Lahn-don

First up, there is some good news and not so good news. The good news is that I have picked up a replacement iPad -yay!!

The not so good news is that when I loaded the new operating system onto the new iPad, my blogging app which was fabulous and easy to use, choked and died. So I'm now using a completely shitful app which, despite unfathomably positive reviews, is confusing, difficult to use and making me hate it with a fiery passion. So I'm not sure how all this will look once posted (becaus there's no handy preview function). If only half of a photo turns out, I'll try and fix it later... Anyhoo...

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After a couple of days in London, I'm getting used to the cold. So used to it in fact, that I think it's going to be a struggle to get used to the heat in Bali again. We're staying in a small hotel above an Indian restaurant on Brick Lane in inner east London, which is in the next street from my sister's place. 

Her area is a pretty awesome place to stay. 

Last night I thought I heard a disembodied voice wafting up into the window talking about gruesome stabbings... Looking out of the hotel window, I realised there was a whole tour group standing just underneath our window, being led by a guy talking about grizzly murder... I think it was a Jack the Ripper tour - we're only a few steps from Whitechapel rd, where the Ripper murders took place. Cool. No? Okay, maybe a tiny bit creepy. Turns out the spot where the indian restaurant under the hotel sits is the same place where the Ripper's first victim had her last drink - spooky, but awesome, right?

Speaking of my sis, here she is:

During the week, this culturally diverse area is dotted with cafes and bars but dominated by curry houses and vintage stores. (I have eaten waaaayy too much curry, but it's just so damn good!!) 

It feels like a busy thoroughfare for commuters that also caters for local residents with schools, churches and convenience stores. However, on the weekend, the whole street transforms beyond recognition as the markets take over the streets with food stalls, jewellery, antiques, knick knacks, records, t-shirts, knitted Christmas decorations - pretty much everything imaginable. We went on Sunday and I scored some fabulous teapot earrings and a knitted Christmas pudding tree decoration. 

We also had some awesome Ethiopian vegetarian curries for breakfast. Yummo!!

When we arrived on Saturday, neither of us had much in the way of winter clothing, so it was a serious priority to do some shopping. Luckily, we found a great vintage store on Brick Lane which we mined for a jacket, scarf (for me) and hat (which Phil has claimed - see pic below) and a pair of boots. 

Phil decided not to bring any pants on this trip and didn't find any at the vintage store, so he's been rocking a pair of salmon pink surfie shorts.

The shorts are not warm, but it is a great conversation starter... Thanks to the shorts, we met a lovely Arabic photography artist (artist not terrorist is his tagline) at the market who was also wearing shorts (albeit long ones with thermals). He had the kind of luxuriant beard that Phil dreams of growing... I loved this series of photographs of his notebooks:

There is also some amazing street art:

There was a book signing featuring the uber cool, Jarvis Cocker a few hundred metres up from our place on Monday night, but unsurprisingly, it was all sold out. We went along anyway, but sadly no glimpse. Fortunately there are bars and pubs galore in which to drown all sorrows. 

Today was a big east London day. Philip, my sis and I took a trip to my dad's childhood neighbourhood, Bethnal Green as a memorial - to look at his old haunts... And to try the infamous pie and mash with liquor that he used to talk about - which is a meat pie, served with mashed potatoes and a translucent gravy made out of green parsley. I'd like to say that it was delish, but it wasn't. Sort of tasted like nothing much and went down about as well as if you'd swallowed a brick! It feels oddly disrespectful to say this, but ugh!

We considered trying the famed jellied eels at the (apparently) famous Tubby Isaacs:

But after a close look at the jellied eels, we decided to give them a miss... just couldn't do it. 

It was surreal going to the place where my dad grew up. The area where we're staying is also in east London, but it's pretty gentrified. A few minutes further east on the bus and it's a different story. Its obviously more impoverished than the area we're in, but there was also a different culture - sort of both more open and sociable and more menacing at the same time. 

We passed a supermarket that had employed Christmas carollers outside the front doors, presumably to bring cheer to the shoppers. As we walked past, I heard a middle aged woman leaving the supermarket snarl, "how about you just give me a pint of what you're on" to the cheery singers. Yikes! I guess too much enthusiasm is suspect in Bethnal Green. 

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We have done some touristy things - yesterday we went to the Tower of London, which was fun!

Tomorrow, the Christmas markets in Southbank.