Mabes in London (Day numero dos)

Chan Household, London (Day 2)
Woke up at around 8ish am. After washing up, Mabes handed a very excited Danielle more gifts from her & Auntie Bessy. Ohhh... a pink princess cushion from B! Yellow bedroom slippers (shaped like 'clogs') from Mabes! And a belated bday present from both of them - Alphabets from the Leapfrog series! Geez girls, so many new toys for the lil' one... thanks!

At 9ish, we went downstairs to show Mabes her jogging route at Clapham Common (yes, that girl is SUPER disciplined!) and whilst she jogged,we popped into TESCO's to buy fruits, juice & for Dee, vino! He was glad to have a 'wine kaki'(finally?) for the weekend! To 'commemorate the occasion', he got a nice bottle for them to savour slowly later. Mabes says she now realises how convenient our place is! The Tube's a mere stone's throw away, 3 different supermarkets round the corner, & best of all... a convenient jogging location for when she next visits! Heehee.

Lunch was arranged at 12ish. We were to meet Mabes' MIL, Vanessa (aka 'V', her SIL) and Reuben. The initial plan was to 'yum cha' at Leicester Square, Chinatown. But Mabes' MIL told us at the last min she had to wait for the carpet guy to do up V's room at the new apt. To minimise logistics, we decided to go to them at Camden Town instead. Quickly sms-ed Reuben to apologise on the change in plans but thankfully, he was v obliging... :)

Personally, I was more than happy to visit a new suburb. Had not been to Camden Town but heard from Toon Ling that it was an interesting, yet bordering on offbeat kind of place? Was excited to see it for myself!

Camden Town - Viet lunch, a visit to V's new apt & shopping @Camden Market
We got to Camden Town (North-ish of London) at 1220 thereabouts. Reuben brought along Grace, Donovan's younger sister, who is here on a 2-week break (lucky girl!). Proceeded to a Vietnamese restaurant recommended by Auntie just round the corner (Superbowl Vietnamese, I think??). We feasted on fried/cold Viet spring rolls, viet lamb 'wraps' (??? similar to Peking Duck, only bits of lamb wrapped in wafer-thin paper rolls and served with a dollop of Hoi Sin sauce), and of course, soupy Pho! Shiok! Mabes and I also treated ourselves to ice-cold, sweet Vietnamese milk coffee! Yummy! I thought the food standard wasn't too bad but Dee (the self-declared 'noodle connoisseur'?? hehe) reckoned the Pho could've been been more cooked. Whatever... :P

After lunch, we parted ways with Reuben & Grace as Mabes wanted to catch up with her MIL at V's place (her MIL didn't join us for lunch due to carpet man). So we headed to V's whilst Grace and Reuben went on to explore Camden Market. Later, Reuben told us he likened Camden Mkt to 'Bangkok'. Much too rowdy and messy for him! But for Mabes & me, it was a 'Bargain-Hunting Mecca'! We had soooo much fun weaving in and out of stalls and picking stuff up along the way. Haven't done this much shopping in the 2-odd months I've been here, as I did that day! But most stuff not for me, so lucky 'some-of-yous'!!!!

Side-tracking abit here. Remember Toon Ling described Camden Town as offbeat (see above para)? She's absolutely RIGHT! Camden Town is a suburb with an eclectic 'collection' of be-studded punk rockers with mohawks (I kid you not!), heavily tattoo-ed leather-clad bikers & eeri gothic folk! Ok, I know all this sounds a little 'hair raising' but they're harmless (I think?). I guess you could assimilate Camden Town with Harajuku in Japan? Wanted to take photos of the 'characters' but decided against it in case they put a 'hex' on me! Gulp. :P

V's place is about a 10 min walk from the Tube and when we arrived, the carpet guy was just finishing so we decided to mill around downstairs & wait for him to complete the job. This place is going to be V's Uni pad. She's sharing it with 2 other mates and it's supposed to be pretty close to her school. I'm glad Mabes arranged for all of us to meet again (last time was 4 years ago at Mabes' wedding!). V's supposed to be Danielle's 'nanny' whenever Dee & I need some 'alone time'! :) We stayed at her's for about an hour then Mabes and I proceeded to Camden Market for some shopping. That was my 'time-off' from Danielle. Dee graciously suggested it so that I'd have time to catch up with Mabes alone and do girly things! Was v grateful for the time away... :) After shopping, Mabes and I sat down for a quick drink at a pub in Camden Lock. Ran out of batteries in my camera by that time so didn't manage to take any pix ... :(

Clapham Common - Dinner at Cafe Wanda (Polish restaurant)& drinks @ Chans'
We tried making a reservation for Carmen de Tapas at Clapham Common South Side but they were fully booked. Undeterred, Mabes called to ask if we were to walk in, would we have better luck with tables? They said Yes, so at around 730pm, we trudged to Clapham Common to get us a table. Dee brought Danielle from home and we were to meet Reuben at Clapham Common station. When we arrived at the restaurant though, found it to be pretty 'child-unfriendly' and packed so we decided to walk around and find something else. Pity about the tapas tho', never tried before. Another time, I'm sure. :)

Mabes feet were killing her (all that walking in heels! I dunno how this girl does it!) so we quickly decided on a Polish restaurant down the road called, Cafe Wanda. Never tried Polish food so we thought, what the heck. The menu looked more German than Polish to me. Perhaps Polish food is pretty similar to German? We decided to share our mains so Reuben had beef stragonoff, Dee had pork knuckles, I had Polish mixed dumplings and Mabes had pork goulash. Once again, didn't have my camera to snap pix of the food or can show all... darn. I thought the food was great (I'm easy to please I think!) though my dish was a little too starchy. Imagine dumplings filled with mushroom, cheese, potatoes - Carbo overload!

After dinner, we took a London cab back to our place coz the bus was taking too long and Mabes was getting rather tired. Woaah, my first ride in a London cab! Was thrilled with the experience though Dee and Reuben said there are even more 'tak kong' cabs with remote controls and TV screens!

Back at the Chan abode, we tucked in to more food! Mabes bought desserts from Cafe Wanda so along with the nice wine Dee had bought earlier, we had ourselves quite a feast. Danielle seemed thrilled to have yet another playmate and kept dragging Reuben to play with her! She can even say his name pretty well! Heehee... But after awhile, she started fussing (probably pooped from the long day) so I put her to bed whilst the rest chit-chatted. Pity I couldn't join in the conversation. Heard 'hot' topics being debated such as serving in Christian Ministry (Dee was/is a total cynic!), sex trade and then some... All in all, I think everyone had a sated, satisfied night! I hope?

* One last update tomorrow! So much for condensing Mabes' visit! I've written waaay to much! So cheong hay! Tsk tsk!
** B, Danielle sleeps with the pink cushion now... :)