Hello Hungary: Perspectives
I've finally arrived in Hungary, after catching a train from Wroclaw to Krakow, which took 4 hours, then catching a train from Krakow to Budapest, which took more than 11 hours. Because I was in a rush and I was running out of Polish zloty, that meant I didn't eat for about 16 hours and all I had was one bottle of water. I am also totally sleep deprived as every time I would get to sleep someone would either wake me up to check my ticket or the call of "passport control" would be heard down the corridor as we had crossed another border. Any sleep I did get was uncomfortable and restless and I feel pretty yucky but have to wait until the afternoon to check in to my hostel. It looked pretty cute though, nice and cosy, which is the kind of hostel I am finding that I prefer, opposed to large and impersonal party hostels which are becoming so common these days.
Budapest seems like a pretty cool place so far, not that I have seen much, but I have already sighted some pretty impressive buildings, and the Danube River is quite nice too. These Eastern European countries are quite bizarre... the cities can be so cosmopolitan and bustling, yet once you get out of the city it is positively third world. For example, most of the train stations that we stopped at in Hungary and Slovakia didn't even have platforms. People just walked across the tracks and got on. Freaky. In Wroclaw, the last place I was in Poland, there was a great historic town square and stuff but once you got out of that the buildings were crumbling, dilapidated and the streets are full of people who have every hard knock they have ever faced etched into their features.
I know I have been waxing lyrical about how wonderful this trip is and how great these countries are, but I think sometimes both myself and travel guides tend to forget to pass on the other side of the story. The streets here are full of beggars... that speak much better English than anyone working at a train station ticket counter. When I walked out of Krakow station, there was a drunk passed out on the concrete and nobody even stopped to check he was ok. There was nothing I could do with no Polish language skills, but you do see a lot of drunks around. The alcohol and smokes are so cheap, even compared to the cost of food in Poland which is also cheap, so it's little wonder. You see children playing on train tracks, and you wonder why they aren't at school. Walls are covered with graffiti, messages I can't understand, but sometimes symbols that I can. The miserable neighbourhoods of former Soviet apartment blocks stand as a monument to imposed conformity that never quite worked, and now they also stand testament to a different system, capitalism, that isn't perfect either. Little old ladies with scarves tied around their heads have no qualms about approaching you, hunched and grovelling, for money while you are sitting in a restaurant, waiting for a train, or trying to read a map. Even though they want your money, they simultaneously hate you. In many parts, foreigners are looked at with suspicion and scorn. While some of the big centres, like Budapest and Krakow, are very touristy, most of the places lack glitz and glam and are shabby and tired. Life, war and conflict have left their stains, and the only reason these countries are still great places is because the people themselves have a deep love for their country and culture, and when things go bad, they have just turned around and begun picking up the pieces. And they still do. Look at Warsaw. Completely destroyed during the war, but people quickly returned and begun clearing the rubble and rebuilding and now the city thrives once more. They could have so easily walked away, it probably would have been easier to start from scratch.
So basically what all this rambling (driven by sleep deprivation) is about is that the good thing about Eastern Europe is that it is nowhere near perfect, and it teaches you lessons at every turn.
And that is why when the strap on my daypack broke today, I didn't know if I was on the right train last night because nobody could tell me, I was sold the wrong ticket to catch a train to Krakow and then had to pay double once on board, I was given the wrong change by my cab driver in Budapest and ripped off, I tore my most comfortable and best travelling pants (blue 3/4 combats that would dry really quickly) beyond repair, and the stairs leading up to my last hostel smelled of piss and had no lights even though it was three floors up, I have tried to keep my cool and just keep plodding on.
Cos I'm loving travelling, and if you love something you can't give up on it. Even if sometimes it's starting to look like a graffiti ridden pile of rubble that smells bad.
OK, hopefully I can check in soon... I want to have a nap and then go to the famous Turkish thermal baths and chill out!!! Sounds good to me...
Budapest seems like a pretty cool place so far, not that I have seen much, but I have already sighted some pretty impressive buildings, and the Danube River is quite nice too. These Eastern European countries are quite bizarre... the cities can be so cosmopolitan and bustling, yet once you get out of the city it is positively third world. For example, most of the train stations that we stopped at in Hungary and Slovakia didn't even have platforms. People just walked across the tracks and got on. Freaky. In Wroclaw, the last place I was in Poland, there was a great historic town square and stuff but once you got out of that the buildings were crumbling, dilapidated and the streets are full of people who have every hard knock they have ever faced etched into their features.
I know I have been waxing lyrical about how wonderful this trip is and how great these countries are, but I think sometimes both myself and travel guides tend to forget to pass on the other side of the story. The streets here are full of beggars... that speak much better English than anyone working at a train station ticket counter. When I walked out of Krakow station, there was a drunk passed out on the concrete and nobody even stopped to check he was ok. There was nothing I could do with no Polish language skills, but you do see a lot of drunks around. The alcohol and smokes are so cheap, even compared to the cost of food in Poland which is also cheap, so it's little wonder. You see children playing on train tracks, and you wonder why they aren't at school. Walls are covered with graffiti, messages I can't understand, but sometimes symbols that I can. The miserable neighbourhoods of former Soviet apartment blocks stand as a monument to imposed conformity that never quite worked, and now they also stand testament to a different system, capitalism, that isn't perfect either. Little old ladies with scarves tied around their heads have no qualms about approaching you, hunched and grovelling, for money while you are sitting in a restaurant, waiting for a train, or trying to read a map. Even though they want your money, they simultaneously hate you. In many parts, foreigners are looked at with suspicion and scorn. While some of the big centres, like Budapest and Krakow, are very touristy, most of the places lack glitz and glam and are shabby and tired. Life, war and conflict have left their stains, and the only reason these countries are still great places is because the people themselves have a deep love for their country and culture, and when things go bad, they have just turned around and begun picking up the pieces. And they still do. Look at Warsaw. Completely destroyed during the war, but people quickly returned and begun clearing the rubble and rebuilding and now the city thrives once more. They could have so easily walked away, it probably would have been easier to start from scratch.
So basically what all this rambling (driven by sleep deprivation) is about is that the good thing about Eastern Europe is that it is nowhere near perfect, and it teaches you lessons at every turn.
And that is why when the strap on my daypack broke today, I didn't know if I was on the right train last night because nobody could tell me, I was sold the wrong ticket to catch a train to Krakow and then had to pay double once on board, I was given the wrong change by my cab driver in Budapest and ripped off, I tore my most comfortable and best travelling pants (blue 3/4 combats that would dry really quickly) beyond repair, and the stairs leading up to my last hostel smelled of piss and had no lights even though it was three floors up, I have tried to keep my cool and just keep plodding on.
Cos I'm loving travelling, and if you love something you can't give up on it. Even if sometimes it's starting to look like a graffiti ridden pile of rubble that smells bad.
OK, hopefully I can check in soon... I want to have a nap and then go to the famous Turkish thermal baths and chill out!!! Sounds good to me...
posted by Ashlee at 1:24 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home