

The next day, we embarked on a really long hike to Ashness Bridge and Walla Crag 

At the beginning of our journey, we came across a sign post informing hikers that the path ahead was flooded from previous days of rainfall and therefore was closed. However, Justina and I decided to just wing it and go ahead and turns out, the water had cleared, woohoo!! There were other people on the path as well which made us more confident that we didn't make the wrong decision 

It took us a good 2 hours to get to Ashness Bridge and to be honest, the journey there was so much more enjoyable than the end point. Justina and I hadn't planned on doing Walla crag immediately after the ashness bridge walk but we saw a sign post saying that Walla crag was just to the left of the bridge and took 1.5 hours, we decided that we might as well do it since we had come all this way already. 

and so we embarked on our journey to Walla Crag and it was just stunning!

We were rewarded for sure with stunning views during our hike but coming down was extremely scary. It was really slippery and there wasn't really a clear path down at the beginning of our descend. The descend was really steep as well and though a clear path did start to emerge eventually, it looked really dodgy and there was no one in sight and so we kept questioning whether we were going in the right direction but had no choice but to head down that path anyway. However, we did make it back to the town centre in the end thank goodness and we had to reward ourselves with a lovely lunch back at Kat's Kitchen! 

The vegan feta cheese tasted just like regular feta cheese!!

After lunch, Justina and I headed back to the hostel to chill for a bit and then went on a short railway walk before dinner at Chief Justice. They had a separate vegan/vegetarian menu which was just so amazing and appreciated. I had a terriyaki noodle, Justina had a quinoa salad and we ended the night sharing a bottle of Rekordelig☺

The next day, we took the 77 bus to Seatoller with a planned hike in mind but we had to cancel our plans because when we arrived, the weather was just horrid and we could not find the starting point for our hike. We then just headed up a path that had clearly been walked on before multiple times and decided to just go with the flow

Look how incredibly misty it was!!

Smiling through the winds and the rain 

Really so thankful and proud of my sister for agreeing to my 'crazy' (according to her) plans of wanting to hike everyday regardless of the weather!! Yes she does appreciate nature and loves hiking but not to the level of needing to do it everyday unlike me, so I am really so grateful that we embarked on this hiking trip together!

We were drenched by the time we got back on the bus to get back to Keswick 

We then went back to the hostel to change into dry clothes and chilled for the rest of the day! 

We headed to a cafe called Jaspers for lunch and tea as we both did some work ☺ Later for dinner, we ordered Indian takeout and it was so damn good!! This time, there was a 20% discount for takeout, which was just amazing. 

On our final day, we headed out for one last hike before we left and went to Castlerigg Stone Circle - basically the Lake District's version of the stonehenge. 

Tada! 

Honestly, it wasn't as special/stunning as we imagined it to be - was really just stones in a circle but I'm still glad we went there! We were listening to Disney songs on the way there and back and that was really fun hehe

We then got back to the hostel, got on the X5 back to Penrith and then hopped on the 2:43pm train back to Edinburgh ☺

Third time to the Lake District and will definitely be back for more!! 

It is hands down one my favourite places I have been too and I just love how much it has to offer (more than 200 peaks to be exact!) 

I cannot wait to be back for more hiking and to be rewarded with crazy incredible views :') 

Managing Expectations

Before the new semester started in January, Topo and I headed down to London for a wee trip! 

Topo had already been in London 2 days before I arrived as he had a VISA appointment. So, when I arrived, we met at Kings Cross and headed to our air bnb together. We then had lunch at Eat Tokyo and then parted ways as I went to meet Tessa and Sophia to watch Hamilton! I had been listening to the sound track the whole train ride to London from Edinburgh and it was the first time I properly listened to all the lyrics and it was the perfect time to do so because the lyrics were still fresh and inspiring in my head which made me so much more excited for the musical. 

*IT WAS AMAZING*

The next day, I went for ballet in the morning and then met Topo for lunch at the Temple of Seitan! 

It's a vegan junk food place and the food was out of this world! We shared the vegan buffalo wings, popcorn chicken and had a burger each and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of the meal. 100% recommend this to non-vegans as well!! 

With full exploding bellies, we headed to the National Gallery at Trafalgar square and met Ottis, Topo's primary school friend who's studying at Imperial College London. It was lovely meeting Ottis and he is wealth of knowledge (just like Topo☺) and the whole afternoon/evening were filled with conversations about politics, economics, religion, sociology (a little bit of music which didn't last long) - I felt so inspired but also incompetent at the end of it because it made me realise how little I knew. Topo and I didn't even have dinner that day because we were still incredibly stuffed from lunch!

The next day, Topo and I headed to Hyde Park to cycle - one thing that we'd wanted to do for a long time!! We stopped at huge cafe in the park and finally tried this incredible sencha tea that Topo had been raving about ('the best tea I've ever had' he says) and it was so fragrant!! I love little moments like this :')) 

After a lovely morning cycle, we walked to Whole Foods on high street Kensington for lunch

I had an acai bowl and Topo had a mixed veg bowl which only cost £6! You picked your choice of carb, 2 veggies, 1 protein and a sauce! 

We then headed back to the National Gallery because there was so much to see and the time we spent there yesterday didn't quite satisfy our needs 

We then walked to Shoryu Ramen in Kingly Court for dinner - they added another vegan ramen to the menu and it was sooooo yummy! I thought the original White Ramen was good but this spicy one was so much better!! Topo was not feeling well by dinner time and so we just headed home after dinner 

The next day, Topo was full on feeling ill :'( I went for ballet in the morning, grabbed lunch to go for the both of us from Whole Foods and headed back to the air bnb. I was really sour about the situation because in my mind, I had plans that we'd be doing something exciting rather than just chilling in the room. It took me a really long time to come to terms with the situation and from then, try to make the best of the situation. It's something I definitely need to improve on because I'm the kind of person who always likes to be doing things on holidays and I create all these expectations in my head and when things do not go to plan, I take a very long time to become ok with it. That's never good for me and even more so for the person I am travelling with because sometimes it's not something that we could have controlled - like Topo getting sick. 

and so, after a few hours of being sour, we talked about it and then we spent the rest of the day reading and watching documentaries in the room and looking back at it now, it was still an enjoyable day and definitely a learning experience :) 

The next day, I went for ballet again in the morning and then met Topo and Ottis at Brick Lane market 

The first thing we tried was this Tofu Karaagé and was so tasty and crispy and I wish I could have this right now 

We then had vegan burgers - I had the Green Monster made of sun dried tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, peas, red bell peppers and onions and Topo had the Red Devil made of sweet potatoes, red kidney beans, onions and coriander. We both added vegan cheese to our burgers and they were so hearty and yummy! 

This was an Ethiopian food stand and I've tried their food before in Spitalfields market and yes it's delicious and really healthy but my fav part is their presentation! 

Topo then tried this korean bun after we walked around for a bit and I had a bite and it was pretty good!

We then sat at a table and chatted about worldly issues until the market place closed down and we had to leave 

That's Ottis! 

We then took a bus to Soho and went to Pho pho dinner :) (hehe)

Food was sooo delicious! One of the most flavoursome vegan pho I've had! 

On the way home that evening, I had suggested that we head to Camden market in the morning since it was close to our air bnb. Again, I had all these expectations of trying amazing vegan food at the market, which then led me to disappointments and being sour when I realised that we had to check out at 10am and Topo felt like we'd already done enough in London and so he wasn't keen on Camden market. I became disappointed again but it definitely did not take me as long to accept the situation and be ok with it. It still does take me time to manage my expectations but I shall not give up trying to become better at it! 

The next morning, Topo and I had a slow morning packing our bags and relaxing. We then took the bus to Mildred's at Kings Cross and grabbed lunch to go from a salad place that we passed by on the way to Mildred's. 

I had these homemade vegan sausages on a bed of mash, vegetables and peas drowned in a delicious onion-y sauce and it was so yum!! We sat there for a really long time playing categories and chatting till it was time for us to head to the station 

You can't see it at all but there was a beautiful rainbow right in the middle of the sky when I took this picture :') 

We saw a double rainbow on the way back to Edinburgh!! 

I really hope we'll come back to London in the future to explore more of what it has to offer. This trip was packed with amazing food, lovely conversations, art, ballet and importantly, a learning experience for me to manage my expectations! 

Ever so grateful for Topo for being so patient with me when I'm being sour ♥