All things London

The flight from Kuala Lumpur (26/10) left at midnight - great service again on Malaysian Airlines and on demand tv and movies. I met Nikki who was going home to London for a holiday however is now a permanent resident in Australia and resides in Exmouth (WA) working as a scuba dive instructor. She gave us some info about London and invited us to her parents place in southern England if we had time.

The flight was ok (13 hours and with only one hour sleep), and we arrived in London at 5am - cruised through immigration (no questions asked on visa entry!), out by 5.45, on the "tube" and into London just as the sun was coming up at 7.30am. We found the travelodge easily (our cheap deal booked over the internet - cheaper than some hostels) however were unable to check in until 3pm nor could they store the luggage (an issue we think we had read prior...).

Wandered around for a while eagerly anticipating Starbucks' 8.30am opening so we could get some coffee and sit and kill some time (nothing else open at this hour on a Saturday). Bearing in mind we had been awake for 38 hours or so by that stage all we wanted was a shower, to get rid of the backpacks and have a powernap so we could rejuvenate then get out there, pound the pavement and discover London.

After Starbucks we got a bus ticket and thought we could have a look at the city for the first time. The bus went to Waterloo via St Pauls' Cathedral, over the river Thames and passed the London Eye. Our first impressions are of very pretty buildings with old and ornate style, and no massive sky scrapers along the skyline. We could not simply sit on the bus and do a loop so had to "alight" and ended up walking around with our backpacks on for a while - it was packed near the river with tourists at Southbank and around the London Eye.

Very irritated and tired we found the bus back to the Travelodge and asked to sit in their restaurant and wait for the room - fortunately at 1.30pm our room was ready. A brand new hotel and a very nice room! (basic but I think it was delerious excitement that we could rest - however compared to the Asian accommodations it was genuinely the best to date). After a shower (also after staying at Asian guesthouses, full shower pressure was amazing and no water restrictions like at home in Melbourne woohoo!), and some food we fell asleep with aspirations to go out for dinner a little later on..... we did not wake until 1am! We just kept sleeping through the night, and since that night daylight savings ended we had an extra hour also, and then woke at a "normal hour".

We spent ten nights in London - a lengthy period but required as we had a number of appointments/interviews to organise our working in the UK and also do the ski season in France. I have summarised the key sights, activities and predicaments we experienced during that time....

Discovering London day:

First official day following our massive sleep we walked to Trafalgar Square and found the Tourist Information Centre and picked up some reading. Visited the National Gallery and saw a most amazing collection of art, including works by Monet, Da Vinci and Michalangelo, using the informative audio guide - and it was all free! Discovered Pret a Manger the chain sandwich shop that is absolutely everywhere - a pretty reliable meal to be found there we discovered (lashings of smoked salmon). Was a constant drizzle but that did not stop us doing anything. Also went to the National Portrait Gallery which features photos and paintings of poiticians, celebrities and royals across the centuries (also free). Trafalgar Square had also been set up with a large stage and heaps of people filled the public space - it was the Indian new year festival.

Met up with Lucy (friend from Perth) and her boyfriend Marco on the busy Oxford Street shopping strip and went for a coffee. Great to catch up - Lucy is a teacher and has lived in London for a year. Dark and raining (gets dark about 4pm), the tube was an easy option back to the hotel. Purchased an Oyster card (like met card but you top up with money) which meant single tube trips only £1.50 (instead of £4). While public transport is expensive, other costs seem quite relative - eg sandwich £3, coffee £1.5, Foo Fighters tickets £32 (buggar sold out!) and double jager shots with full red bull £4 (even when you do the conversion to $AUS is still less than cost at a Melbourne bar). Pretty uneventful night and possibly suffering a little jet lag, fell asleep early (later discovering the club across the road "Worship" was pumping to all hours of the morning and the bass made a habit of waking us).

Bank accounts & acrobatic monks:

Leaving the hotel we were immediately greeted with the busy London we had expected on day one (we stayed in primarily business area with little happening on weekend) and wandered to nearby Liverpool St station. After organising our "orientation" meeting with a company who assist foreigners in London to work, we headed to Leicester Square to queue for half price tickets to a show - we got Shaolin Monks for that night at the Peacock Theatre. Went to Tottenham Court Road to browse some laptops... In the afternoon we attended the orientation meeting which for us basically meant we could set up a UK bank account quickly and easily by providing passport and filling out form. They also provided other travel, tax and recruitment agency information.

Did some people watching around busy Leicester Square and then wandered around Covent Garden and Soho before going to see the show. Also had our first beer of the London visit - a warm pint of something not very nice! Even the bottled beer to follow (thought would be a safe cold option) was warm.... not a good initiation but the pub was very nice and cosy and we later learnt warm was not the norm!

The show was ok - but we were a little disappointed. Not sure what we expected and the acrobatics and strength of performers were impressive (especially the kids) but not as much as the Cirque de Soill performance we had seen the previous year. Very tired and with Mike having some hamstring issues the big red bus dropped us right at the hotel door...

Modern art and a dodgy leg:

Walked to London Bridge and over to Southbank where we visited the Tate Modern art gallery - a very large modern building displaying art from 1900. The first thing that struck us was the massive crack in the concrete floor on the ground level - it was actually a current exhibition. Mike and I were amazed at how you put a crack like that into an already established building and also struggled to grasp the concept of art. There was very interesting art pieces of all mediums however as mentioned we don't claim to understand modern art and so many things escaped our appreciation - and some of it was straight out weird ie the video of near naked men and women rolling around with raw fish, whole chickens and throwing paint!?!

We then decided to tick another tourist stop off the list and took the tube to Knightsbridge and visited Harrods - big department store and very expensive food market within! Rather elite, wealthy area for shopping and did not really excite us so went via the chemist (Mike's ailment to be revealed soon) and sandwich shop then back to CBD.

Hospital day:

Mike's leg was officially giving him grief and he was struggling to walk (note: 1/3 of his normal pace). Won't give too many details but we began the arduous task of trying to see a doctor (no luck unless paid £100 pounds for private - Lucy and Amber warned you can only make appointment 2 weeks out), and also contact our travel insurance in Australia for assistance/advice also to little avail. Ended up spending the afternoon in two different public hospital waiting rooms (rather amusing at the first hearing two different patients discussing their respective broken hands and stab wounds). In summary the doctor at second hospital diagnosed muscle strain (no sciatica or blood clot) and said keep taking anti-inflammatories... (on the note of anti-inflammatories - Mike was met with a shocked look when he told the pharmacist how many he had taken for the day and the strength of them. Basically the Voltaren purchased in Asia was really good value! 100mg per tablet vs 50mg in UK and 25mg in Italy).

Mike went back to hotel to rest and I went to meet Lucy and Marco for dinner in West Kensington near where they lived. First experienced the double whammy of tube line closures (had to change to bus) and crazy traffic due to a soccer match nearby. Arrived an hour later than proposed time but was taken for the best turkish meal I have ever tasted (reasonably priced and great service too - Best Mangal II on North Rd).

France is on!

Main activity for the day was attending our informal interview with the owner of the ski company. We met him at the bar at the Novotel in Hammersmith where he very comprehensively explained the details of our future roles (start December) and other paperwork matters. We were clued up beforehand via the handbook emailed to us but Richard described a very hard working 6 day week. Main point we took away was that meals were not required to be as fancy as we had initially thought - Mike still plans to "knock their socks off" and prepare the best food!

Contracts in hand and celebrations in order - France is on! Went to a pub in central Hammersmith area and turned out were flanked by groups of Aussies on either side - we had heard this area (south west) of the city was renowned for where Aussies in London live. Next observation - Fosters on tap. Although we never drink it at home, for £2 for a pint we obliged. Also gave the £6 bottle of red a go as we looked over the pictures of where we would be based for winter in the fabulous snow! Took the bus back into the city (takes longer but more to see up the top of the bus than on the underground) and wandered Covent Garden for somewhere for dinner. Always craving a good thai meal we stopped at Siam Thai. Stopped via the internet cafe and took the train home only to realise we no longer had the contracts in hand...

Positive that we had taken them off the bus with us but likely left them after dinner we called the restaurant but to no avail. Tried again the next day and althought helpful the manager could not find them. Very embarrassed at our bad start to the ski job we had to call one of the directors and ask for the contracts to be emailed through. Then later in the afternoon the restaurant called me and had found the contracts after all! At least saved the inconvenience of printing everything at an overpriced internet cafe.

(Mike still struggled to get around a fair bit - but dosed up on a concoction of voltaren, ibuprofen and new addition nurofen containing codeine he has been mobile and thought was improving)

Market day:

A fabulous clear day (most have been like this) as we set off walking to the Borough Market just on the other side of the river. First we went past the Spitafield market just near our hotel but they were just getting set up so had some breakfast and moved on. Then we stumbled across the Leadenhall Market on the way to the river, and looked in wine and cheese shops, saw risotto and pastas being freshly prepared alongside ample varieties of olives and other antipasto foods being sold. We held off buying anything as we had heard the Borough Market was a foodies heaven...

And it was! We joined the crowds of people at this massive open air market sampling practically all of the goods available for sale - cheese, olives, jam, oils, dips, juices, cured meats, the most fabulous chocolate brownies and banana cakes, mushroom pate and on and on... There was also all sorts of takeaway food stalls (but we were too full from all the tasting to need to buy lunch!) selling rolls brimming with roast meat, chorizo sandwiches, chicken tikka wraps, burgers and one rather odd/interesting/gross (depending on your taste) meal worthy of futher description. One stall had cheese sandwiches (for toasting) with grated cheese about 5cm thick. However that was not the main attraction - they had half rounds of cheese under a flame/burner type thing physically melting the cheese before cut. The actual dish started by breaking up a steamed potato and then scraping lashings of the melted stuff (or was that pouring?) on top of the potatos, and don't forget the side garnish of gherkins/pickles. Far too much cheese for our liking but people were getting into it (and just as many in awe like us!).

Markets by day, Indian by night:

We took the tube to Camden Town on Saturday morning to visit the renowned Camden Market. The whole area was packed and we looked at a series of markets, walked near the canal and stopped for good coffee and later on lunch from one of the many ethnic food stands set up with big woks and pots serving great fresh food. Mike had fabulous African curries and I tried the Japanese curry and noodles. We took the bus back into the city to the much frequented Tottenham Court Rd for Mike to finally make his laptop purchase (still tossing up between Acer and Mac at that stage). Options were limited as so many of the brands only came with UK warranty and we obviously required international. Also found out we would be able to claim the tax back as we would be leaving the EU within the specified time period (Switzerland for a night came in extra handy!) so made it even more the economical purchase. The slim light weight Acer travelmate now is also on our journey. Unfortunately our impression (and hopes) that wifi would be easily accessible with the laptop instead of constantly visiting internet cafes was not so accurate... the hotel wifi was not actually free but cost £5 per hour! Same for Starbucks etc... Only a couple of days later did we find it free at Apostrophe cafe on a last whim!

A bottle of Spainish wine to celebrate the purchase (side note - the Australian wine on sale in London is mass produced crap like Jacob's Creek, Lindemans, Hardy's and the like and it is overpriced at that) and then headed to nearby Brick Lane to select a restaurant from the abundance of Indian cuisine that lined the street. We first went to a large beer garden/courtyard for the obligatory pint. While we were initially alarmed at loud bangs we could hear - it was home fireworks (apparently legal and bought retail) going off in the middle of the street. Choosing the restaurant was interesting - it was a bit Lygon St style where everyone is trying to poach you into their restaurant offering complimentary drinks or 20% off. On top of this they all have signs up with the awards they have won - who knows how current or valid they are but our favourite was "second best chef of Brick Lane district". Mike enquired as to who the awardee of best chef was, and he received the response "down there somewhere" with a point down the street. The licensed restaurant we chose allowed us to BYO (had to be beer due to poor wine choice) and the food was actually quite good but could not say the same for the service with the amount of Indian waitstaff rushing arond the place and recycling all of the dipping sauces!

Laundry day:

In brief we had not done laundry since Asia (about 10 days prior - and we didn't actually do it but generally paid $1 per kilo for someone else to) so were in desperate need of a laundromat. Turns out the Travelodge were not overly helpful nor familiar with the area as they pointed us in the direction of a place that I don't think ever existed. It was also Sunday and being in CBD area we did not find any laundromats - that was after carrying around a few kilos of laundry each all morning. The experience was made worse since Mike's leg was so buggered he was at a snail's pace and I was being rather impatient with the overall situation. The dilemma was eventually resolved when I spoke to Lucy and made plans to meet her for a coffee in Fulham where she lives, an area that conveniently has many self service laundries! Mike was too "crippled" to join me so I set off on the train with 7kgs of laundry. Had the yummiest banana and pear cake with Lucy as I learnt of her plans to possibly work in Spain for a period next year (the joys of a British passport). Joined Lucy for a beer in Hammersmith and met some other Aussie girls who were also teachers (clean laundry in tow).

Mike's quote of the day "that f^%$ing laundry has seen more of London than I have!"

Settled on the nearby pub for dinner and were pleasantly surprised. Mike was just about to order the "British speciality" fish and chips (?!) but on hearing the waitress' thick Thai accent switched back to their Thai menu which I had chosen from and we were both rewarded with our favourite meal in London to date.

Forced to the "country" last day:

Last day in London was a bit of a pain - we had to take the national rail train to High Wycombe (about 45 mins from Marleybone St) and as we found out at a cost of £15 each. The background to this - we paid a fee while back in Australia (similar to the bank account set up company) to make the process of getting a National Insurance Number (like tax file number) quicker and easier (as ski job required all those formalities). Basically for that fee (not cheap) the company Visa First would organise an interview at one of the offices in London prior to our arrival so we would not have to wait 6 weeks for appointment time if we had rang them ourselves when we arrived.

Visa First would only make the appointment one month out, and due to our circumstances in travelling through Asia first we had to oblige and email them one month out while travelling. Unfortunately Mike's email was ignored and when he emailed again and enquired further he found out the person we had liaised with had left the company! So at that stage we were in Vietnam and 2 weeks out from London arrival (with only 10 day window for interviews) but our mate Peter came back with an interview well into December. Mike made further contact and had the email trail to prove we had done everything required, and so Peter got on the case to get another interview. That is where he came up with the interview on our last day (5/11) out at woop woop High Wycombe and incurring a hefty train fare to get there - despite the fact we had paid $AUS 75 each for the convenience of a pre arranged interview in central London! Not happy Jan and overall the experience with Visa First was very poor - they also charged my credit card for an additional service we had not purchased and when refunded I obviously lost out in the foreign currency conversion.

So the day itself was ok - a comfortable train to the countryside and a wander in a small town... I compared it to Mandurah south of Perth where all we kept seeing were young single mums pushing strollers. Had arrived early as did not want to miss any chance after what had already been such a stuff around. We decided to go to the Job Centre Plus earlier in the hope we may get it out of the way - success on that one. The Job Centre place was, you guessed it... to quote Mike "like Nambucca Heads Centrelink on the second Thursday of the month". The receptionist was on the receiving end of a number of explitives and later called the police when a rather intoxicated man/boy passed out at her feet. Fun and games on a Monday morning in High Wycombe!

We got out of there and on the train back asap. Mike still struggling big time to walk so first stop was the Sportsworld to get him some new shoes. Retired to the hotel and headed to the pub for our final night. On trying the Thai again at the pub down the road Mike made the call - "best thai food outside of Thailand". After a cheap bottle of "quaffing" headed back to make a few calls home and get set for our flight to Italy the next morning...