This year just keeps on slipping through my fingers! This past week has been amazing!! I’ve been busy with uni as I prepare for an exam next week. My study motivation has been surpassed by my excitement for final year rotations. My brain just wants to skip these exams so that I can move on to what I really want to be doing. So as a study break this week I decided to go to CHINA!!

Now if you’re like me and money is always tight, but you want to travel and experience different cultures and traditions, you might be wondering how I did it. I traveled to China to experience a Chinese lantern festival all for the cost of £20!! How did I do it? Here is my secret.

I never left Edinburgh!!

Many times within your community you can find different cultural experiences to help you “travel” without every having to leave. This can be different cultural restaurants (I found a Hungarian one in Edinburgh that I’m now dying to try), activities, or befriending and learning from immigrants or other travellers. My travel to China this week is a yearly tradition put on by Edinburgh Zoo that lasts from December through February to celebrate Chinese New year and Lantern Festival. All I can say is it was so worth the £20 I paid and now I want to be in China for the real deal in my future at some point. If you are in Edinburgh during this time, I highly recommend it.

Being in Scotland means we mixed Chinese myths and legends with our own Scottish ones. So to start you out on your journey, you are greeted by penguins and one of our very own kelpies. Kelpies are mystic creatures that inhabit Lochs (Loch=body of water) in Scotland. They shape shift, but normally take the form of a horse. It is said that they can take the form of a human, but their feet remain as hooves. So make sure you check the feet of every person you meet in Scotland, just in case.

I’m sure your wondering if Nessie is one of these creatures. I’ve looked into this, and it all depends on where you look. The majority of my research has told me that she is a kelpie, but others say she is something different altogether. I’ll let you choose what to believe.

After you greet our friendly kelpie, you get to experience all the Chinese myths and legends! When moving on to Scotland myths, even I didn’t realise there were that many. We were entertained for over 2 hours even though it was cold outside.

I found my zodiac sign! It totally fits my personality don’t you think?

Every time I went to a new display I’d deem it my new favourite. But looking back through all the photos I took, I’ve picked out my two favourites. There were multiple ties for third so I had to cut if off or else this post would go on forever! (But take a look at the real below for some of the other awesome displays and you will see why I couldn’t choose) First place on the left and second on the right.

I definitely took lots of pictures! I’ll make a video of them all and put them up on youtube at some point so keep an eye out.

No matter where you live, there are ways to get involved and learn about a different culture. Go out this week and search for an activity that is different than your normal, and let me know what you found.