HUNGARY budapest (buy your subway tickets!)
mary, charice and i (friends from my hostel in beograd) booked our accommodation at the “aboriginal hostel” on the pest side, which was amusing to us since they are from australia. looking at the list of hostels on the web, they basically chose this one based on its name. so of course we get there and along with a painted map of australia on the wall, there are artifacts like the boomerang. . .and turns out the hostel is run by hungarians. haha. we look in the guest book and there are entries like, “made us feel at home.” because, you know, all aussies have their places decorated with aboriginal artifacts.
after taking photos of buildings (churches, parliament buildings…all kinda the same by now) we get some tourist maps with suggested places. we picked the statue park since it looks really interesting and historical. but after missing the ’statue park’ bus and having to hop on trams and local buses to get there, we were sodisappointed. ok so it was supposed to be “eastern europe´s most exciting outdoor museum,” with soviet-era statues that were moved from budapest´s streets to this park. ya right. we had fun since we ended up climbing around and posing like the statues for our photos, but i would never describe it as “exciting.” there were probably a total of 12 statues in a field of dead grass and pathways…all scattered around a parka bit smaller than a football field. none of the statues moved either. so exciting? not really. basically, the marketing team did an amazing job.
man the subway patrol here are anal! what happened to the “honor system” that most cities use? (haha…) we managed to ride the trams and buses for free, but the subways were another story. it was a little exciting game since i only bought tickets half the time and you never knew when they were going to ask for your ticket. i have never been anywhere where the regulation is so strict! you buy your ticket, validate it, and then have it checked by officers not only as you are going towards the platform, but AFTER you get off at the exit. we even had three officers approach us as we stepped off the train on to the platform…we had no idea what they were saying, and since they had their hands out we thought they wanted money. so of course we try brushing past them muttering “no” and then realized they wanted to check our validation. close call, but we were legit that time!
i almost forgot about the turkish baths! there are atleast ten places you can go to in budapest, but we chose the most famous and biggest one called the szechenyi bath. go big or go home, right? the place is really amazing, with a neo-baroque building housing the indoor baths and sauna, and big outdoor pools that are so gorgeous it looks like you are swimming in a fountain! some baths smelled really bad because of the sulfur, but then you could just move on when you couldn’t't take the smell. i think it was the most relaxing day i have had in a long time!
SERBIA beograd
man the people over here are so much friendlier than people in western europe. you can almost count on someone coming up to you and helping you out with directions and such if you look lost. and apparently, america is not well-liked over here. surprise, surprise. people who talked to me would make sure i did not tell others i was from the states, like it would decrease my chances of being helped. in any case, some quote-worthy conversations came about and are on my quotes page.
we heard great things about the nightlife in beograd, but we must have been hitting up wrong spots or not asking the right people since we didn´t find much. a couple of drinks here and there. that was it. but beograd has a really inviting fortress compound/park, which is open at night. i may sound like a bum but i love hanging out in parks at night! i would definitely recommend exploring the sprawling area to get views of the city like our hostel did. what else did we do at the park? kick around soccer balls of course.
we also went to “the beach.” well, this “beach” was the murkiest lake i have ever seen, and probably not any bigger than 400 yards long and about 100 yards wide. so more like a big pool of standing water. . .but since it is the closest water source to beograd center, people kept calling it the “beach.” i saw it and thought, “sick” but lying out on this crowded shore was still relaxing. haha. . .
BOSNIA AND HERZGOVINA sarajevo
the first thing you notice when you leave the train station is the bright yellow building not too far in the distance. this is the holiday inn, but it is important because it housed journalists during their coverage of the war. . .and was also the place where the hostel was gonna pick me up. my driver was the hostel owner, who cheerfully greeted me and seemed extremely interested in me since i was apparently one of the first japanese people he had spoken with. he and the hostel would be among a bunch of memorable experiences in sarajevo!
one of the first things he shared with me about his japanese knowledge was, ”i know japan! tokyo, hiroshima, and nagasaki!” i was like, ” really? well good job man. . .” i knew he did not mean anything. and when i met some people at reception and he overheard me telling them i was from seattle, he glares at me like i was lying. so ofcourse as he checks me in he reminds me that i am from japan. i was like, “oh yea…”
i had booked a dorm bed over the internet, but he informs me the site is wrong and that i had actually booked a tent. for THREE EUROS a night the tent was just fine. “do you have a sleeping bag?” he asks. i lie and say yes since sheets were an extra two euro. if i had only realized how cold the nights get, i would have paid for a dorm bed (which was only a few euros more). i woke up in the morning with my bag open and half my clothes on top of me, and then realized i was missing my favorite bracelet from my first day in la paz. i do not know how i lost it sleeping in a tent, but i did.
walking around sarajevo was sad at times because some remnants of the war are still evident. for example, it was not uncommon to see apartment buildings with huge bullet holes on the side. but the town and people are all extremely friendly and interested in other’s cultures, so i met some cool people while walking around the market. it was realy awesome to see that the locals are positive and looking forward to good times!