Japan to Australia via Eastern Europe - Part 16 - Day 14 - Sleeper Train to Budapest

My god - I got a bad night sleep on the Sleeper train. I sort of woke up 30 mins before the Slovack border crossing (probably thinking to myself about the border crossing) - which turned out to be very crazy. It was about 2 am in the morning and some rude border guards checked our passports not one - but twice. They even had sniffer dogs go down the train and someone walking up and down the side of the train on the tracks. It wasn`t like we were even getting off the train to visit Slovakia!

The Hungarian one (at about 4:30amish) was a lot better (just a simple check of the passports - not even any stamps - very unlike Eastern Europe)... although I didn`t get back to sleep.

For breakfast - I had bought a couple of salad sandwiches from Krakow station the night before which were OK.

Did I mention that the train company`s name is "WARS" and their restaurants are called "GASTRO WARS"... At least we haven`t had any "Gastro Wars Episode II - Attack of the Diarrohea" episodes yet this holiday. We got some complementary tea and coffee which wasn`t all bad.

Ant enjoyed his train trip - I just wished that I had the same strange enthusiasm on sleeping on an waffer thin matress on a bumpy train with nasty slovack guards....

We arrive at Budapest "mystery" station at about 9:30am ish and it felt like we had arrived at Tout Central - where there were dodgy accommodation offers left right and centre to us about 10 seconds after stepping off the train.

I go to a nearby bank to get rid of my unwanted Polish Zolloti (or whatever it is called) for some Hungarian Forint (which one Australian Paseo is worth 150 Hungarian paseos).We walk around for 10 mins to try and orientate ourselves. Ant is ready to throw our copy of LP off a bridge - before I discover that we are Keleti Train Station (as opposed to Nyuguti Train Station - where Ant thought we were at) - so it wasn`t really LPs fault in this instance. This meant that we needed to catch a metro ride to Deak Ter...

There was something about railway stations in Europe which was soo seedy. Prague was seedy (I can`t get that image of that homeless guy taking a slash with absolutely no "privacy" tree or bush nearby), and Krakow was no barrel of fun either. Budapest had the whole seedy drunk bum thing happening downpat at 10am in the morning - complete with a hip hop dancing old bum woman thing happening. You compare these eastern european train stations to Japan - where the train station is about the cleanest, non-seediest part in the whole country... Bizzare...

The Underground metro ride to Deak Ter felt a bit similar to Prague`s metro system - it had the whole 100m underneath the surface bomb-shelter/blast door thing happening... Although you needed your wits about you to ride the 100km an hour escalators down to the station (you were almost going to break new land-speed records with that thing).

When we arrive - Ant needed about 10 mins or so to get his bearings (whilst bad mouthing LP maps the whole way). When he works out what direction our guesthouse was in - we walk for about 10 mins until he starts complaining that the LP maps aren`t making any sense... I take a look at the map - and figure out that we have been heading in the wrong direction... Maybe my three years doing primary school orienteering have paid off or something (my god - orienteering must be the geekiest sport in the universe - I only did it because I could bludge).

After another 15 mins - we finally find "Connection Guesthouse" (...yes - I know - this sounds like a dodgy Gay Nightclub). My fears of a "clothing optional" place was sort of getting realised when we met the receptionist (who was pretty sleazy)... but thank god there are lesbians staying - so there will be none of that. He did make some sharp remarks about the Poles that "they are still crying over their dead pope" (which appeared accurate) and seemed a little shocked that we were going to Bosina after Budapest...

We dump our stuff and head to a nearby bakery for some coffee and cake (which was very cheap - I heart Eastern Europe).

As we walk in the direction of the Danube river - we get the feeling that Budapest is the first "real city" we have been to in our travels in Eastern Europe so far. Prague and Krakow (although very pretty) both didn`t feel like a modern city (no CBD or big buildings) - but Budapest felt a lot more modern... and rich. The Budapestians (or what ever I should call them) felt a lot better off than their Czech and Polish counterparts. There were a lot more Mercs and ritzy cars about the place and it had a vibe that these people aren`t just living off tourists.

The banks of the Danbue was gorgeous and breathtakingly beautiful. It was aligned with lots of old Budapest style buildings and big old bridges - all of which was instantanously recognisable. For those in the know - our guesthouse is on the "Pest" side of town (a bit more modern) - and on the other side of the Danube lies the "Buda" side of town... (I just love calling a place "Pest"). Of note - the architecture here feels a bit more "Eastern" with long, slender towers with pointy bits - it feels a bit Russian/Islamic in style. It is not surprising as a lot of people say that Budapest is a bit of a "East" meets "West" sort of place - a highly modern city with a lot of old-school 19th century mansions.

We both walk over the Chain Bridge - across to the Buda side of town. The weather here in Budapest is a hell of a lot warmer than back in Krakow or Prague - you can get away with just wearing T-shirts in the day time here (even shorts probably). We make our way to the old Royal Palace complex, through the Franz Ferdinand gates (oh wait - it was just the Ferdinand Gates) - where you could get spectactular views of the city and the river. We attempted to go to a musuem but it was shut between 11am and 1pm because of "technical difficulties".

We walk through the Royal Palace complex - with grand old buildings complete with big f$$$ off horse statues - very kodak moment-y.

We avoid the funicular ride down the hill (our mortal enemies - funiculars from Valpariso - that b$$$h owes Ant $1AUD.... we will never forget!). The Budapest version had a pricier fee (something like $7AUD - which is a lot of money over here) - so we steered well clear.

We make our way over to the Matthais Church where Ant gets terrorised by a tout who said to us "No - I`m not a terrorist!" (as you do in common conversation with people). The guy was also "interested in Ant`s sneakers" - maybe this guy is a potential shoe bomber or something...?

We forked out a 650F entrance fee (a bit under $5AUD or something) and the Church was well worth it... It was covered by painted murals inside (rather than being completely decked out by stain-glass windows) and seemed to be very islamic influnced (its the east meets west thing happening again). There was an interesting museum there too - where the church seemed to have a passion for all things "bling". Westside ganstas...

We avoid the terrorist tout outside - and make our way to the Fisherman`s Bastion. It is a beautiful fortification wall that surrounds the area - and is a kodak-moment place to take pictures of the opposite side of the Danbue. You had to pay some extorniate amount to get in - but we could take pictures from around the side of it.

Next door to the church was the Paris Hilton Hotel - which didn`t look so sexy in its surroundings. Most of the big hotel chains seem to have bought out old communist hotels in Eastern European - and their architecture seems to be a bit "Belconnen Mall-y" / "Woden Space Ship Offices"-y to put it politely. (Or I could just say butt-ugly).

We make our way down the hill back to the Danbue - where we both pick up some cheap bread things and sandwiches from the metro station for lunch.

Because I had such a crap night sleep on the so called "sleeper" train - I decide to crash at the guesthouse and get some afternoon shuteye. Ant meanwhile goes and does a bit of an explore of Budapest - including buying some socks (the sleazy guy at the hotel said that he was trying to buy some "cocks").

When I awaken from my coma - I do some blogging and notice how bad some of my spelling mistakes are... I don`t really spell check any of this (Bloggers spell checking function takes 40 years to work) - nor do I re-read any of this (I`m on holidays dammit). When Ant arrives back at the guesthouse - he goes and has a nap. Meanwhile - I watch a bit of Hungarian "Who Wants to Be A Millionarre" - where I manage to correctly answer a question (in Hungarian) about Sigmond Freud correctly. I wouldn`t have know the answer - but visiting a few Czech museums - I`ve worked out that he was a Czech... The Hungarian guy on the show didn`t know - and lost all of his money...

We get some restaurant advice from the not-so-sleazy new reception guy and head out to a "Lesbian-Tilleys" style restaurant called Cafe Eclectica. I had a really delicious hungarian "Giant Veal Schnitzel" (that is what it was called on the Menu - or as South Park would call it - dead baby cows) with tasty potato bits and a tomato salad (which was just tomatos). Ant went for a Goulash Soup for entre and a strange goats cheese Hungarian pasta dish for main. Although the place is an "expensive" restaurant for Hungarians - the prices were equivalent to a cheap-reasonable place in Australia (eg:$30 a head) - but for $30AUD a head - we got two beers and a crap load of food.

The rest of the night is going to be censored... Let`s just say that we went out to a club and had a good time or something... Mwwwhahahahahaha