Baked Duck with Ginger and Orange with Rice Salad
So after a full day of walking around I went to my hostel to chill out until dinner. Back in the hostel I ended up meeting an Aussie guy called Danny who had lived in Budapest before so we went out to get dinner at this local place he knew about it. I ended getting Baked Duck with Ginger and Orange with Rice Salad with the Hungarian beer Dreher. Then we went bar hopping to some awesome bars around Budapest drinking beer and wine.
Dreher, Hungarian Beer
The next day I ended up having to change hostels as Home Made was fully booked. I ended up lugging my huge suitcase for a 20 minute walk through the streets of Budapest. Then when I arrived at HomePlus Hostel and was exasperated to find there were more stairs and no lift this time. Thankfully Andrew, the lovely owner, carried my heavy suitcase up the stairs for me! The hostel was very chilled and laid-back with a lot of great people to talk to.
Andrew suggested a few activities for me as I had spent the past few days sightseeing already. One of the activities, Caving, sounded awesome and it was set to go ahead that afternoon. So I paid up (it came to around $20AUD) and went down to meet the rest of the Caving group down at the Bus Station. I found the group and met some very lovely people amongst them were these cool Canadians Mel, Lindsay and Evan. It took us a fair bit of waiting and 2 buses but we managed to get there in the end.
We changed into our climbing gear, complete with suits, helmets and lights. Evan’s and my suits looked like someone had rolled around in mud and let it dry; it was so filthy with caked dirt. Lindsay and Mel’s suits looked like they was brand spanking new and fresh! So we set off down the track into the cave, while our group leader Sven explained what we should expect. We heard that one of the girls in the group in front of us panicked as soon as she was inside and had to leave, we all felt so sorry for her as we were all pumped to go in.
Totally cute caving gear
There was a huge buzz of excitement before we got to the cave door, where Sven told us that we should expect quite a temperature drop as the cave was consistently around 10 degrees all year round as opposed to 30+ degrees we were experiencing outside. He opened the heavy door and ushered us all inside. Immediately we felt the cool temperature and darkness envelope us, with only meagre torchlight from our helmets to guide us. We started to walk single file and suddenly had to crouch to walk further into the cave. This was a bit an attack on my senses I had no depth perception, I was suddenly cold and it was extremely dark. We walked a little bit further down and I felt the panic rising up inside of me. I told everyone that I didn’t think I could do it.
I never knew I was claustrophobic, I guess you never know until you are put in a situation like that. We were down there for a few more minutes and Sven said that if I didn’t think I could do it now, well it was only going to get worse down there, where there were some spaces that were so tight that you had to go through sideways between the rocks or you had to get down on your stomach and commando crawl under. I really wish I wasn’t such a chicken shit and just did it, but I just couldn’t. Once I walked out of the cave door I exhaled the biggest sigh of relief!
I eventually caught up with the girl who walked out earlier who was with her friend and she felt exactly the same as me, she didn’t know she was claustrophobic either. We ended up catching the buses back to the city and I got some Indian food on the way home to make myself feel better. Thankfully Andrew from the hostel said I could get my money back if I didn’t enjoy the Caving which was very sweet of him.
Butter Chicken with Naan Bread and Raita (not very Hungarian I know!)
A breathtaking view of Budapest
So I headed out of Prague on a Student Agency Bus to Budapest. It was a 7 hour bus ride but it only cost me 18 Euro so I was a happy girl. We had had an hour break in Bratislava but I was not impressed. It was quite dilapidated and far too much concrete especially after the beauty of Prague. I was actually considering visiting Bratislava but I’m glad I chose Prague and Budapest instead.
So as we approached Budapest it was getting quite late as I was actually scheduled to get there close to midnight which was quite a silly decision on my part, but unfortunately this was the only bus time available. Arriving in a new city is already an unnerving experience as you don’t know what to expect but when you are girl and alone.... Well it was a whole lot worse. I was also arriving at Nepliget Bus Station which was a little bit out of the centre and WikiTravel recommended that you do NOT take a walk in that area after dark there. It was also recommended that you call a reliable taxi service and not hail one off the street so as I waited for my taxi to arrive I was getting a little anxious.
Let me set the scene. It was dark, late and there weren’t a lot of shops open. I also couldn’t take comfort in a crowd as most of the people from my bus had dispersed and were on their way. There weren’t a lot of people around other than a few taxi drivers parked and a few homeless people hanging around the bus station. I tried to wait in the main Bus Station building but they wouldn’t let me in because it was closing.
As I tried to walk back to where the bus dropped me off and an older gentleman told me not to cross the road in the direction I was headed. I told him I had to because that was where my taxi was picking me up from. He said I shouldn’t go there and then he pointed where some policeman were a few metres away. Then he told me how a homeless man had died and that is why the police were there! I saw a sheet over a body and almost fainted. That is not what you want in a new city, at midnight while you are waiting for your taxi.
I took a deep breath and thanked the gentleman, but I had to wait for my taxi. So I crossed the road and tried not to look in that direction. It was evident that after waiting 30 minutes my taxi was not coming and I just wanted to get out of there. So I asked one of the taxi drivers standing around to take me to my hostel. Luckily he was very nice and got me there in no time, unfortunately my frights didn’t end there.
I rang the doorbell of the Home Made Hostel and they gave me directions to get inside. I walked in and the sensor lights went on I could see it was a courtyard, a few sets of stairs and a lift. I was told to go up the stairs but somehow the directions flew out of my head and I was lost wandering around the courtyard trying to walk in the direction of where I could hear voices. Then all of a sudden the lights went out and I was plunged into darkness! I almost cried right there, after the night I had, I just wanted to be in bed.
I turned the light on my phone, left my bags behind and ran back to the front door, yelling into the intercom with desperation in my voice “Please could you come down, the lights went out and I don’t know where to go”. Thankfully the lovely girl at Reception came down and helped me make my way up. There was finally the light at the end of the tunnel!
Home Made Hostel
I entered the Reception of Home Made Hostel and it immediately felt very homey and cosy. The dorms were very welcoming, with home-made furniture, lots of pillows and a lot of travel paraphernalia. It was probably one of the cheapest hostels I stayed, but I also think it was one of the best as I was in the 8 bedroom dorm and still felt like I had my own space. I settled into my bed, pulled close my privacy curtain, let out a sigh of relief and after a long night, finally went to sleep.
My Dorm in the hostel
