Eastern Europe 2005

As it turned out, I didn’t get to update my blog in Sighisoara. Went online once and it was horrible, I wanted to throw their PC out the window. It was old Windows 98 PC which froze everytime I opened more than one window at a time, and since they were running IE 5, Friendster didn’t work. And the connection was SLOOOW… that was such a waste of time. I didn’t get to do anything. Didn’t even get to check the news website.

I have to say that Sighisoara is nicer than Brasov though. It’s a tiny medieval town, not unlike Cesky Krumlov, but a bit run down and smaller. To get to the old town you have to climb a lot of stairs, which was crap. Our hostel was only 5 minutes walk from the train station - or should I say, the super dodgy train station - and it was awesome. There were only 3 of us in the 5 bedroom dorm, with ensuite! Man it was GREAT having your own bathroom.

The third person, by the way, was Damon, a Kiwi guy who hung out with us for pretty much the whole time we were there. He’d arrived on the same day.

The town was so tiny we literally ran out of things to do. Walked around the small souvenir market, went up the clock tower, and sitting around having drinks..

There were a lot of kids begging for food/money on the streets or when we were sitting in a restaurant. The food and everything were cheap, although the currency still tripped us out sometimes.

The most memorable thing was definitely when we went horse riding through the countryside yesterday. I was bloody scared at first, never really having ridden a horse before, but you sort of get used to it after a while. We went through the forest and a tiny little village called Prod, where we found roosters and all sorts of poultry running around on the street. It was charming. The guy who owned the horses (and the business) was great. He picked us up from the hostel and drove us about half an hour out of town, and we rode for about 1.5 hours. It was definitely something I’d recommend to anyone.

Caught a night train back here last night at 11.20PM. It was AWFUL. I distinctly remember ordering a 4-bed sleeper but we got a 6-bed compartment. It was tiny and cramped, and we got the top bunks! The compartment was probably the same size as the one we had on the way to Brasov, but with 6 beds instead of 2. I was so pissed off, but hey what can you do.

Got here about an hour late from schedule, checked in to Red Bus (definitely one of my favourite hostels, I’ve stayed here 3 times now!) and went for breakfast. Am so glad to be back in Budapest. I was ready to leave Romania.

Everything was difficult there. The internet was crap, only one girl at our hostel speaks English - hey I mean the hostel was great and everything, but it was almost impossible to communicate with them when that girl wasn’t around - and even still water was so precious because it was bloody difficult to find! They only sell soda water everywhere, for some stupid reason that we can’t comprehend. I mean, we find a lot of that everywhere in Europe, but in Sighisoara it was especially difficult to find non-carbonated water. I don’t know why people even drink soda water.. it tastes disgusting!

It was so hard to find, we even know the Romanian word for it - Apa Plata. Apa means water, and plata means flat. Other than that, the only Romanian word I know is Multumesc, which means thank you.

So yeah I’m happy to be back here, with the great Goulash soup and yummy hot chocolates. Am staying here for 2 nights before heading off to Salzburg. Mike is leaving to Interlaken tomorrow night.

We might be meeting up with Stevo, the Aussie guy we met in Brasov, tonight for dinner or something.

Anyway, I’m off to have a shower and SLEEP!

Been spending the last two nights in Brasov and we’re off to Sighisoara this arvo.

Got here very early in the morning and had to tackle some random people who tried to offer us accommodations and taxis etc. I was absolutely knackered and wasn’t in the best mood. And it was COLD. Anyway we caught a cab to the hostel and just crashed there. They said we were lucky because it wasn’t full. Just a couple of days earlier people had to sleep on the floor because there were no free beds.

Brasov is interesting. It’s quite pretty.. not stunning pretty like Prague or Cesky Krumlov, but it’s.. nice. Just have to be careful when you walk down the streets because at any moment you may step on a dog poo. Yuck.

The currency here is confusing the hell out of everyone. They just had a new currency in July where they cut down 4 zeros out of their money and now they still use both currencies and it’s so bloody confusing. I think even the locals are confused. It sounds scary sometimes to pay 250000 for a meal where in fact it’s worth nothing. Takes a while to get used to.

Met a great bunch of people at the hostel. Been having dinners together in a big group for the past two nights. There are like 8-10 beds in a dorm room so it’s a bit cramped. But it’s ok, I suppose. They have a big living area and cable, so we’ve been hanging out in the living room watching A LOT of MTV (or Discovery Channel, or National Geographic….).

We went to Rasnov and the Dracula castle in Bran yesterday. As expected, it wasn’t too impressive or "draculaey" but it’s something that you have to do when you’re here. The rain was pouring in the arvo when we were waiting to catch a bus to the train station to book our tickets. I was drenched, and not happy. The bus was jampacked full of people and it was so stuffy.. no wonder people get jacked all the time on the bus. I have to put a padlock on my backpack all the time here, which is kind of a pain, but necessary.

Sighisoara is supposed to be a tiny town (with only 4 streets!) so we might have made a mistake booking a hostel for 2 nights, but oh well. Just gonna chill I suppose.

Well, not much time left so I better go. Will write more when we get to Sighisoara, if we can find an internet cafe.

Mike and I are off to Romania this evening. 11 hrs train.. not looking forward to it. But oh well, what can you do. I haven’t decided what to do yet after I come back from Romania. Don’t really want to stay in Budapest for too long. Bored sh*t here.

Somehow Budapest seems less beautiful this second time around. I don’t know way. Not saying that I haven’t been having fun. We went around Buda yesterday, had a bath in the arvo.. man that was quite a traumatic experience. I saw a lot of unpretty sights… naked fat, old women walking around so proudly. I prefer Szechenyi bath.. at least bathing suit is compulsory there!

Had a massage afterwards… oh god that was good. I so needed that! Paid 7000 HUF which wasn’t really cheap but it was worth it. I could use it every couple of days or so. Yeah right. We’ll see if we can get a cheap massage in Romania.

Hot chocolate here is absolutely divine. Definitely the best I’ve ever had.

Anyway better go now. Supposed to meet up with Mike in 10 mins time.

Am finally here! Back at the same hostel, Red Bus. It’s good to be in a familiar place. My train to Budapest got held up along the way - dunno what happened - it wasn’t moving for almost an hour. Was supposed to arrive here at 1, didn’t arrive until 2.15. Man I was starving. I was sitting with this old Austrian lady - she told me her husband lives in Melbourne - and three Yugoslavian girls. I think that’s where they were from anyway. They were all heading to Beograd. For the first hour or so on the train the heater was on - we couldn’t figure out how to change it to aircon and I was roasting!! Thank God we finally managed to fix it.

Just had a Hungarian goulash… yummm… so much better than Czech goulash. Supposed to meet Mike in a about an hour. I was walking around the tourist district and trying to find the market Edward (the Canadian guy I’d met here last year) and I went to last year, but I couldn’t find it!!! It’s supposed to be just around the corner from there… I dunno.. it started raining so I didn’t want to walk around too far.

So good to be out of expensive Vienna. It was shocking really, especially after having been spoilt in Cesky Krumlov where my bed cost less than 20 bucks a night. My second night there actually wasn’t too bad.. met up with new roommates. One of them was an Aussie girl called Alicia and we went for dinner at this Chinese place around the corner from our hostel. Got lost and went round in circles (just like how I tried to find the market today! Am hopeless!). When I got back to my room I met this other roommate, a Korean girl with cute, broken English. We had a long chat and just as I was ready to go to bed, an English girl came. She’d just arrived from Cesky Krumlov, missed her connection and had to wait at the train station for 6 hours. Poor girl.

Anyway, internet is not free here so I better go. Need to ask the reception how to get to Gellert Baths. Mmmm…

Finally arrived in Vienna. I was sad to leave Cesky Krumlov, but hey one’s got to move on. The hostel here is cool. It’s a bit of a walk from the train station, especially when you’re lugging around a huge backpack. But they’ve got lifts(!) and bathrooms inside the room. Awesome.

My room is still empty when I got here.. so I don’t know how many people will be sharing with me tonight.

I haven’t even been to the city yet. Am a bit tired and I don’t know how to get to the city yet. Better ask someone at the reception.

The train ride wasn’t too bad. Caught a shuttle bus to Linz then caught a train from there. Met this older Irish couple… they’re supposed to be staying somewhere around. Anyway.

I better go do some sightseeing or something.

I am in love with this place! It’s totally wild! I’ve never seen a place like this before… since the moment I stepped into the town, I was completely blown away. It’s like I’m back in the 16th century or something.

It’s a tiny little town with cobbled streets, and cute old buildings (mainly hotels/pensions, restaurants or souvenir shops - yes it’s like made for tourists!) surrounded by a river. There’s a castle and a church in the centre.. it’s like stepping into a movie set.

I’ve met a lot of people here.. and picked up a travelling partner! There’s this Chinese American guy who’s coming with me to Romania. We’re meeting up again in Budapest on 8th, and leaving to Romania on 10th.

Went canoeing yesterday… I will NOT be doing that again in a hurry. I can’t row to save my life.. Katie, my American roommate who went with me, must’ve been pissed off with my rowing skills (or lack thereof). We kept going around in circles and getting stuck. Towards the end I was so knackered I was like "I DON’T WANT TO ROW ANYMORE!". It took us three hours to get to the end point. The highlight of the trip was when we went through the rapid at the end. I thought that was so much fun. I was soaking wet though, and freezing. And I’d just put on a fresh pair of jeans! Doh!

Anyway, Katie’s actually the one who convinced me (and Mike, my "travelling partner") to go to Romania. She’s absolutely obsessed with the country that she went back the second time.

I’m off to Vienna tomorrow… I wish I could stay here longer. It’s such a perfect place to chill and do nothing. And it’s dirt cheap! I’d recommend it to anyone.

Better go now. Will write more soon.

Am leaving Prague soon. I’ve got about half an hour before I have to catch a tram to the bus stop. Brian and I checked out the bus station this morning and man the buses look super dodgy. I just hope there’ll be aircon, although I doubt it.

Anyway, it’s cheap. It only costs about 150 Kc to get to Cesky Krumlov from here. I will write more once I get there. There’s supposed to be free internet access from my hostel.

This is my fourth day here and I’m still loving it. Cherry and her fiance took me out yesterday, and all the way back to their place in the outskirt of Prague. It was… umm, interesting. My legs are still so sore today, but I’m off to the city again soon. Need to book my train from Cesky Krumlov to Vienna. Am off to Cesky Krumlov tomorrow, btw.

I’ve booked my flight from Budapest to Hamburg. Decided not to go to Romania after all. I just didn’t feel right about it. From Hamburg I’ll make my way down to Munich and from there it’s only a short train ride to Salzburg, to catch up with my original itinerary.

I was walking around in the city without any map (or sense of direction) yesterday arvo. It was good though. Sitting on the ground right in the middle of the Old Town Square, watching the day goes by in one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever been to… there was nowhere else in the world I’d rather be.

My new roommate is an American guy who travels around Europe with only 2 sets of clothes. Hmm.. let’s just hope he takes showers!

Anyway I better go. Need to send a couple of emails and then off to the city. Meeting Cherry and Frans again for dinner tonight.

Prague is simply stunning. It’s a bit like St Petersburg in the sense that it seems dingy and even dodgy in places outside the city centre and at the train stations, but once you get to the city… it’s breathtaking. I especially love the Stare Mesto (Old Town) area.

I went for a walk yesterday around the city and on to Prague castle with Brian, my Scottish roommate. Such a beatiful city. It would be even better if it wasn’t packed with tourists.. mostly bloody Americans (no offense to my American friends!). But there are way too many of them here!

The castle itself was pretty disappointing, I thought. And man, it was steep. My legs are still sore today. It didn’t look anything like a castle, more like a big presidential palace surrounding a few other more exciting buildings (churches etc). And again, it was jampacked with tourists.

Am meeting Cherry, the Australian girl I met in Seoul, and her fiance today. Better get going now. I want to take a walk around the city first.

I’m finally here in Prague. It’s 7.13 in the morning but I’ve been awake since before 6. Still jetlagged. I couldn’t sleep well last night. The noise from the street didn’t help either, but we couldn’t really close the windows cos the room would get really hot and stuffy.

Met two of my roommates yesterday - Greg, an American guy who earns his living playing internet poker (interesting..) and Brian, a Scottish guy with a really thick accent I can barely understand.  We went out with them to the shops, trying to find a power adapter with hole for the stupid extra prong in Czech power points. No luck. Then after we got back I found out that my Australian adapter’s got the hole to fit it anyway. Doh! It’s just my hairdryer that doesn’t work, since I bought it in London and the adapter doesn’t have an extra hole in it.

It was pouring last night - we were drenched by the time we got back to the hostel. They said the weather had been great until I got there. It was 40 degrees on Friday! Let’s hope it won’t rain today - I want to do some sightseeing!

I’m really confused at the moment, I don’t know if I still want to go to Romania. I’ve heard bad stories about the country, and something just doesn’t feel right. People have been asking me "Why Romania?" and pretty much "why would anyone want to go there?" questions. But the thing is, where do I go?

Oh well. We’ll see how it goes. I might fly to Hamburg or something from Budapest.