Budapest 2009

First up is my trip to Budapest. It is the second priority city on my list during the planning.

Hungary is not a country to be under-estimated. Sports wise they have a great pool of paddlers for such a small country. Their water-polo team has been unbeatable since god knows when. Basically their water polo team at the Olympics is like our Singapore water-polo team at SEA games.

Science stuff is even more amazing, they are the proud inventors of

· Rubik cube

· Mechanical pencil

· Recorder (the musical instrument)

Their mathematics had a golden age during the 1920s to 1960s. Most notable are John Von Neumann and Uncle Paul. Just imagine: during the world war two the “Americans” assembled a bunch of top Mathematicians and Physicists to build the atomic bomb and at least a quarter of the gang were Hungarians, with some staying on as political advisors during the cold war.

Once on the plane I wondered how the typical Hungarian looks like. I mean most Hungarians I know are canoeists or water-polo players, which generally have only one, type of built. The other Hungarians I know are mathematicians, which also only have one kind of look.

Once off the plane and past the customs I proceeded to the tourist information center to ask for directions into the city. The bloke at the counter, who looks like he can bench 100 Kg easily, speaks wonderful English and has a great smile. I wondered to myself

“Whoa! Is this the typical Hungarian, or is he planted here to create a good first impression for tourists?”

During the walk to the train station I passed a few Hungarian ladies who I assume work at the airport. All smiled (the kind in which their teeth is shown) and said Hi in such a friendly and polite manner that I was in love with the place right away. I mean considering the fact that I’m a Chinese and fellow Chinese working in Singapore won’t even greet me in such a manner.

So I boarded the train and the first shitty thing happened.

The ticket inspector claimed that the ticket I bought from the tourist information counter is not enough and I have to top up another 350 HGF. Obviously I didn’t complain since that guy looks like he can do a 50 Kg per side clean and jerk and some other Americans were made to pay that extra fee too.

And finally I reached the interchange.

Most Hungarian men are taller than me by at least fifteen centimeters and unfortunately most do not speak English. There began a string of English, sign language and native Hungarian language. I guess they were speaking some dialect or a more old-school language actually as I kind of feel the tone sounded like “Hokkien swearing”

And finally I found my hostel.

The host Josef is a great bloke.

He speaks six different languages, including Mandarin. He has travelled widely during his younger days, including to Singapore twenty-five years ago. Though all he remembers of it are LKY and Sentosa.

In addition, he has also been through World War two and the Hungarian rise against communist rule.

Has the largest beer bottle collection I have seen in my life, I approximate about a hundred different brands in his cupboard.

Sight seeing wise

The first time I saw pictures of the Hungarian parliament and Hero’s Square I included them in the list “places to visit before I die” and I must admit it felt really good to be walking along the Danube River and taking in those sights.

Hungarian beer is not fantastic but the price is a shocker; a pint of beer at a boat pub along the river cost less than three SGD. When I first saw the price list I though I was missing some zeros or like “the price indicated is in multiples of hundred” or some tricky hidden costs like what Singtel does to me every month. Fortunately the price is an honest and “naked” one.

Try drinking something like that along Clarke Quay.

Still a good place to visit, I want to meet Josef again so he can teach me more Hungarian words and tell me stories during the communist rule and revolution.

P.S: A “strange” thing I noticed is that shops there close at 7pm on weekdays, 5pm on Saturdays and not open during Sundays. Of course I do not mean “tourist shops”.

Their sports shop sell amazing stuff, I even saw a rowing boat rudder on sale in their “Sports link”. Can you imagine me buying a dragonboat rudder from Nike at Wisma and going home with it?

Whereas In Singapore shops aim to stay open as long as possible during weekends to earn more money.

Food for thought.