Cute Donkey

I met this cute little guy displayed at one of the shops in the street of Budapest. I see him twice a day. Once in the morning when I walk to the metro / tram station and then again when I go back to my hostel. I just like how he looks... a little innocent, a little foolish, a little curious ?

Tanned in UK

For all the years in Malaysia and Singapore, under the hot scorching sun, I have not got tanned seriously. Yes, on occasions when I go on holidays on the islands or the beach, I get a little tanned... just slightly. This is because I am aware of the fact that I'll be under the big sun so I apply sun blocks and make sure I'm well protected. However, 2 weeks ago on a Saturday, I went canoing down the river Thames (no... not exactly in London, but in Lechlade). Lechlade is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It is located at the southern edge of the Cotswolds. It is the highest point at which the River Thames is navigable. The town is named after the River Leach which joins the Thames near here and is a popular venue for tourism and river-based activities.

It was a brilliant day where the temperature rises to around 24 degrees, the sun is out, coll breezes. The whole atmosphere just changed... from a gloomy overcast and cold to this sunny, warm weather. The behavior and moods of people changes instantaneously. Everybody is so jolly and BBQ pits were brought out, you see people sitting outside the bar drinking beers. Anyway, back to the canoing. It was the second time I've canoed. The first time is 10 odd years ago when I went to Pangkor Island with my friends after my SPM. We hired canoes and fought the waves on the open sea. It's not a rough sea and we didn't paddled far out. This time however it's on a calm and gentle river. We park slightly further down the river and put down the canoe. We thought it's best to go upstream, get the tougher part over while we are still fresh. We got up to the furthest we could possibly go and then stop for a beer at the town. After some rest, we went back down the river back to the car. After we drove to lunch at one of the nearby pub by the river. The paddle is a little hard but not too tough. Along the river, there were schools of swans and their cute little ducklings, other canoeist and boats. There were some families having picnics along the river banks, kids playing at the river... just enjoying the sun and making the most out of the weather.

I only came to realize that my arms were 'lobster' red after I got back home later. I wore a short sleeve t-shirt during the canoe. Yes, its sunny earlier on but it's not hot cause there's cool breezes every so often. But damage is done. Then this few days I noticed the skins of my arms starting to peel off. Never have I got myself burnt before.... definitely not in this country were I've kept complaining about the cold ? hahahha.... but then again never under-estimate the quiet dog / calm waters. So lesson learnt =)

Budapest photos - Part 2

OK, finally managed to organized the second part of the photos taken in Budapest. Enjoy =)

Budapest Day 5 - 8

Budapest, some side notes

During my week long visit in Budapest, I have noticed the following few things:

- Hungarian people smokes a lot... man, woman, young, old... everybody smokes. they can't smoke in the public transports so once they got off the first thing they do is to light up a cigarette and puff away.

- There are loads of McDonalds here in Budapest. Every couple of blocks you are sure to find a huge McD restaurant. There are also Burger King, KFC and Subway but still McD out-numbered the rest.

- Here in Budapest, night and day, every half and hour or so, you will hear the loud sirens of the police cars / ambulance screaming away. It might be due to the fact that the buildings in the town are tall and pretty closed by that creates an echo effect and reflects the sirens making it so so loud.

- Homeless people are plenty in the town. At night, you can see them sleeping at the underground metro station lobby just outside the stalls. There are also some sleeping in the corner of the building in the streets. These are people around the age of 50+ and over. As opposed to other countries that I've been to where the homeless or beggers would flock to the tourists, the Hungarians would only approach the locals to ask for some change.

- It is here in Budapest I've seen the most bizarre pets. I've seen a couple 'walking' their pet rabbit, fully equipped with a neck leash at Vorosmarty square and also a kid with her pretty huge white rat (or maybe its a hamster but pretty huge in size) while walking at the Margerat Island.

- Cafe culture is huge here. I think this applies to all European countries due to the fine weather they have.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 8 (Last day)

Today is my last day in Budapest before returning to UK and I started with the Great Market Hall or Central Market Hall (Nagy Vásárcsarnok).This is the largest indoor market in Budapest opened towards the end of the 19th-century. There are a great numbers of stalls inside this market hall and you can practically get anything and everything you need here. Stepping into the market hall (ground floor), you'll find stalls selling fresh vegetables, fruits, poultry, salami, bakeries and popular souvenirs such as paprika, tokaji, and caviar. The first floor are typical tourist articles, such as pictures, dolls, glasses, tablecloths, chess boards and clothes made in Hungarian style. You can also find some food stalls and cafe here offering typical Hungarian food. The lower-ground floor has stalls selling marinated vegetables, fish market and also a Match supermarket.

There's such contrast on the colors of the fruits and vegetables stacked neatly by the stall owners. The variety of sausages and salami on display just awed me. Not forgetting also all the different cakes, biscuits, pastries and the humongous bread on offer from the few bakeries stalls. It's just an eye-opener and a must visit. I went to the food stalls upstairs and ordered what I thought is a stuffed cabbage. Well it is some kind of stuffed cabbage alright but not exactly. Turned out I ordered a Bavarian Sour Cabbage. No wonder I only paid 480Ft for that as opposed to the 800Ft shown on the Menu. Hahaha... another blunder of mine. The stuffed cabbage is cabbage stuffed with meat and rice; and the sour cabbage I had is stuffed with rice and a wee bit of meat.It's served with sour cream and some marinated sour sliced cabbage at the side. I wanted to order a stuffed paprika but too bad they don't have it then.

After that I walked along Vaci utca towards the Voromarty Square. This time, I went into Gerbaud and sat down to have a slice of the famous Dobos cake and latte. It is a five-layer lemon, saffron or vanilla sponge cake, layered with chocolate butter cream and topped with thin caramel slices. The cake is also often called 'Dobos-torta' or 'Dobostorta'. Its very nice and not too sweet. 甜而不腻. The interior of the Gerbaud is very grand and elegant. The waitresses are busy bustling about taking and serving orders. They are dressed in beige colored blouse and their dress is of floral pattern in dark brown, gold and maroon color and a maroon color short apron. Outside the cafe there were 2 elderly guys performing for the Gerbaud customers. One guy with violin and another with a flute. They are here every single day and the customers would tip them for the lovely wonderful music they played compliments the entire atmosphere bringing everybody back in time. It almost felt like its the era where writers, poets sits in the Gerbaud writting a play, a poem or story while sipping coffee.

After my coffee break, I sat at the Vorosmarty square taking in the last few hours I had here in Budapest. Then I went strolling along the Danube river and sat there again for quite sometime... just to pass time :p My last meal in Budapest is at Kisharang restaurant. Another small eatery introduced by the LP which is pretty nice. I had a Goulash chicken on noodles and a glass of apple juice. The noodle is not the normal long yellow noodle. I think it's one type of pasta. There are 2 huge chicken drumstick on the noodles and they are simply delicious. The Goulash sauces are so good I finished the whole dish although I'm not that hungry. The whole meal just cost me 1070Ft... much cheaper than the piece of cake and latte in Gerbaud which costs me around 1600Ft.

After that, I went back to the hostel to get my luggage and head off to the airport. It's just a small airport so I practically just sat and waited at the lounge after checking in ... again I got away without having to check my backpack in =)

After 2hours and 10 mins later, I landed in Bristol airport around 11.30pm. The wait to cross the passport control was pretty long as we had an almost full plane of passengers and only 2 counters opened. The pick up from the car-park is already waiting when I got there. However, they haven't moved my car to the small car park so I had to follow the guy to the big, dark and cold carpark to search for my Micra. Driving back to Swindon is pretty ok with very little traffic on the motorways. It is already past midnight. Arrived home around 1.30am and that's the end of my Budapest trip.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 7 (Random)

So, I woke up today to find that there is no specific destination / itinerary for today and tomorrow. I could have gone on an excursion tour outside of Budapest but given the condition of my foot, I thought I'm better off just wandering around the town and enjoy the sights, people, atmosphere, weather... just relax and wander. That's what I do best ... wandering mindlessly. Surfed on the internet after breakfast to see if I've missed out any places. I decided to visit the Central Market, only to find that it's closed on Sunday. Bummer... ok so I'm officially wandering in the Pest town and I found this stretch of Vaci utca that I've missed out yesterday. I preferred this stretch better as it's slightly more laid back but then again it might be due to the early hours so the tourists haven't hit the cafes just yet.

Then I walked across the Liberty Bridge and walked up St. Gellert Hill. After that, took the tram to Mokszva Ter. From there I took bus no. 10 up to the Castle Hill. Yeap this is another way going up the hill if you prefer not to walk up the hill. I head straight to the Ruszwurm Cukraszda (Confectionery) this time to avoid the lunch crowd. I'm overwhelmed with the choices of cakes and pastries offered and had a tough time choosing what to order. In the end, I ordered 2 pieces of cakes, a Tirol Strudel , a Esterházy cake and a cup of Cappucino.

The Esterházy cake comes from Austria, inspired or named by one of the famous Esterházy dukes. Originally, the pastry layers were made of almond, whipped egg white and sugar. The cream was made of cooked egg cream with vanilla, and the top was iced with the well-known fondant composition. Today everybody uses walnuts instead of almonds and this is how the cake became popular worldwide. The Tirol strudel is the most popular pastry made of buttered dough. The Tirol strudel can be filled with sour cherry, cottage cheese, poppy seeds and apple. Again without knowing what is what, I got the cottage cheese strudel. Both the cakes and strudel taste so good, the butter dough is really nice and crispy and the walnut layered with cream just melts in your mouth. I find the top is a little too sweet to my taste, but that can be fixed by sipping my cappuccino.

After the cakes, I walk over to the Fisherman's Bastion again and took more photos. Later, I went to the Margerat Island. It is a 2.5 km long island (0.965 km² in area) in the middle of the Danube, mostly covered by landscape parks and is a popular recreational area. It's a Sunday and the island is crowded with the locals. Families, friends, lovers, joggers, all jammed the island to unwind, to play, to 'pak tor', to exercise... At the very end there was a huge open field with some events going on. There were live bands singing on stage and tents at the side with games and exibitions / product promoting. The locals laid out their mat, had picnic, sun bathing, parents played with their kids... everybody just enjoying the sun, the weather, the relaxation...

I bought an ice-cream and sat in the park for a while. Then I went to the West End Shopping Mall near the Nyugati Ter. It's a big and modern shopping mall. I found a hawker center in the mall. For dinner, I had 'Merifele Budapest' from the Grill Land stall. I think it's a mixture of the famous Budapest food - paprika chicken, duck liver, fries, and some veggies. Taste really good. Tonight, I got a new roomie, an Australian girl currently studying in Vienna.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 6 (Vaci Utca & Heroes Square)

I slept better last night with the help of my Senheiser in-canal earphone which acts as a pretty good ear plug. The roomies had an early morning and when I woke up they already cleared the room. After breakfast, I went to Szent István-bazilika (St. Stephen Church) by bus No. 15. I alighted somewhere near the church and after some searching and navigating using the map, I found it. Hmmm I think I'm getting better at reading maps now.

Szent István-bazilika is Budapest's largest church. It's landmark dome can be seen from all over the city, was built in Classical style between 1851 and 1905. Inside is the Hungarians' most revered relic – the mummified right hand of Hungary’s first monarch, King Saint Stephen, who brought Christianity to Hungary and founded the Hungarian state in 1000. It's free to enter the church. The interior of the church is really great and impressive. The artwork on the walls and the dome just blew me away. It reminds me of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. All these grand churches have really great and detailed carvings / drawing on the dome and the walls are mostly in gold. 金碧辉煌. The christian songs that were played really adds to the mood and feeling. The center of the church where they set the benches were off limits to the tourist. In a side room I saw the miracle mummified right hand of King Stephen. After that, I paid 500Ft to go up to the Bazilika's dome / cupola. You can either choose to take the elevator or climb up the stairs on foot. The cupola offers a great view of the Pest side and you can also see the Buda side landmarks from a very diferent point of view. It's worth going up on a good clear day.

Next, I went to Vaci Utca, the famous pedestrian street in Budapest. It's a pedestrian street with a variety of restaurants, cafes, fashion outlets targeting at tourists and the rich & famous. The street starts from Vörösmarty Square, where it is pedestrianised and leads to the Great Market Hall (Nagycsamok) near Fővám Tér. However, even if you are just window shopping you'd still have to walk down this street at least once. The starting point, Vorosmarty Square is also where the legendary GERBEAUD is located. Gerbaud cafe is one of the largest, most traditional, and most famous café-confectioneries in Europe. The cafe was established by Henrik Kugler in 1858 and expanded by its later owner, Emil Gerbeaud, and by 1990 was already world-famous. Here, directly on the busy Vörösmarty Square, the motto of the Gerbaud cafe is "to see and to be seen".

I took a sneak peek inside the cafe but didn't sit down to have coffee. However, I did tried their Gerbaud ice cream which is pretty good. I especially love the deliciuos and crunchy ice cream cone. The single scoop ice cream here cost 220Ft but at other places you can get it for 130Ft. That's branding :p A stroll along Vaci Utca brought me to the JEGBUFE cafe which only has tall tables but with no chairs. I bought a 3-layered cake, the top layer is fruits; second layer is black in color (might be poppy seed or coconut dipped in brown sugar?) and the bottom layer is coconut. When I pointed to the cake to the lady at the counter, she gave me a thumbs up... does that means that I accidentally made a good choice? Anyway, the cake is best eaten 3 layers together as the slight sourness of the fruits blends perfect with the sweet coconut.

After my cake, I went searching for the green-rooftop building I saw from afar. Its the Iparmuveszeti Museum and its rooftop makes it stands out from the other buildings. After some photo shots, I stroll along Raday Utca, another street also lined with restaurants and cafes. I think I prefer Raday utca to Vaci utca as currently there are just too many roadworks and construction at Vaci utca. Raday utca is more laid back with slightly lesser tourists. Taking a tram to Oktogon station, I come to this huge intersection junction. I then change to the Orange metro line to Hosok Tere station where the Heroes Square is at. It is surrounded by two important buildings, Museum of Fine Arts on the left and Palace of Art (or Art Exhibition Museum) on the right. The central site of the square is the Millennium Memorial (also known as Millennium Monument or Millenary Monument) with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history. Besides that, there is a huge park, zoo, amusement park and circus situated nearby.

A huge yellow building caught my eyes and I realised that was the famous Szechenyi Medicinal Bath (Széchenyi-gyógyfürdő). It is the largest medicinal bath in Europe (with a total of 15 pools) offering a sizable sun bathing area, which surrounds 3 pools of different temperatures. The temperature ranges from 27ºC/80.6ºF to 34ºC/93ºF with the hottest 38ºC/100.4ºF. Winter or summer, chess is played in the shallow waters of the 34ºC/93ºF water of one of the pools. Too bad this time around I could try any of the thermal bath due to 'time of the month'... one thing about female travellers is this monthly issue which could hinder you from some activities. Never mind, I shall come and conquer the baths next time.

Its still pretty early when I finish strolling at the garden. So I decided to head back to town and grab some dinner before coming back to the Heroes Square for some night scenes. I went back to Raday utca searching for a restaurant recomended in the lonely planet guide book. I found the place but too bad it's not open. So I went walking around and didn't know what to eat. In the end, I bought Burger King's Angry Whopper Meal and head back to the park next to Heores Square. The whopper meal cost about GBP4 (SGD12) almost double the price in SG. But the burger is also almost double in size. Sitting at a bench in the park with a beautiful lake in front of me, eating the burger, it's pretty good but a little lonely...

At 8pm the Millennium Memorial lit up. The Szepmuveszeti Museum on the left of the square is hosting some official proceedings tonight. Buses ferrying diplomatic guests from various countries arrived one after another. I saw a representative from Japan. After standing and watching for a while, I went off to shoot the monument. Got some pretty nice shots, satisfied and head back to the hostel. Yes, tonight I own the room to myself again. No more orchestra... yippie !!!

Budapest, Hungary - Day 5 (Visegrad & Szentendre) Part 2

It took 45minutes and 375Ft to reach Szentendre bus station. Szentendre is a picturesque town possessing something of a Mediterranean atmosphere. It's close proximity from Budapest made it an ideal day trip destination. You can take the Suburban railway (HÉV) from Batthyány Square in Budapest and the journey only takes 40 mninutes. Getting off the bus at the station, I didn't know exactly where to go as I don't see the town I saw in the guide books. There's a supermarket next to the station so I bought a bread with some paste on top which looks kinna like tuna. But I was wrong again, they were not tuna and I can't really tell what it is but it's definitely pretty salty. I saw some people going towards the other side of the road so I just went with the flow... bingo, thats the colorful town I saw in the books.

The houses and shops here were painted in bright vibrant colours, pink, yellow, baby blue, red, green... it was just so beautiful!!! The floors are tiled with cobbed web stones. There are cafes as usual and also ice cream booth/shops with long queues of people waiting to get their ice cream cones. Its pretty touristy but I still liked due to the colors. I wandered around the town and I came to the river banks so I decided to sit down and take a rest before heading back to Budapest. I would definitely recommend anybody to make a day trip out here and enjoy this great colorful town. As I was walking into the town, I saw a girl standing on a stool outside a window and chatting with someone inside the house. I couldn't see the person inside but then the girl started applying make up by the window. Pretty interesting sight :)

Going back I just need to buy the HEV ticket that validates my travel to the border of Budapest and after that I could just travel using my weekly travel pass. Just before the train closes the doors, it will sound a very nice melody to warn the passengers. I bought a bag of paprika flavored Lays chips and munch it on the journey back home. A stern-faced uncle was sitting opposite me and watched me eating my Lays... but there's no sign saying no food in the train so don't care lah... Back at Nyugati Ter, I bought a Gyros as my dinner that night. Gyros is actually something like kebabs but the wrap is something like a triangular-shaped chinese bun but flat. So the middle of the bun will be stuffed with meat, veggies, onions and tomatoes and then they will pour some sour cream and chilies on top of it. It tasted pretty good actually but it's not a traditional Hungarian food (according to the civil engineer). But food is food and as long as it taste good, I'm not complaining.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 5 (Visegrad & Szentendre) - Part 1

I got up early today, not purely because I'll be going on an excursion trip to the Danube Bend but also because I didn't quite sleep the whole night. There was a loud 'orchestra' on show last night by the new roomies. So I washed up and went to the kitchen for breakfast. The 4 youngsters occupying the 4 bed-dorm joined me. They were from US but had been staying in Manchester, UK for 1.5 years doing church work and they are flying back to UK this afternoon. After that I had a brief chat with the hostel guy and he suggested that I visit Visegrad first followed by Szentendre as the electric train running between Szentendre and Budapest runs til 10pm.

I board the train to Nagymaros at Nyugati Railway station (situated above the Nyugati metro station) just in time before the train pulled away from the station. The train cabin looks like the KTM second class train cabin but in 2 different sizes. The longer cabin could seat ~ 40 passengers while smaller ones only caters for 20. The side walls and the back panel of the seats are covered with graffiti making it looks a little dirty. There isn't any air-conditioning so I think I would be pretty stuffy in summer time. After 45minutes, I arrived at Nagymaros station and then took a ferry across the river to reach Visegrad. The ferry is actually a big wooded platform attached at the side to a boat to ferry human and vehicles to-fro Visegrad and Nagymaros.

Visegrád is a small castle town, situated north of Budapest on the right bank of the Danube in the Danube Bend. Visegrád is famous for the remains of the Early Renaissance summer palace of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and the medieval citadel. Visegrád is also the smallest town in the country with its 1700 residents. I do not have a lot of info about this place (meaning I know there is a castle and you can get great views of the Danube Bend on top of the hill, but exactly where and how do I get there, no idea). So while on the ferry, I could see the castle on the hill. I thought there would be some sort of tourist information booth at the town but unfortunately there isn't one. So I wandered around the town area and it felt like walking in those kampungs in Malaysia. I saw a big map displayed on the panel and a direction post beside it with a few names on it. So, comparing the names on the post and those on the map, I figured the one with the name 'Fellegvar' should be the castle. So I thought let's give it a go. I followed the signs which lead me to a walking path in the hill. The concept of the small signs is pretty similar to the signs I followed when I was hiking at the Cornwall costal path. Hiking up the hill, before long, my left leg starts aching again. It's a quite path and you can hear birds chirping. At times, I doubt if this path is leading me anywhere. After a tiring 45 minutes hike, I finally came out of the jungle and arrived at a big stone gate on the left. On the right, it's a car park with tour busses and private vehicles. Well there is an easier way to come up here after all by following a tour. Fellegvar is actually the upper castle. (I found out that I've missed the lower castle and the Royal Palace at the foot of the hill, but not at the town where I came from).

I paid 1400Ft for the entrance ticket. Upon entering the gate, there were a few guys in medieval clothings manning some stalls (archery and souvenirs) and there was also a guy with an eagle. Then you will come to an open space with great views of the curving Danube river. The castle fort stands at the centre and there are some exhibition rooms inside the fort displaying the lifestyle, the costumes, weapons etc during the medieval era. At some sections there are audio players where you can listen to the explanations. I spent some time playing with the players as there aren't any buttons on the player 2 round green LEDs. You control/maneuver the menu of the player by 'pressing' at the LEDs (but I don't have the mechanical pressing feel). So my guess is that they operate by sensing if the light is blocked? Anyway, while listening to one of the audio, a group of small children (I think probably kindergarden kids) came in. I think it's their school outing. Oh they are so cute, in rows, 2 by 2 and holding hands, boy boy, gal gal, boy gal. 'kawaii'. After finish touring the castle, I decided to give up the other sight (I saw another tower shape building higher up the hill) as my foot is hurting. Going down, I followed the main road. It's a long walk and when there's cars passing how I wished they would stop and give me a free ride. But nobody did =( and half way thru it drizzled a little and I felt hungry. Lucky I got a snicker bar in my pack. After what seemed forever, I finally reached the town and took a bus to Szentendre.

Budapest photos - Part 1

OK, let's have the photos tell the story for a change. Here's the link to part of the photos. The rest would be uploaded once I finished filtering them.

Budapest Day 1 - 4

Budapest, Hungary - Day 4 (Castle Hill)

After breakfast, I took tram no. 4 to Jaszai Mai Ter then change to tram no. 2 to the station near Chain Bridge. After crossing the bridge, I took the Budavari Siklo (funicular railway) up the Castle Hill. It links the Adam Clark Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge at river level to Buda Castle above. The line was opened on March 2, 1870, and has been in municipal ownership since 1920. It was destroyed in the Second World War and reopened on June 4, 1986. A single way ticket costs 700Ft. There are a total of 3 carriages and I think the bottom-most carriage will have the best view. Too bad there were other tourists occupying that carriage hence I need to go into the middle one which blocked part of the views. It only took a few minutes to get to the top and you could also walk up the hill if you do not want to spend the 700Ft.

The sky is blue but there's quite a lot of clouds hanging around. I followed the guided walk from the Insight Pocket Guide book. It's actually pretty good to follow a guided walk as you tend to see and understand more as you come across monuments or buildings along the way. But the downside is that sometimes the guided walk takes you in unnessacery small circles. This is not so good as my ankle is hurt (not sure how I hurt it). Following the guide, I found one of the famous coffee house in Budapest, Ruszwurm Coffee House. I decided to come back later only to find it's fully occupied. Well, I'll just have to come back some other day. Nearby is the Mattyas church and the Fisherman's Bastion.

The Halászbástya or Fisherman's Bastion is a terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style situated on the Castle hill, around Matthias Church. It was designed and built between 1895 and 1902 on the plans of Frigyes Schulek. Its seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896. A bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary mounted on a horse in between the Fisherman's Bastion and the Matthias Church. I think it looked a bit like the 海龙王. There are quite a few artist around the square selling their drawings and playing musical instruments. I sat down at one of the pillars looking down to the Danube river and the Parliament house for a snack. Matthias Church (Mátyás-templom) is a church originally built in 1015. The current building was constructed in the florid late Gothic style in the second half of the 14th century and was extensively restored in the late 19th century. There was still some on-going construction which blocked part of the building. After a short break, I went exploring the Castle museum but only looking from the outside as I'm not a fan of museum.

Later, I hiked up the Gellert Hill to the Liberty Statue (the Szabadság Szobor or Freedom Statue). The hike was actually quite tiring as its a pretty steep hill. When I finally reached the top, the thought '自由是要付出代价的' comes into mind. Hehe. The statue was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces during World War II. The existing Liberty Statue is a 14 meter tall bronze statue of a lady, standing atop a 26 meter pedestal and holds a palm branch. Up here, the view of the Budapest is pretty magnificent. The Citadella (a fortress) built in 1851 is situated nearby. The fortress is a U-shaped structure built about a central courtyard, being 220 meter longs, 60 meters wide, and 4 meters tall. It had a complement of sixty canons.

Next I wanted to go to the Szt. Gellert Puspok Szobar so I asked a Hungarian guy for directions. He's a civil engineer working nearby on his way home and his English was ok. I followed him as he said that he is going the same way. In the end he actually brought me back to the Liberty statue which is not where I wanted to go !!! I thanked him and decided that I have had enough walking for the day and so found myself back to the main street and went back to Pest. Tonight, I dined at Fricci Papa, a small restaurant at Kiraly utca, serving traditional Hungarian dishes. I ordered a mushroom goulash, spinach Főzelék (pronounced foohzelek, like the oo in book) and bread. Minutes later when both dishes were served, I laughed. Why? Because both are soupy based. The mushroom goulash is actually similar to the cream mushroom soup but orange in color, while the Fozelek is a thick Hungarian soup, almost like a stew with a heavy flour and cream base. However, both taste great and I actually finished both of them. I also had a cappuccino after that. The meal cost me 1200Ft (plus tips).

I decided to go back to the Chain Bridge tonight for some night scene photos. While waiting for the tram, 4 young chinese approached me (2 guys 2 gals) for directions. They were trying to get to an international railway station. They don't have any luggage with them but they seemed to be tourists but they don't have maps. One of the gal said OMG when I pulled out my map to show them the direction. I was like 'duh? this is the most basic thing when you are travelling right?' Anyway, I told them the route to the Keleti railway station and then crossed the tram line as I was going the opposite way. I watched them still talking and discussing and I think they are still very blur. So I went across again and showed them the route again and made sure they understand the directions this time. Weird.

I arrived at the Chain Bridge around 7pm and waited until 8pm before the lights on the bridge were switched on. I do not have tripods so i just had to make use of the surroundings to try to get some good clear photos. Upon returning to the hostel room, there were new people in the room, from France I think. That's for the day and tomorrow will be an excursion to towns outside Budapest.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 3 (Buda)

My initial plan today is to visit the Castle Hill but seeing that the sky is overcast with clouds, which means the photos won't turn out as nice, and also I've checked that it's forecast to rain today, I decided to change plan. This is the good part of backpacking (and with ample time to spare) where you can just plan and change plans as you go. So off I go to my sight-seeing on trams again and today I will be focusing on the Buda side. I board the tram no. 41 and went all the way towards the outskirts of the Buda town. Along the way I passed the Buda town area and the local residential area. Their residential areas consist of blocks of flats a little like SG. There are basically 2 distinctive colors for the flats; the older flats are painted in dull grey / brown, while the newer flats has a more striking yellow / red.

Further away from the town area, the scene changes where the residential areas are now bungalows houses on the hills. I alighted at one of the stops and went walking up a hill. The houses here are definitely more luxurious and has a very nice view from the hill overlooking the Buda town. There are still quite a few on-going constructions. Pretty good place to stay. Nice view, calming environment away from the city buzz. Going back to the Buda town, I came to the local market place. Its divided into 3 floors. The ground floor has stalls selling poultry, cakes and confectionaries, flowers and a supermarket; first floor stalls sells vegetables and fruits; while second floor houses hawker food stalls and clothings stalls. Browsing through the food stalls I have no idea what the food are. Yes, there are sign boards but in Hungarian words. Only a few comes with photos but I couldn't draw much info from the photos either as they are either covered in red paprika sauces or grilled / fried meat. Some stalls have various dishes displayed at the counter and you just tell the seller what you want (something like ordering 杂菜饭). So I pointed to something which looks like 'kuay teow' noodle and say '1'. The seller asked me something in hungarian which I have no idea what she's talking about. So I shrug my shoulders and she went back to the kitchen and came back bearing a pail and scoop up some white cream. I still have no idea what she is trying to do so I just say OK. What happens next is the lady put some 'kuay teow' onto a paper plate and pour some white cream on top of it. Then she asked if I wanted some brown colored stuff so I just say OK.

So, end up the white cream is actually sour cream with cheese and the brown-colored stuff is fried pig oil (like those on the 'bak chor mee'). It taste OK initially when you eat the noodle and the sour cream with the fried pig oil. But then it's just too much especially when it started turning cold. I couldn't continue any more and chuck away the remaining half. To wash away the 'geli' feeling, I bought a chocolate cake downstairs.

After that I took the tram to the famous 4-star Danubius Hotel Gellert, which is one of the most traditional hotels in Budapest and Hungary. The hotel was opened to the public since September 24th, 1918 and has maintained the highest recognition ever since. Next to the hotel is the world famous Gellert Bath. I saw a huge cross up on the hill beside the hotel. So I decided to check it out. Turns out that it's actually a very unique and lovely Cave Church of Gellert Hill, founded in 1924. It takes the formation of the cave and turns it into a chapel with separate areas for prayers. I didn't take any photos inside although I really wanted to as there are a few people inside praying and I felt it wouldn't be polite.

That evening, I went to Vista Cafe & Restaurant for dinner. I ordered Goulash soup and spagetti cabonara. The goulash soup is a traditional hungarian dish. It has carrot, potato and cattle meat in the soup and tasted very delicous. The cattle meat is very tender and juicy. The atmosphere is very nice and relaxing. There's very little customers at that time as it's only 5+pm. After the meal, I went walking towards Oktagon station and passed by the opera house. There are statues of musicians on top of the roof of the opera house. It's still raining so I decided to call it a day and head back to the hostel. Tonight I shifted into the 6-bed dorm.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 2 (Pest)

The hostel provides free breakfast. There are tasty Hungarian cakes, muffins, bread and cheese, coffee and tea. After breakfast, I went out walking along the Danube river. The weather is really nice, sunny blue sky with cool breezes. I just wandered around taking in the sight of Budapest. Budapest is actually a merge between 2 cities, the hilly residential Buda and historic Óbuda on the western bank of the Danube River, and the flat industrial Pest on the east.

I first came to the Parliament Building. There are English speaking guided tour at the Parliament at a charge, but if you are an EU citizen you can visit for free. The commanding building of Budapest Parliament stretches between Chain Bridge and Margaret Bridge on the Pest bank of the Danube. It can be seen almost from every riverside point of the Danube river.

I then arrived at the Fashion street near the Deak F. Ter and there were some stalls selling souvenirs, tidbits and food. It's almost lunch time so I decided to get a Pita from the pita stall. The pita stalls has an oven making fresh pita bread and it's oven is burn using wood. Therefore the pita bread smells really good. There were 3 types of pita at the counter and I have no idea what the toppings are. One of the toppings looked like eggs and quite a few people ordered that so did I. There were about 6-7 types of herbs and spices which you could freely use and I thot I will try all. Well that wasn't egg after all but cottage cheese. It's tasted ok but I felt it's a little too much for me. It's best to share it with someone else unless you really like cheese.

After that I went on a sight-seeing trip on tram no. 2 which runs along the Danube river. Budapest's public transportation is pretty good, there are buses, trams, metro, electric trains (HEV) which covers all the places of interest and more. I bought a 7-day travel pass and that provides me with unlimited rides on any of these public transportations. This is the first time I'm riding on trams. The good thing about trams is that its on the ground so you can enjoy the views and sights along your journey. After tram no. 2, I went on to tram no. 4 for the outer ring road circuit covering the inner town area of Pest. During my tram ride, a gal board the tram together with her small little dog which seemed a little restless. There was an ambulance passing us and the dog actually howl to the ambulance sirens. It's pretty funny and that put a grin and some laughters to the people in the trams.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 1 (Bristol-Budapest)

During the Ryanair promotion period, I managed to grab a return flight ticket from Bristol airport to Budapest, Hungary for just a mere GBP20 (flight tix = GBP0.02; airport tax = GBP19.98). So off I went to the capital of Hungary, which has a reputation as the 'Paris of Central Europe', from 21 - 28 April 2008.

I parked my car at an off-site airport car park, Purple Parking, which cost me GBP32.37 . It's situated only less than 10 minutes from Bristol airport, kind of in the middle of no-where (some farms and residential area). After checking in my car, I was whizzed off to the airport in a minivan. During airport check-in, in order to save the check-in baggage fee, I need to fit my backpack into the hand-luggage measurement rack. It's a little tight but I managed to pushed through, a lady passenger queuing behind me came over and gave me a hand to pull out my backpack :p

Bristol airport is a medium-sized and basic airport similar to the budget airport in KL / SG. It's pretty crowded although its a Monday night and I can hardly find a place to sit down. Passing thru the security check, the metal detector went off. A male officer came over to check me and only as I spoke he realized I was a girl and called a lady officer over to check me. OMG, how embarrassing!!! The male officer also got laughed at by his fellow colleagues as the next passenger needed checking is a guy, they told him, "there, now this is a bloke".

After 2hrs 20mins, we arrived at Budapest's Ferigehy Terminal 1. It's raining and thundering outside. Just into 10 mins before landing, we hit turbulence. The airplane suddenly increased speed and out of sudden we dropped for a couple of seconds. Some of the passengers on board screamed. This is the worst turbulence I've ever encountered. Luckily, the airplane stabilizes and we landed safely. A lot of the passengers clapped and cheered in celebration.

Clearing the Hungary custom is pretty quick. The counters were seperated into 'All passports' and 'EU Citizens' so make sure you queue in the correct lane. The custm officer asked me a few general questions like 'Is this your first time in Hungary?', 'How long do you plan to stay here?', 'Do you have a hotel reservation?' before stamping my passport. Outside, it's still drizzling. I found the way to the railway station and met 2 brits who told me that the next train is due in 45mins. So I followed them back to the airport and took bus no. 200 to the nearby metro station, Kobanya Kispest and then took the metro to Nyugati Pu station. The bus tix costs 350Ft. The bus is pretty new and its like the SG's SBS buses but the metro is a little basic. A little wooded feeling and the doors slam closed pretty loudly.

I parted with the brits at the Nyugati stn and followed the directions to the hostel, My Place Bed n More. The hostel was situated behind the main road and I unknowingly passed the entrance the first time. When I turned back, I saw a guy opening a door so I asked him if that is the address of the hostel. Yeap, that's the place. After entering the main door, I walked up the staircases to the second floor and found the hostel. Yes, this hostel I booked is actually an apartment turned-into hostel. It has 2 rooms (4 beds and 6 beds dorms). I booked the 6 bed but as it was full that night, I was placed into the 4 bed dorm. It's pretty interesting as it felt like you are staying at someone else house. So that's my first day in Budapest.