No matter what I do, I'm still Hungary for you
It hasn't been a full day, so I shouldn't even be updating. And furthermore, almost nothing has happened in that day, so again, I should NOT be updating.
But I am tired and don't want yet to do anything else, so at the price of 10 Hungarian money units per minute this is not a terrible way to spend my time.
As some of you know from email, I just completed about 24 hours of travelling. a 4.5 hour bus ride from Dubrovnik to Split. 4 hours of waiting. An 8 hour train ride from Split to Zagreb (overnight) and then about 7 more hours from Zagreb to Budapest. Yuck. And while as I mentioned before, Croatian trains are wel priced, they are also slow, dirty and generally unpleasant.
Fortunately, my fellow cabin-riders were generally pleasant, good to get to know people. The people sitting across from me on the first train were a Brit and Spanish couple. The Spanish guy was wearing a Cardinal Radzinger fan club t-shirt, which both he and I found hilarious, and he gave me a Pope Benedict pin to atttach to my backpack. I guess he bought these things (ironically of course) from an American website. THe three of us slept uncomfortably on the train, our legs crossed diagonally so as to not hit each other and woke up cold and sore after almost no sleep.
I barely made my next train because the first was very, very late. I took a cabin with a Romanian girl who had actually been in the cabin from the night and the bus from teh day before but assuming she spoke no English I had not spoken to her. This trip to Dubrovnik was her first OUTSIDE ROMANIA, which I found shocking (especially after meeting so many world traveller Australians), but i suppose the 7 hour train ride helped educate me on some of the geography of Romania and we agreed on how nice Dubrovnik was.
So far Budapest has been tiring, as I had trouble figuring out the buses (one of the lessons i have learned travelling is that while Metros are usually more or less manageable, foreign buses are SOOOO difficult, as stops are not announced and ticket validations are ambiguous). Lots of walking to my faraway but very cheap hostel, lunch at a vegetarian Indian restaurant (fair enough as my last real meal almost 20 hours before was a meat plate in Split).
Tomorrow, I am definitely going to be hitting the Hungarian baths to get a massage.
But I am tired and don't want yet to do anything else, so at the price of 10 Hungarian money units per minute this is not a terrible way to spend my time.
As some of you know from email, I just completed about 24 hours of travelling. a 4.5 hour bus ride from Dubrovnik to Split. 4 hours of waiting. An 8 hour train ride from Split to Zagreb (overnight) and then about 7 more hours from Zagreb to Budapest. Yuck. And while as I mentioned before, Croatian trains are wel priced, they are also slow, dirty and generally unpleasant.
Fortunately, my fellow cabin-riders were generally pleasant, good to get to know people. The people sitting across from me on the first train were a Brit and Spanish couple. The Spanish guy was wearing a Cardinal Radzinger fan club t-shirt, which both he and I found hilarious, and he gave me a Pope Benedict pin to atttach to my backpack. I guess he bought these things (ironically of course) from an American website. THe three of us slept uncomfortably on the train, our legs crossed diagonally so as to not hit each other and woke up cold and sore after almost no sleep.
I barely made my next train because the first was very, very late. I took a cabin with a Romanian girl who had actually been in the cabin from the night and the bus from teh day before but assuming she spoke no English I had not spoken to her. This trip to Dubrovnik was her first OUTSIDE ROMANIA, which I found shocking (especially after meeting so many world traveller Australians), but i suppose the 7 hour train ride helped educate me on some of the geography of Romania and we agreed on how nice Dubrovnik was.
So far Budapest has been tiring, as I had trouble figuring out the buses (one of the lessons i have learned travelling is that while Metros are usually more or less manageable, foreign buses are SOOOO difficult, as stops are not announced and ticket validations are ambiguous). Lots of walking to my faraway but very cheap hostel, lunch at a vegetarian Indian restaurant (fair enough as my last real meal almost 20 hours before was a meat plate in Split).
Tomorrow, I am definitely going to be hitting the Hungarian baths to get a massage.
posted by Jed at 9:24 AM
2 Comments:
What do you think of Budapest? I was only there for a day (and a Sunday at that) earlier this month, but was highly impressed. I think it's better than Prague. Also, agree with you completely on the bus/metro thing.
Rob44,
What is your address anyway? You want a postcard?
Send it to me via email rather than telling the whole world.
LC,
I think Budapest is okay. I am a little bored, but that may have something to do with the hostel I "chose" being fairly unpopulated so I haven't met too many people to hang out with. I hope it isn't better than Prague!
-Jed
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