Being in Budapest

To get the hydrofoil boat to Budapest requires one to be at the checkin for the boats about 8AM. This is a minor problem if you don't really know how far it is to the harbour because it's not on your map. As a result, I got up at 6AM after a couple hours sleep, dragged my bag onto my very tired shoulders and started heading through the dawn to the metro station. Turns out I was about half an hour early, and then after the checkin there was still a wait until 9 for the passport control guys to get their act together as well. Eventually I got through their gates and onto the vessel, named a hydrofoildue to a large wing it has attached to the underside of the hull. This allows the boat to rise out of the water as it gains speed, reducing the water drag on the boat and making the whole thing more efficient and capable of greater speeds. I think I heard the captain say that our vessel averaged around 35 km/hr.

Catching the boat from Budapest to Vienna was one of the things on my original itinerary that I wanted to make sure got done. It may be observed that I've actually reversed the direction, but the journey is much the same. Just, you know... backwards. I planned to check out the sights coming out of Vienna, marvel at the wonderful scenery down the world reknowned Danube river, the second longest in Europe. Unfortunately due to my previous late night shenanigans with the Irish and my hellishly early start that morning, I was basically drifting in and out of consciousness for the first couple hours of the six hour journey, so much so that I missed going through the first lock. Essentially I missed any wonderful parts of the Viennese end of the river, and the rest of the trip, except for a castle or ruin here and there was actually quite bland.

It was not possible to stand on deck during the journey (except when going through the locks, which was quite interesting to see), however it was possible to sit on the top portion of the stairs going up to the deck and poke ones upper body through the sliding hatch. I spent the last hour and a bit of the trip in this configuration, listening to some music and enjoying the breeze. I must have chosen the right music, and in combination with reminiscing of Vienna and my trip so far, a fresh Hungarian beer and little packet of pretzels, I had an extremely potent "life is good" moment. I've had this happen to me a couple times during the trip, but none quite as powerful as this one, and it was an excellent feeling.

Not too long after, the massive parliament building of Budapest came into view, followed by several other of the cities famous landmarks, including the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. The boat pulled into dock, and after retrieving my bag I had a quick chat with a couple of other backpackers standing around the exit building and we arranged to meet later on that night for a drink.

Luckily there was a bunch of maps available in the exit building of the dock, and luckier still it was only about a kilometer to my hostel. I found my way through the extremely busy streets down to the location, which was in a large building complex with a square central courtyard. I got buzzed in through the main door and checked in. The place was a dingy converted 2 storey apartment, with a lounge and kitchen on the first floor and a couple of dorms on the second, quite a way removed from the refined, professional look of the previous hostels I'd been staying in. The dorm I was in smelt of something I can't describe, and people had their crap all over the place. It was what I expect living in a share house of about 20 people would be like. Fortunately the other patrons of this establishment were all quite friendly, and over the next few hours I got over the initial shock and it actually began to feel quite homely.

I didn't have much time, save to drop my bags, check my mail and leave to meet Rebecca and Bruno, the backpackers I met off the boat. Bruno had dissapeared elsewhere to find a friend of his, but Rebecca had found a new Spanish companion, David, and he was keen to head out with us also. We plucked a few bars out of Rebecca's guide book and attempted to find them, only to get continually lost through the streets of Pest, the east side of the city. Eventually we found one of the bars we were looking for, a place that ended up feeling pretty local as a result of the Roma/Gypsy music playing in the background, the lack of any English on the drinks menu's, though the bartender was able to speak a little.

It is now that I will mention that Hungarianis one of the most frustrating languages I've come across so far, completely removed from anything I'm used to. With the Romance languages, it is usually possible to work out what some of the words mean and get the general gist of what a sign is trying to communicate. In Hungary this is essentially impossible, as it seems to have no correlation with anything I'm familiar with. This makes ordering food, drinks, asking for directions or anything of the sort an impossible task unless you've mastered the art of psuedo sign language, a skill which I'm pleased to say I've developed a good ability for.

We ended up hanging out in that bar until sometime around 11, at which point my stomach, starved of any sustenance apart from beer, started to inform me of the situation. Rebecca decided to head back to her hostel, and David and myself made our way down to a restaurant not far off, thankfully with English translations on their menu. The service was slow, but I was happy that we'd actually found a place to eat so late at night. We were finished shortly before 1, we payed, and it was about then as David was flicking through his wallet, that he realised he'd lost his credit card. After a moments panic and a few more moments cursing we went back to my hostel where the Internet was free and he could cancel his card. He headed back to his hostel, and was supposed to meet Rebecca and myself at the ferry to the Sziget festival the next day, but I actually never saw him again.

The following day I did a bit of wandering around Pest, geeked out on the Internet for a couple of hours and uploaded quite a number of photos. It is rare that you find Internet cafe's with relatively lax security that will allow you to install software (such as Picasa), and I refuse to upload photos using their "pick 5 at a time" web upload method. Therefore, when I do find the opportunity to install such applications I jump at them, and the result is a mass upload of hundreds of photos as seen a couple days ago on this very page.

Come about 6 I made my way down to the river where the Radio 1 ferry was taking people over to the Sziget festival on Óbudai-sziget island in the Danube. I'd managed to get to Budapest in time to see the last day of the 7 day festival which had (this year) over 370,000 visitors, 25 different music stages and over 70 more other stages of various types. It included bungee jumping from a crane, rock climbing and ziplining across a good portion of the festival grounds, all types of food stalls you could think of (from Mexican to Serbian to fruit juice).

I have said, and believed, that I would never see as big a party as I did at San Fermin in Pamplona. I will now officially amend that and say I will never see as big a party as I did at Sziget in Budapest. The whole island was used as a party ground, separated into a few different sections with thousands of tents littered in between. Many tens of thousands of people were camping around the island for the duration of the festival, but how they could possibly get any sleep with the noise around them 24/7 I have no idea. It was a fairly hippy crowd, but there was most types of music imaginable, from blues to world music, to mainstream pop to dance/techno. Rebecca, Bruno and myself wandered around the island, snacking on some mexican cuisine and drinking cheap pints, hanging around the main stage for some of Juliette and the Licks. They were ok, but apparently we'd just missed the Eagles of Death Metal, a band who doesn't actually play death metal and one I'd have been interested to see. The Killers were the main show and coming up next, so we checked out the blues stage which was awesome and got a feel for the rest of the stages.

The Killers started about fifteen minutes early, but luckily we'd made it back to the main stage in time. There were countless thousands of people all crowded around to check out the main stage grand finale, with flags and banners being waved through the air, various people crowd surfing over the masses and plenty of chicks on shoulders. Now I'm not a huge fan of the Killers, not because I dislike their music, but it's simply not something that makes it into my regular musical repertoire. That said, I was able to recognise and even sing along to more than half of the tunes they pumped out, which must say something for how far their influence reaches. Speaking of reaching, Rebecca is only just over 5 foot tall, and was barely able to see over the shoulders of the people in front of her, let alone the stage. Deciding to get into the spirit of the concert like everyone else, I got her up on my shoulders to a couple of their tracks. The whole crowd was going pretty crazy, the throng basically moving as a single giant entity in time with the music. The atmosphere was incredible, and they put on great show with no less than 3 encores. They wrapped up about 10:30, which gave Bruno and I time to see Rebecca off at the ferry and then head over to the Nokia Party Arena where Deep Dish were to start playing at 11.

Wanting to last a few hours here I decided to get off the beers, opting for something involving an energy drink. Jagerbombs would be my usual drink of preference in this context, but they had neither Red Bull, nor Jagermeister. Their energy drink was "Burn", and I decided to create my own cocktail of that and Bacardi. It goes down ok and after a few has the desired effect. I recommend two shots of Bacardi to one Burn, a drink I will christen the "Burning Rumball".

Apparently I'd been fed false information, and the DJ opening was not Deep Dish, but rather someone named "Chrisss", who I'd never heard of. He was ok, and was followed about an hour later by a French DJ, "Cedric Gervais". I'd never heard of him either, but he was supremely good. Very deep electro synths over some good basslines, and his mixing was top notch. He went on for a couple hours before Deep Dish took over the reigns, and I managed to get talking to a couple of Hungarian girls who had only just discovered dance music about a month previously. They seemed to dig everything equally, but in my opinion when Deep Dish came on they just couldn't keep the vibe going as well as Cedric did, and their mixing was a bit off. They Hungarian girls left, as they had to work in about 5 hours, and I stayed through most of Deep Dish's set, but when the clock rolled past 4 and I just wasn't getting into it anymore I headed off, had a hot dog for a snack (worst idea yet) and got a taxi back to the hostel.

In order to relax from the big party the previous evening, I'd planned to go to the Széchényi baths. I dropped by the station on the way to get my ticket to Krakow, a place not originally on my list, but after several independant recommendations one that made it. The station was absolutely sprawling with the thousands of Sziget'ers trying to get home. People were asleep or just waiting around throughout the platforms and out the main entrance. I got to the international ticket window, or rather, about 100 meters behind it where the queue started, decided that this was not going to fly and resigned myself to coming back later that evening when hopefully the crowds had died down.

The baths were also quite busy with people, a lot of them having the same idea as I, that a nice day in the saunas and pools would be a good way to wind down after a big party. There are two main outdoor pools and at least 10 different saunas within the complex, a couple of steam rooms, massage is available and various other "well being" treatments. There are many different indoor pools, all with a slightly different temperature, ranging from about 28 degrees and increasing in 2 degree increments up to 38 degrees. I'm not sure why they are so specific about it, but I'm sure there are therapeutic reasons for each.

Each of the saunas has a cold drop pool just to the outside, which must be somewhere less than 10 degrees. The first sauna I went into happened to be the hottest, the needle on the wall reaching the 70 degree mark. Now I like my saunas, and I like them hot, but this one made my legs feel like they were burning. Needless to say I didn't last terribly long in there, and jumping into the cold drop after that was quite an experience to say the least. I found a much more reasonable sauna after that, somewhere in the 60 degree range, and the interesting thing about this particular sauna was the ice bowl just near the entrance which was continually dispensing ice flakes. The custom is to get a few handfuls of these ice flakes and compress them into a type of ice ball with your hands, which you then use to cool different parts of your body whilst in the sauna itself. It was a great concept and allows you to sweat a deal more before having to jump out into the cold drop.

I spent a good 3 or 4 hours in the baths, alternating between the saunas, steam rooms and outdoor pools and come about 5 I decided I should dry off and get out to meet up with Rebecca and Bruno again for dinner. I made my way back to the station and waited for an hour to get my night train ticket for Krakow. I nearly missed the window, as the rather grumpy lady behind the counter was ready to pull the curtain shut just after serving those in front of me. I had my map of Krakow ready in my hand and quickly whipped it in front of the window, pleading with her to let me get just one last ticket. This seemed to melt her ice heart, and I was able to just sneak through the closing time.

Once I made it back to my hostel, the next thing on my list was to organise that evening's accomodation. I had tried moving hostels earlier that day, but they were all booked out, apparently it is common that after Sziget a lot of the party goers use the opportunity to check out Budapest. I asked the current hostel what could be worked out, but they were full also. However, this being a fairly relaxed place they agreed to let me sleep on the couch downstairs for half price and having no alternative I agreed.

Bruno and Rebecca were waiting for me at a bar about 20 minutes from my hostel, and after getting changed I made my way to meet up with them. Bruno regaled us with very interesting stories of his month spent on a tall ship somewhere in Scandinavia, something I would be keenly interested in trying someday. It is another thing that has made it onto my list of things to do in the next couple of years. He couldn't hang around, however, and ran off to meet one of his friends after an hour or so. Rebecca and I had a wander around and chose out a restaurant, deciding we should check out some authentic Hungarian food before leaving. I got a goulash soup (one of my favorite meals) and some kind of curry, Rebecca choosing some form of pasta dish. I also decided that due to Paul's very strong recommendation we should try a bottle of the Tokaji wine, one I've described before as being incredibly sweet due to being made from a certain type of grape infected with noble rot. I can certainly attest to it being a very very sweet white wine, nearly like a syrup, but still quite nice. It probably wasn't the correct choice for a main meal, as I would imagine it is normally drunk as a dessert wine. We enjoyed our food and chatted until midnight, after which I walked with Rebecca back to her hostel, saw her off as she was leaving the following morning and made my way back to my couch.

As I expected, there were a bunch of people in the living room drinking and having fun, so I joined them for an hour or so putting down some more Hungarian beer, after which they all headed off to a club somewhere in town. Having been in Budapest for a few days now, and having done next to no sight seeing, I decided to pass on the club to get at least a few hours of sleep to enable me to do some walking the next day. The couch ended up being quite comfortable, and I slept through until early morning when the cleaners started their shenanigans downstairs.

Being the day of wandering around Budapest, I made a list of the things to see. The first thing was the train station, where I deposited my bag in the luggage storage, as I didn't want to head back to the hostel to pick it up later that afternoon. My sight seeing then started with the Jewish Synagogue, apparently the biggest in Europe and most impressive in the world. I was not impressed. It has a couple of small towers, and a main hall, along with a museum and some memorials. Compared to even average Christian/Catholic cathedrals, the place just doesn't have anything going for it. Later in the day I would see St Stephens Cathedral, which is by far not the most impressive I've seen, but I felt it a far more impressive structure than the Synagogue. One of the memorials was interesting, however, being a steel tree with each leaf of the tree having a name engraved on it.

I stopped at an outdoor restaurant for another taste of traditional Hungarian Goulash which while nice, didn't seem to have the richness of flavour I'd had previously. In fact, to this day the best goulash I've had has actually been back home, cooked by Andre's mum, herself Hungarian. The next stop was the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, which is an impressive structure with some funky lion statues on either end of it, crossing the Danube river. I made my across the bridge and up to Castle Hill on the Buda side of the river, where I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to find Andy and Will, two of the guys I'd met in Munich a week or so earlier. We had a brief chat, but they were there with Andy's parents who were waiting for them to go up the furnicular to the top of the hill. Being the thrifty tourist I am, and not wanting to have to get more Forints out of the bank, knowing I was leaving that afternoon and they were useless anywhere else, I decided to walk up the hill. It wasn't to steep, but it was long and I had definitely burned off a few calories by the time I reached the summit. The view from here was quite impressive, you get to see a good chunk of the Danube, along with a great vista over the whole city. I wandered back and forth along the hill in front of the castle before heading back down.

I checked out the cathedral, mentioned before and the went to the House of Terror, the location in which the Arrow party of Hungary, and the secret police during the Soviet occupation were housed. The place is now a museum to the modern history of Hungary during the communist era, starting with the occupation by the Nazi's in 1944(which didn't last more than six months), followed by the Soviets after that. The last Soviet solider only left Hungary in 1991, and the period of occupation sounds like an incredibly frightening thing to live through. There were plenty of descriptions of the treatment of Hungarians and how the country was governed, the propaganda along with some lighter areas, one that contained a whole bunch of very bright and funny posters from different areas. It ended with a walk through the prisons underneath the building and descriptions of the rather horrific things that happened to people there.

My time in Hungary had drawn to a close, and I had to quickly make my way to the train station to get my night train to Poland. I retrieved my bag and found my sleeper carriage, which ended up being quite nice. I was in a three bed sleeper, of which I was the only occupant. I had a chat to some other Aussies in the compartment next to me, and tried to get some beer of the conductors. It said there was such availability on the wall, but apparently the menu was off for the night. After a couple hours of chatting I tried to get some sleep, but to get to Poland it is requird to cross the border into Slovakia to the north, and then out of Slovakia into Poland. This results in two passport checks, and consequently two rude awakenings.

Budapest was great fun. Making it in time for the Sziget festival was an incredible stroke of luck, and it is definitely something I would come back for, and would want to spend more than a day at. I struggled a fair bit with the language, but luckily most people knew at leat basic English. The city is quite big, and every street seems to be extremely busy during the day. The sights themselves are good, but coming from Vienna I think some of their splendor was a bit lost on me. Given some more time I think I would check out the parliament building, which is quite an impressive piece of architecture and I would be interested to see what other type of nightlife is around. My next stop would be Krakow, a place where I would find a great hostel with some of the most fun people I've met so far.

The photosfor Budapest are available as well!