Slovakia and Hungary

1. 8.13.06 Trip to Bratislava, Slovakia
   
   My first real scam happened to Nithin and I today. The guy at the desk at our Hostel told us to take the tram to the train station. He didn’t tell us about pre-buying a ticket to get on the tram. We waited at the stop, like everyone else and got our money out to pay for our ticket from the tram driver like we’re used to. Right as we get on the tram, it takes off. We are obviously travelers with our backpakcs on and we are immediately approached by three big guys with id’s to check our tickets. I gave him 5 Kc to cover both Nithin and I. he looked at me like I was a bug. He put his hand up and said, “ I don’t take money, I just check tickets.“ So we tried to explain to him that we had no idea WTF was going on and to let us off the train. They kept threatening to call the cops on us and I was like, hell ya! Bring the freaking cops over! The guys said we had to pay 100 for us, and on top of that 75 for our bags, instead of the usual 2.50Kc. I accepted that we made a mistake here and I will follow the law, even if I think it is rediculous, but I know that whatever money I give to these bastards WILL NOT end up in the tram companies pocket. They will pocket it, and thus rob us blind. So, seeming that they were being complete ass holes to us, I pretended to not understand them when they tried to talk to me, and not fully cooperate with them just to get them pissed off. Even thought they threatened us with the cops, they never really went over to them because they wanted to pocket our 175Kc each. I told him that I will go to the cash machine and get the money but I am NOT giving it to you! I insisted that we go to the ticket salesman in the booth and give it to him. Of course they tried to convince me that that was no use. I got the cash, walked to the booth, and that he said something in Polish to whomever I was looking for help from. He obviosly convicted me as a lawbreaker and a bad person before I could communicate to them to help me. It instantly demonized Nithing and I as criminals. Even the policeman looked at us as if we were dilinquents. Sot they got us there. He also took our ID’s earlier before he pretended to get pissed off at us, when we trusted him as an official. Note to self... DON’T EVER GIVE ANYONE YOUR ID. People like this use it as blackmail for money. I told him to give me my ID and I will give you the cash. We exchanged, but I grabbed both Nithin AND my ID. The ball was half in our court. Nithin then told him that in order to get Nithins money, he needed to give us a reciept. The guy instantly complained and pretended as if he didn’t know what we were talking about. But we refused to cooperate whatsoever until he gave us a reciept. After about a minute of pissed off conversing, the guy gave in. He pulled out a tiny reciept book that he HAD THE WHOLE TIME, and filled it out. I watched to see if he was writing down the correct amount of money on the ticket so he didn’t get away with 1 cent of our money. He tore the ticket, Nithin grabbed it, gave him the money and we took off. They looked so pissed, even though we lost about 50 USD to a freaking tourist scam, at least those losers didn’t pocket any of it. I fealt good, like we just one a game of chess, out manuvering the enemy.
   
   The bus to Bratislava took forever, 10 hours. Uncomfortable, as usual, but we did drive through some amazing mountains. Some had castles on it and fog was rising out of the forrests. The boarder check points always look a little intimidating. I guess they are supposed to. Then I just reminded myself... Dude, he’s just a border guard, what the hell is he going to do to me. It’s like being afraid of the mall security guard at Park Meadows. The guy walked on the bus and looked us all over, only taking a select few, of course he took Nithin and mine... the fiercest looking criminals on the bus, and brought them into his booth to be checked. As I predicted, Nithin and I had no dirt on us, so we got our passports back.
   
   We arrived in Bratislava later that night, just before dark and wandered the city to find a hostel. The one we found was full, but they called another hostel for us and they even came to pick us up! This was convenient because it was pitch black outside and it did not look like the kind of place to be walking around in after dark. The guy who owned the place, Yuri, came to get us and an English couple. I figured he didn’t speak English very well because when I asked him if he had children, he responded, “hmm, maybe, I don’t know.“ He dropped us off at his house and we dropped our stuff off, then asked if he could take us to a grocery store on his way out. We would have to walk back of course, but it was only a 10 minute walk and we fealt safe.
   
   Later that night, we started talking with the four British girls that were staying at Yuri’s place that night as well. We told them how to play some card games and they taught us some. Then Nithin and I decided to watch the horror movie, Hostel, because we were in Bratislava after all! Before we started, I asked Yuri if he was in the movie, and thankfully he said, No.
   
   
   8.14.06 Bratislava to Budapest, Hungary
   
   I meandered the town with nothing but my camera. This city is nothing like I thought it would be. The perception of it, after seeing EuroTrip, was that it was incredibly poor, filthy, boring, grey, and concrete. But now I see that it is a very well developed city. I believe it is the second richest city in Eastern Europe. The main thing that hostel got right was the women. They are drop dead gorgeous out here. I think we have a new winner on the worlds hottest women list. Everyone here is very fashionable. I guess this city used to be a large walled and moated city. I came across this really cool brand theme for a musical festival going on at that time. I think that is something I would like to do in the future. I would like to create environmental branding and event design. It looks and sounds fun to completely brand an event. There aren’t as many tourists here, but I could tell the areas that were.
   
   Nithin and I walked to the train station hoping that we could get a ticket to Budapest. We did, but the train was so crowded that we had to stand in the aisle. I got lucky and ended up sitting in the stair well to the door in the connecting section of the two passenger trains. While sitting on the floor, I met a nice English girl named Becky. We talked about all kinds of stuff. Sports, places we’ve been and places we want to go, etc. She asked me about the electric chair and why our country uses it. It made me realise that the electric chair seems like a pretty messed up way to die. It is no worse than hanging, something Britain stopped doing in 1960. Anyway, I gave her my email address and told her to mail me if she ever wanted to come to Colorado.
   
   When the passport guards came through they tried to open the bathroom. The Polish girl and Italian guy sitting next to it said it was broken because it wouldn’t open. The guard was like... It’s not broken and used his key to open it. The whole 1.5 hr ride until that point we thought it was broken and jammed, but the door opens all of a sudden and this stoned kid emerges through the pot smoke bellowing out of the WC. His head and hand appeared so lightly, that it almost appeared as if the kid was floating out into the doorway. The guard looked at his passport and gave it back. The kid slowley floated back inside and the door shut. It was so damn funny! We all started cracking up because we had no idea he was in there!
   
   The train arrived and the tourist squad rushed in, asking us if we needed a hostel. I guess there is a large Mob syndicate here and they are everywhere. We didn’t know this at the time, but Mike told us that the turkish and hungary mob fight over parts of the city, including hostles. So I don’t know... maybe that friendly guy who got us our hostel worked for the mob?? I hope he doesn’t show up later and ask me to do him a favor in return.
   
   Once Nithin and I arrived to our hostel we walked over the bridge from Buda to Pest to try and find Aaron, Mike, and Mr. Ryan. We found out what room they were in and they weren’t there. I left a threatening not on their pillows and the room mates said they went to a Hooka bar and gave us directions. Nithin and I decided to go on a mission to find them. Operation find Ryan, Aaron and Mike and kick their butts for not telling us where to meet them that night. We wandered the city, and eventually found a hookah bar. We wrote another note on a beer coaster and asked the waiter to deliver it to those three Americans over there at that table. Then, while they were reading it, we stood directly outside the window across from their table. When they looked up, we made the cut throat motion with our hands and pointed at them. Mwahahahahaa. The whole thing was really pretty anti-climatic, so we just walked inside and joined them.
   
   
   8.15.06 Hammans and Siget
   
   Mr. Ryan and I went to the Budapest Baths today. I had no idea what to expect, but basically it is like a giant set of swimming pools that vary in size indoor and outdoors. The pools vary intemperature as well from really hot to really cold. It is meant for relaxation, not screaming little kids, diving boards, etc. each pool shas cerain minerals added to it to make your skin feel a different way. I explored all the pools. Some were disgusting because they smelled like a million people just took a bath init and it smelled like sulpher. But I took in the culture and sat in them anyway. It was probably a little more difficult for me because I was a lifeguard at a pool for six years and I know this water would certainly not pass under a health inspection. In the outdoor pool, the water was brown, but it was really warm like a hot tub. Old men were playing chess in the water on these floating boards. Chess was everywhere. It was in the water, on tables. There were classical sculptures and fountains spraying water into the pools. I guess you move from cold water and gradually move up the pools to the warmer temps. I really liked the sauna. I was scorching hot in there, and it burned to breath in through your nose. But when you get parched enough you could walk out and jump in this little pool that is ice cold. Then run back into the sauna. It was actually quite relaxing. One room we walked into was this wet suana. I opened the door and steam bellowed out. It smelled somewhat like the sweat of 100,000 pudgey old men mixed with a dead animal corpse of some kind. I turned around and left immediately. Ryan and I decided... why not, lets get a massage! So we signed up and had a beer while waiting for our turn.
   
   Mr. Ryan went first. I couldn’t believe the massuse he got. She was a drop dead gorgeous blond Hungarian. As he was walking in, I noticed a grin on his face that said, hell ya! Then my turn, I got a beautiful brunette girl. She walked me in and told me to lye down. I was worried about my feet because as you can imagine, 3 months only wearing sandals can do a little „“re-modeling“ to your feet. I thought she would either pass out unconscious or run out screaming, but then I thought that they were probably happy to have us two yound skinny guys due to the fact that they push around the pudgy flub of fat old men all day. I’ve never had a massage in my life, but it was amazing. I must know the ways of massage and hopefully I’ll learn it in Thailand. She used lotions and oils and totally worked out all the knots and kinks in my calfs and shoulders. Of course I was smiling the whole time because a Hungarian girls was pretty much messaging everything on my backside, but she couldn’t see my face anyway. It was only 15 minutes but I felt like a million bucks after that. Ryan and I had an international rock festival to attend, so we had to leave the lovely ladies and baths.
   
   Siget is an annual major concert held on an island in the middle of the Danube River. There are about 100 bands that play non-stop, day and night for 7 days! It is a camping festival, so people bring their tents. We where going on the last day to see Prodigy play.
   Nithin, Aaron, Mike, Mr. Ryan and I bought a bottle of wine and drank it while walking on the way. It was called Bulls Blood because in the old days, the war clans would drink this wine and it would dye their beards red. The incoming attackers would see these red stained beards and think these crazy warriors drank bull blood! They would get scared and retreat. We didn’t have an opener, so we did the vagabonder way and pushed the cork in, then just took swigs and passed it around. The true way to enjoy a fine bottle of wine.
   
   The concert was massive. I’ve never seen a bigger concert in my life. The entire island was covered with stages. The main stage was huge! We walked the entire island listening to bands from around Europe and the rest of the globe. We planned on staying up all night, so I started to drink my coffee.
   
   Prodigy was great. They came on at 11pm. They haven’t come out with anything new in like 10 years, but they know how to put on a show. I think one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at a concert was during Prodigy. There was a bungee jumping crane that hung over the massive crowd. People were bungee jumping while Prodigy played! Can you imagine how insane that is!! Wow! There were also people zip lining over the crowd from a tower off to the right of the stage.
   
   After Prodigy played, we were all somewhat drunk and decided to do Kareoke in front of hundreds of people. Were thinking of doing the Bohemian Raphsody by Queen because we knew it would be a big hit with the crowd, but unfortunately we didn’t make it to the stage in time. The people ahead of us were the last ones to go. Damn, that would have been hilarious. Well, we danced the night away. They were playing a lot of American music so it was great. We stayed up the entire night walking around the island and dancing. It was a blast. We took a bus in the morning back to our hostel to sleep all day.
   
   
   8.16.06 Budapest
   
   Today I walked around the city to get a feel for it. I’m starting to feel like the unfamiliar is becoming familiar. Every city seems similar to me now. It’s not that I’m getting bored, it’s just that I’m getting used to it. I’ve decided that I’ve done enough of the city hopping and it’s time to really get off the beatin track, starting with Romania in a couple of days.
   
   Budapest is beautiful. I know I’ve said that for about every city, but they all are beautiful in their own way. The Might Danube River runs directly through the city, dividing the city Buda from Pest. There are many large bridges that gap over it. I won’t be there to see it, but in a few days there will be the Red Bull air competition where planes fly about 10 ft above the water and go under the bridges. Anyway, the Parlaiment building is probably the most famouse and recognizable building in Budapest. It looks very gothic with sharp spires and flying butresses. I went over and laid out in the lawn for a few hours. The grim but powerful building reminds all of yet another city haunted by the brutal Communist rule of Eastern Europe. Like so many other cities, hundreds of people were gunned down here, mostly students protesting the Soviet dictatorship.
   
   Like I mentioned before, the mob is very dominant in this city. As I was walking home, I passed club after pub after strip club, etc. Every one of them had large bouncers outside that wouldn’t surprise me if it were a mob club. Mike roomed with some guys the night before that said they went out, three of them, to a small bar for one drink. When they got the bill, it said that one drink cost 100 Euros!! The bouncer/thugs escorted them to the ATM to give them the money. So... the lesson here is don’t go to any bar where there is nobody else inside.
   
   Every time I walked by a strip club the bouncers would target me!! Not any of the other guys on the sidewalk, but me. It really pissed me off. I know thta they just wanted to mug me anyway. Apparently they mistook me for someone who needs to go to a strip club.
   
   That night we went to go see the movie Thank You For Smoking. It was a very funny movie. It was in Hungarian subtitles, so I figured out we were the only Americans in the theater when we laughed and nobody else in the room did. This is because most people didn’t understand American sarcasm. I think that is something very American... sarcasm.
   
   
   8.17.06, The Terror Museum and the Opera.
   
   Mike left to go to Balatonfured, across the lake from Siofok in Hungary. I will meet him there tomorrow. Nithin and I walked around again to see the House of Terror. This is a former Nazi and then Soviet headquarter for Budapest. It was turned into a museum and memorial when the Soviet Union fell.
   
   Hundreds of people were killed in this building. Most of the museum was devoted to the horrors of Soviet Communism. The most surprising thing about this building was the underground Soviet torture cells and prisons. After the Soviets rushed in and kicked out the Nazi’s, they made underground tunnels to connect the entire neightborhood block. This was a James Bond movie/video game reality. I felt like this was something out of a bond film. This is where the Russians tortured people with electric currents, beatings, starvation, etc. These wer specific cells one could be thrown into. One was a room filled with about 2 inches of water on the floor. The walls curved and sloped off at the bottom, so there was no way to climb out of the water. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be thrown into a cell fullof water for months. Another one was a standing cell. Similar to a very small closet with an eye hole like a speak easy. There was only enough room to stand there with your arms at your side. Another room was a low concrete ceiling that is pitch black. You can not stand up or stretch out. The last room, I walked through was the Gallows. This is a cell where they would hang people. I never quite understood why the USSR and Communist government was considered such a bad thing until visiting Eastern Europe. The Soviets closed off everything and took over everyones lives. You would be exectued if you tried to leave, or even if you spoke ou against them. All of this ended only 15 years ago. Most of those country’s lived in terror and were closed off to the rest of the world for about 40 years.
   
   On our walk over to the largest Jewish Synogogue in the World, Nithin and I walked by a long line of locals waiting to get some food. We thought...hmmm....long line of locals...lets check it out! This small food stop seemed to be a very popular local place. This was my first experience when I couldn’t read anything on the menu and nobody spoke English. I just observed what others got and then pointed to the food that I though looked interesting. I got some kind of cabbage stew with fried mushrooms and a piece of bread. It had to have been one of the best meals I’ve had yet.
   
   We walked by the Opera House and decided to go see an Opera tonight. It was only $12, so why not? Nithin and I were a little worried when we showed up and everyone but us was dressed up. Nithin was wearing the same shirt that he wore to the Sziget rock concert 3 days earlier, and I was wearing the only semi-clean clothes I had... a mildewy t-shirt and stained pants. We were looking hot, watch out ladies. But I did wear my shiny leather shoes, which had to count for something. We saw the ballet “The Taming of the Shrew,“ by Sheakspear. It was very good. We were in the nose bleeds, but still had an excellent view. I find it amazing that these people can describe an entire story, emotions, character developement, etc... just with the movements of their bodies. That’s how you know it is a good ballet, when nobody has to say anything and you understand the entire story. Nithin brought up a good point. If you go to see a movie, it is just one person who runs the reels to entertain you. At a ballet or opera, there are 30 hardworking people putting on a show for you. Anthe they don’t get paid much. That is devotion and love of art and drama.
   
   We sat next to a Canadian guy, Greg, who has been a high school history teacher and traveler for the last 10 years. After the opera, we all went out for a beer and he gave us some great advise on india, Thailand, and Japan. He also told us about his trip on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, somthing we planned to do ourselves.
   
   On our walk home, I said goodbye to Nithin because I didn’t knkow when we’d meet up again. We were in two different hostels, so we split.
   
   
   8.18.06, Balatonfurer, Lake Balaton
   
   As I was looking out the window of the trai, the lake, Lake Balaton, appeared through the trees and the first thing I saw was a dozen kite surfers riding th ewind along the coast. Mike was waiting for me at the train station at Balatonfured and told me that we’d be staying with this lady who offered us her house. She didn’t speak a word of English, so it was a lot of fun, and we had to play our own little game of charrades to communicate when she came to pick us up. Her place was a little beach house about 1km from the water. It was probably the nicest place we’ve stayed in during our trip. It was a nice, clean, traditional lake house.
   
   Mike and I wandered in town i search of a post office, a hair cut, and a grocery store. I had a ton of stuff to mail home, which would significantly decrease my backpack load tremendously. Most people here speak German because this is a tourist area for Europeans. There are no English speakers anywhere here. Thank god Don and Linda Wagner bought that mini pocket translator for me before I left. Well the haircut place was closed, which suckes. Mike and I look like semi-groomed Neanderthals, and could go for a little trim. I got lucky with the post office though. It closed in 10 minutes, and I had no way to communicate with the post lady except playing charrades. We got it figured out by speaking broken German.
   
   That night, we went down to the docks for some wine tasting. There was a long boardwalk that stretched all the way down along the beach, kind of like a park with a lot of trees and walkways. You would put down a deposit for a glass and then walk up and down the boardwalk trying different wines. We were with an Italian guy, Daniel, who knew his wine. He also knew Hungarian, so he would translate for us. We hit the clubs after that and headed home. The girls here are amazing.
   
   
   8.19.06, Balatonfured and Siofok
   
   Slept most of the day and switched hostels. Went down to the docks and read. That night we would take a boat across the lake to Siofok and party all night until the next morning when the ferry returns at 9am. That way we didn’t have to pay for another night in the hostel...problem solved.
   
   Siofok is to Europeans (mainly Germans) what Cancun is to Americans. It is a massive party on the beach of Lake Balaton. We didn’t have anywhere to stay that night, so our plan was simple... party all night till the ferry takes us back to balatonfured in the morning. We left the docks around 9pm and it took an hour to cross the lake. As we got closer, I saw all the lights from beach clubs flare up and twist into the sky. There were giant spotlights rolling across the sky to attract people and bright neon pinks and greens pulsing to loud techno music. We went to get some food at first at an Italian place. We bought a bottle of wine and sat in the park to kill some time. We sat and talked while the clubs boomed in the distance. Around 1am, we decided to move out. I noted this place for later in case I wanted to crash on a park bench to sleep.
   
   The first place we hit was a blacklight bar. It was cool, but was filled with 16 year olds. We moved on fast. Ran into a club that cost 3,800 Ft just to get in. That’s like $20... not happening. Sw, we headed out to the beach. Now this is where it started to look like we were on MTV’s Spring Break. The beach was packed with clubbers and dancing all up and down the docks. There were volleyball nets in the water and bkinis everwhere. We pretty much danced from club to club thta night. Ravers on the beach, people climbing up trees and dancing, glowsticks and strobe lights... It was awesome.
   
   
   8.20.06
   
   I opened my eyes hazily to a blurry silhouette against a light blue sky. I woke up on a bench in the park to some clubber asking me something in Hungarian. It took me a while to get my bearings. There were six guys hovering over me and one fat guy sat down next to me and cracked open a beer. I motioned to them that I had no lighter or cigs. Then he asked me if I had any Extasy or Coke. I said no. I couldn’t understand anything, so I got up and started to look for Mike. I found him on another bench asleep. We were in that park that we started drinking the bottle of wine in the night before. I woke him up and we started to walk back towards the docks to wait for our ferry. I found a video arcade and started playing this shooting game. From out of nowhere, the only English speaker I heard jumped out and yelled “Shoot the mother fucker!!!“ He was obviosly still drunk. He was this big ripped guy from Toronto. He told us all about how crazy his night was. Although we were talking to a drunk Canadian, it was nice to hear some English.
   
   We returned and slept all day. Woke up to go down to the docks and watch some fireworks because it was Hungary’s Independence Day, so a lot of people showed up. They had this stage floating out in the middle of the cove, playing music and would eventually launch fireworks. Unfortunately, the obviouse occured and a massive rainstorm hit. So we ran home and watched boondock saints on my IPOD.
   
   
   Off to meet Dracula in ROMANIA, booya.