Payday!

I love payday; there is only one thing better than payday and that's payday and the weather being sunny ... no wait there is something even better; it being payday and sunny and you're on holiday ... fantastic!

First thing I did this morning was post some stuff home; after that I was running out of money so I went in search of an ATM to withdraw ... ummm 5,000ft (£18). One word of warning; never withdraw cash from a foreign country early in the morning ... I pressed the 50,000ft button (£180) ... odear odear odear. After being alittle annoyed with myself I took at step back and realised I'd just swap it for Romanian money at an exchange place later today ... but for now it was time to head to the baths.

After hearing that a Polish girl, at my hostel, had her locker broken into at the baths I decided to leave all my credit cards and 40,000ft in my locker at the hostel (plus passport and inter rail ticket). Was this a wise idea? ... I thought about this all the way to the baths. Before I left I was given some good advice that was, if someone really wanted your stuff they were going to get it anyway, what I had to do was reduce the threat of this happening and make sure I didn't carry anything with sentimental value (hence why I upload my photos to Flickr on the same day ... can't loose my pictures). I decided that I had made a good choice; the Baths would have hundreds of people in where as the Hostel would only have 15/20 people ... and it seemed really safe ... though this didn't stop me worrying all the way to the baths.

Was the baths worth paying £26 for a pair of swimming trunks and £10 entrance fee ... hell yes. It was fantastic; set in an old building there are numerous (I went in 7) baths set at different temperatures. I went in baths ranging from 28oc to 40oc; after the 40oc I went straight into a 20oc ... core that was a shock. My favourite bath was the 38oc spar bath. I sat their, closed my eyes and emptied my mind ... I had forgotten about all the things I had left in my locker and the world in general... it was bliss and is certainly worth trying. It seemed to me that a visit to the Baths was a social event and, at that point, I wished I was travelling with someone; it would of been ace to see the hours fly by whilst chatting in the Baths to a mate.

The only problem with the baths were the amount of old people ... hundreds of them; they should have set times where they didn't bother anyone (and I have to say, some of the old people were minging ... glad they didn't go in my bath!).

An hour and a half flew buy and I decided I had soaked up (get it) as much experience as i was going to. As I approached my locker I saw a door open ... Had my locker being forced open? No it was the locker next door. This reminded me of the stuff I left in the hostel so I quickly got dressed and made my way back.

All my stuff was safe so I picked it up and ventured out for lunch and to find 'the house of terror'. The house of terror was a building used by the Nazi (and then the soviet) secret police where they tortured and killed Hungarian political opposition during the second world war and the cold war. It was very interesting (even without an audio guide) and quite thought provoking and sad. After that I hurried to the national museum and went in around 30 rooms detailing Hungary's history ... this again was very interesting but I was getting 'museumed out' and so I hurried the WW2 rooms as I knew allot about that already.

And that's about it; I've swapped 40,000 ft (£133) for 606 Romanian Lie (£132.74 ... not bad). I'm going to be uploading a couple of pics tonight and then I will find something to eat ... oh I'll also go to a 24hr supermarket and buy some stuff for the journey tomorrow.

I don't think I'll be able to 'blog' tomorrow (sorry fans) as my train leaves at 9:15am and arrives in Braslov at 8:42pm ... I am really looking forward to the train journey as the scenery should be spectacular (even though the journey is nearly 12hrs).

So my next blog will be from Romania ... toodle pip!

P.S. my cold went a couple of days ago ... I have been bitten by a few flies but that's about it. They actually itch allot so I've put some anti-septic cream on ... sorted!

Swimming Trunks

MP3 track of the day - Deep - six inch nails

I've got something quite Important to tell you. On the reception desk of my hostel there was a note saying 'English person wanted for job'. It turns out there is a company in Budapest that sell allot of electronic mining equipment to the Americans, Australians and sometimes the UK. They needed a representative to fly to these countries on a regular basis and would pay handsomely. I decided to go for the interview and got the job! So I've decided to stay here until my contract runs out (it's a 5 year contract depending how ongoing contracts go with these English speaking countries).










Only Joking!

I woke up at around 7:50am, having just had around 11 hours sleep ... bliss. Heading out at 9:00 I knew I had to be at the meeting point for the free tour by 10:30am ... so I went to a local pastry shop and purchased breakfast.

Eating breakfast over looking the River Danube and Buda Castle district I came to realise just how pretty this city can be ... before this I had been walking down tiny small streets that weren't in a great state.

Hungary certainly has a very soviet feel about it; big apartment tower blocks. At 10:30 our guide turned up; he was a Hungarian who spoke English well. I can only describe him as a young looking Patrick Swayze and he lead us around Pest (pronounced Peshted) looking at monuments and buildings. We finished at Buda Castle and I have to say this tour was very different to the one in Berlin. In Berlin you had academics who had spend numerous years researching the history of Berlin, and then spent a few months working there... there knowledge was beyond doubt fantastic and they were English so were easy to understand. Here the guy was from Budapest and his academic knowledge was not quite as good as in Berlin; English was his second language so it was difficult to understand him sometimes .... however, because he had lived through the Soviet era he brought something new to the tour, first hand experience. For example he told us when Coke and Pepsi cola was first introduced to Hungary in the 1980's his class mates made two groups; those in the Pepsi cola group (which was usually boys as it had more colours in its logo) and a coke group. Overall I think I preferred the Berlin Tours more but this one was still good.

At the end of the tour he showed us to a traditional Hungarian eating join and I had the pork ... again I wasn't impressed. I said my goodbyes, gave him a tip, and went to look around the castle; it was very impressive (which I hope my pictures show) but time was passing on and the tour had taken an hour longer than expected.

My next stop was the impressive Gellert Hill (which looking at it from below looked like a mountain). The gutting thing was that the castle was on a hill, and Gellert hill was a ... err hill. They were both on the Buda side of the Danube but didn't connect; so I had to walk all the way down from the castle just to walk all the way up Gellert Hill. When I got to the top of Gellert Hill I took a breather and opened the second bottle of water I cunningly bought from Spar the other day; however I did make a tiny mistake ... I had bought Sparkling water. Who likes sparking water? It's horrible ... if anyone does prefer sparkling water over normal bottled water please leave a message on here and explain to me why! As I was so desperate for a drink I didn't care and took a few swigs.

I did a quick tour of the top of the hill, stopping to take a picture of the Liberty monument and then headed back down. Time was not on my side; I headed to the national museum only to find there was just an hour before closing ... I decided it wasn't worth it so I will come back again tomorrow (If I have time).

I then set to with my shopping list; 1x book of pictures from Budapest, 1x postcard and a pair of swimming trunks. The book and postcard were easy but the swimming trunks. Anyone who knows we will know, like all men, I hate (really hate) shopping; I want to be able to walk in a shop and buy what I want within a few minutes, if I can't find it I'm off.

I had a look at around the square and found a 'H&M' store ... nope, then I went to the 'America clothes' store ... nope. I was already abit mad; I decided that I would head back to the hostel and ask there. However on my way back I saw a nike shop; it had swimming trunks ... £68! no thank you.

Back at the hostel the lady did point me too a shopping centre; unfortunately it was about 30mins walk away. Further more I had to go to the other end of Pest to reserve my train seat to Brasov in two days time. After an hour and a half I had got my train ticket and walked to the shopping centre. I could of got the tram there but I had no idea how to buy a ticket ... all the newpaper stalls were closed and the machine just said "... put money in here and press button..." how much money? Tired, hungry (not the country) I went in and found a sports shop ... no actual sports equipment just clothes and trainers (this is what I hate about some sports shops throughout the world ... they label themselves as sports shops but don't sell sports stuff).

Anyway just then I found another Nike store, went in and found a pair of, quite tight, short swimming shorts for 7,980ft (£26) ... they were a little expensive but I didn't care at that point ... I bought them and off I went back to my hostel.

Being fed up of Hungarian food I decided that there must be a Pizza Hut, in Budapest, with my name on it ... and so it came to pass.

Tomorrow I plan to visit the baths (however I will not be taking much stuff with me as a Polish girl from the hostel had her lock smashed at the baths today) and walk around the northern park and then back into the main part of Pest for a look around the national museum and the House of Terror.

Until then Toodle Pip!

Buda is bit of a Pest

MP3 track of the day: shut up and drive - Rhianna

Right lets skip back 24 hrs. So I had just finished my blog and I said I was going out into Vienna at night ... and this I did. I know I keep using the word beautiful but there isn't any other word to describe Vienna. Both in the day and at night the city is amazing and I wish I had another 2 days there (ummm ... a recurring theme here). It's one of those cities which I could of spent the whole 3 weeks at, and still on the last day found a new courtyard or monument. So I went around looking at all the attractions at night; I have to say this was one of my best ideas so far. I walked for an hour just looking at all the buildings and monuments with lights all over them. On my way back I stopped at a Pizzeria for a Margaretta and a couple of cokes; bonus is it came to €10.

Oh my way back to the hostel I thought about my eating and drinking ... I was having good meals and, finally, starting to eat abit more fruit. The only thing that was letting me down was the fizzy drinks; at home I very rarely drink fizzy drinks, and abroad it's so easy to just say 'coke'. From now on, very few fizzy drinks.

Well another early start was made today ... not because I really had to, my train from Vienna to Budapest didn't leave until 11:50, no it was because I had to vacate my room before 9am. I was sad to leave the relative comfort of being able to leave all my stuff where I wanted ... however I had missed not meeting anyone. At 9:00am I was at the train station, I had nearly three hours to kill. First I used the last of my Euros on breakfast (2x pan-oh-chocolate and a bottle of orange). Then I read abit more of my book (which I'm getting near the end now; will have to post it home and try to purchase another book in Budapest).

Finally the train arrived and I got on. I sat in my carriage with 4 other people (a mum and dad and their son, plus quite an attractive young woman). I spent the whole time either 'window sightseeing' or reading my book.



Once in Budapest I set to finding my hostel ... However I new I needed the bus so I needed to withdraw some money. It took me a while to locate an ATM; after which I withdrew 20,000 Forint (ha ... look who's rich) which is actually around £70 (300 forint to £1) ... brilliantly the ATM gave me 2x 10,000 notes and so I withdrew another 1,000 as I new the bus wouldn't accept the equivalent of a 30 pound note. I then had to get some change so I bought a bottle of Fanta (doh!) and headed for the bus stop. Looking at the bus made me realise that I was now located in a not so affluent part of Europe (I think the bus had been used in Napoleon's withdraw from Moscow). Being in a less affluent area did put my guard right up; however I didn't have to worry as most people are very friendly, and its also good practice for Romania, China and south east Asia (China and south east Asia are not apart of this trip you understand). It wasn't too difficult to locate the hostel and finally I was in front of a big wooden door. My Hostel (called 'Big Fish') was number 8 on the button thing, so I pressed it. I was welcomed buy a nice lady into a courtyard; we went up some stairs and then into this apartment. The hostel is only two dorms with 12 beds each (currently it has about 5 men and 5 women in); she runs it along with her boyfriend and it has a pleasant 'family run' feeling.

I dumped by bags and went straight out for a walk (the lady also gave me a map and a few pointers). It is so hot here ... you wouldn't think it was nearly October. Remembering what I had decided about fizzy drinks I went to find a super market (Spar to the rescue) and I purchased 6x bottles of water, some chocolate and some sucky sweets (as I had now ran out of the one's I'd bought in the UK).

After dropping these off I went to find the restaurant recommend by 'Big Fish' (In a T-shirt at 6pm at night). I had traditional Goulash and a coke (doh!) followed by a Hungarian chocolate cake and a drink of Orange Juice. I have to say that Hungary won't win any awards for food from me ... the Goulash was okay (I had it before in Prague and it was different there and better) and the chocolate cake was horrible. To top it all off I think I got overcharged by 600 forints ... I was a little mad until I realised that 600 forints was £2.

I got back to my hostel and checked my money situation; out of the 21,000 forints I withdrew earlier I have just over half left. I had spend £35 on 3 nights bed, a meal, 6x bottles of water, chocolate and some sweets. Budapest maybe very hot and may not have worked it's charm on me yet ... but boy was it cheap!

Just like in Berlin there is a free tour around the city (tip basis) so I think I'll join that tomorrow. I also would like to purchase some swimming trunks as I would like to go to the famous baths the day after. However for now it's 8:30pm and I'm off to sleep. I've got a possible 12hrs to sleep and I'm not going to miss this opportunity ... I'm knackered.

Toodle Pip!