| The Caucasus - My Journal |
The Final Big Night in Hungary
7th July - Eger -> Budapest
I needed to return to Budapest today so I could get a bus to Oradea, a small town just over the Romanian border. It's a fairly long journey, so I wanted to get an early bus which meant spending another night in Budapest. Not really a problem, but it did mean a bit of backtracking.
The bus sped its way to Budapest without problem and I checked back into the Mellow Mood Hostel, having already reserved a bed last time I was there. I spent most of the morning trying to find somewhere to get Romanian Lei and some new hair gel. I had no luck with the Romanian money (seriously...it's a neighbouring country and none of the 8 money changers had any...in fact, 5 didn't have any Pounds sterling, so I couldn't even convert my large amount of remaining Hungarian forint back into my currency!) But the more pressing issue of having no hair gel was solved by visiting the Hungarian version of Boots. Although they didn't have my preferred type, so I spent a long time making a considered choice...can't be too careful where hair gel is concerned!
In the afternoon, I decided to head out of town to a nearby place called Szentendre, a charming little hill village perfect for a half day of strolling and relaxing by the Danube river.
 On my way to the train station, I passed a Subway with a special deal on, basically 1 pound 25 for a Ham Sub, so I grabbed for lunch. The most exciting part of this was I managed to convince the staff I spoke Hungarian by asking for it in Hungarian (Sonka, pronounced Shonka, means ham) and saying thanks in Hungarian(Kosonom, pronounced Kuss-u-num). But then she said a lot of other things which I could only smile dumbly at, so I think I gave it away at that point. Anyway...one Hungarian person thought, for a split second, that I was Hungarian! That's a big deal!
 I spent a few hours exploring the little village and had lunch sitting on a riverside wall, watching the wide, dark blue river lined with sombre green trees, roll away into the horizon. It was a very nice place to relax, and I suddenly realised that I'd done A LOT of relaxing on this trip so far! Strange, I don't normally like sitting around doing nothing, but in these surroundings, it's the best and only thing you can do! Good chance to recover from hectic study, catch up on some good reading and prepare for starting some new hectic studying in September.
Later than afternoon, back in my hostel, I met two Irish girls in my dorm, hiding from the sun outside. Fair Irish skin doesn't take too well to harsh sun, and they were already turning a bit red from the few minutes of sun they'd been immersed in. Deciding that I'd probably had enough UV for the day too, I passed the next hour or so chatting with them about Ireland, study and travels.
When I'd arrived in the morning, mine was the only taken bed, but as the hours passed in the evening, more people began to arrive. And before I knew it, I was sitting around with 2 Irish guys, 3 Irish girls (why are there so many in Hungary?), an English girl and two American guys who actually lived IN Las Vegas. They were all travelling as pairs and mixing here in the hostel room made varied and interesting company!
I'd originally intended to have a quiet night, due to my early start the next day and a weak aim to curtail my spending. However, as the conversation progressed and the beers and drinks appeared, my decision was easily reversed. Suddenly, one of the Irish guys digs into a bag and pulls out an accordion! The guy is really good and the loud instrument is used to skilfully fill the room with traditional Irish folk music. The Irish, of course, love it, I love it too and recognise many of the tunes (courtesy of my Dad) and the Americans, as always, love everything Irish! His mini-performance went down really well and made our pre-drinks even more fun.
It was at that moment, sitting there, with the mixed company and "The Wild Rover" being played, that I really began to appreciate the sheer randomness that solo travel allows! From the Mexican/American guy working in Kabul, to the accordion playing Irish man, I never would've guessed I'd be doing these things!
After the pre-drinks, we walk (or should I say hike, it took a good 40 minutes!) over to another of the outdoor clubs on the riverside. It's free to get in and the place is packed. Good music is playing, drinks are flowing and the night went down as one of my best yet. But, as I had to get up at 6:30am for my bus, I forced myself to leave early(!) at 3:30am so that I could squeeze a few hours sleep in. Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Romania!
|
