Vısited Budapest again because it was on the way to Romania, my intention was to stay for just a day or so but I was sucked in by that eastern European charm or more accurately the cheap beer and a great nightlife.
After checking in at a smallish but charming hostel I was confronted with a yellow g-string clad Italian man of about 35-40ish who looked at me curiously for a moment too long. To break the awkward silence which had developed I simply said "Hi, how are you?" to which he replied in broken English "I am fine, or is it I am OK, or maybe I am good?" My response to this was to back away saying "ahh any of those will do" as he was beginning to rub his belly in disturbing and ever widening circles.
As it turned out other people in the dorm had similar experiences with The Belly Rubber. One young girl reported the Belly Rubber rubbing his belly with some kind of lotion, as she looked quizzically at him he thrust fourth his hand towards her face saying only "Calvin Klein". Backing away slowly ensued.
Apart from the Belly Rubber the hostel was full of other backpackers who like me were up for a party. With a few Americans, British girls and yet another Aussie called Scott we hit the town a few nights in a row and got positively slaughtered.
Sampling the local women, which incidentally I rate along side the beautiful Polish girls, was a priority. Being dangerously drunk and having the whole exotic "Hi I'm Ben from New Zealand" pick-up line this did not prove too difficult, as Scott and I found ourselves chatting to two beautiful Hungarians... well Scott did the chatting while my communication technique was much more body language orientated.
The following day Scott and I went to the outdoor water park on the Island in the middle of the river. You may recall in my previous Budapest entry that I visited the baths and was thoroughly unimpressed... I, simply put am an idiot, I was just at the wrong outdoor pool. This place has water slides, hot pools, cold pools and massage fountains, oh and there was a serious amount of hotties too. So obviously we stayed until closing.
While walking back from the pool in the early evening we were caught in the rain, and when I say rain I mean the mother of all thunder storms decided to let loose and bucket down on us. Eventually finding shelter in what looked like a cafe we got a coffee and found ourselves chatting to some friendly locals who seemed very excited to speak English with us, and very happy to share a few stories over a beer. Being Budapest and all one beer tends to turn in to two, which in turn turns in to three, and then of course you find yourself back at the hostel around 4am.
Ooh I almost forgot, I had a brush with the law. My intention to catch the metro to the train station to buy my ticket to Romania was almost thwarted by the local metro ticket inspectors who, after me paying every single day previoulsly, decided to check tickets the day I decided to have a freebie.
I had not even boarded the train when a woman approached me on the platform asking for my ticket, stalling for time while pretending to search my wallet looking for my ticket, I explained that I thought I had left my Metro pass in my hotel. This lame excuse did simply not cut it with the self important train inspectors who were already pissed at having to work on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Smiling as she proceeded to explain that I had to pay a fine, and if I didn't then she would call the police and the fine would be ten times as much. I realised that I had to think fast. Brilliantly I decided that by feigning the fact I couldn't speak English I would be able to play the dumb tourist card. This of course was an utter failure. However it did allow me to stall for time a bit more until, as luck would have it a train arrived on the platform with hundreds of people who hadn't had their tickets checked. She takes her eyes off me for a split second and at the same time a choir group wanders past singing in Hungarian, I stand behind a tall guy taking off my hat and jacket and begın to hum along as we all drift up the escalator to freedom.
Damn I'm good...
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