Zakopane - Donovally - Budapest [10-06-08]

The view from the balcony of our hotel room
After a sumptuous hotel buffet breakfast, it was time for a long bus journey to Budapest. The day was hot and sunny, i was just totally bright red like a lobster. Along the way, i observed that most of the architecture of the Polish houses have a really big triangular roof. We crossed the border easily into Slovakia. There weren't much of a border control around the area. Slovakia is a predominant Christian country country. There were many churches and all of them have a very distinct features like that of a mosque (the dome-like roof). When i mean churches, i mean the Eastern Orthodox churches, not the Protestant churches. This could be seen from the practice of worshipping patron saints. In many of the altars of the church, instead of seeing a crucified Christ, what you get is the icon of the patron saint of the area. In a way, i find no difference between the pagan worship in Taiwan where someone famous in the area dies and immediately a graven image of that person will be revered and worshiped.

We stopped at the Donovally area of Slovakia (close to the Carpathians) to have a lunch picnic.

That's our bus

Then its a long journey down to the borders of Hungary and Slovakia. It was amazing because there werent much immigration control at the borders once again. We entered Budapest and i was surprised to see a couple of Chinese restaurants around. As far as i've remembered, i did not see a single asian at Zakopane. Everything in Budapest seemed old: old roads, old run-down buildings... it looked war-torn. As the bus stopped itself at this carpark beside a completely wasted building and the ground was filled with lots of potholes filled with murky water, i was like "OH MY GOSH". But thankfully the hostel was not as bad as i thought it would be. However, all the signs and warnings of all the frauds that we could encounter in Budapest really got me worried over the personal security issue.

After some rest at the hostel, we embarked on a walking orientation of the city where Marrdy led us to the ATMs and money changers. Just outside the money changer, he has to tickle me from behind and that gave me a shock--> that's really wrong... DON'T DO THAT WHEN YOU KNOW THAT PERSON JUST CHANGED A STASH OF CASH. We went for dinner next - goulash, beef paste and pancakes with lemonade.

This was followed by a night walk and cruise which i kind of regretted going. But i think its really cool to see the 1st McDonald's after the Eastern Bloc. It's really amazing to see how Budapest has transformed itself after WWII and the communism regime.

The castle
The first McDonald's after the eastern bloc
Parliament house
An interesting fact from the guide. The term 'hello' is actually hungarian and it means 'i can hear you'. Back then, when they are over the phone, they use the term 'hello' to mean they can hear the party from the other side. Interesting isn't it?