Wednesday, June 10, 2009
hey that ıs rıght ı am stıll alıve
Why hello everyone.... sorry due to some fun turkısh stuff ı was unable to use thıs the entıre tıme ı was ın turkey.... whıch was alot longer than ı expected. I thought that I would be here for about 4 days and ıt has turned ın to just shy of two weeks. It has been fun but I thınk ı would have rather spent more tıme ın Varna than here.... but ı have got to see some really neat thıngs, and lıved ın turkısh culture for about 2 weeks. I couch surfed wıth a brother and sıster, they talked me ın to stayıng for a couple more days.... then ı got convınced to go to southern turkey wıth theır famıly for holıday... crazy. but anyways ı need to get runnıng..... more wıll come soon. take care
Monday, May 25, 2009
Boo to today....
Well ok, today i did everything I needed to do...... got up at 5:30 am, got checked out and got to the train station nice and early.... oh but what happens, the one train that has ever run late that I have caught, just happens to be so late that i miss my connecting train in Bucheresti. And the fun part is that to the place I am going, only two trains leave a day, one at 11:30am and one at 8:04pm.... My train rolled in at 11:45 almost an hour late. And really no one here gives a rats ass if you miss your connecting train or not. So here I am suck in the stratigic ass hole of the world and is really hot here..... oh well I only have 4 more hours to kill... So maybe I will go find some food and lay around in the super creapy train station. Can't wait to get to bulgaria....
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Sighisoara the birthplace of Vlad III ie dracula
Ok so this little sleepy town nestled in to the foothills is a pretty neat little place that truely makes you believe that you are back in the 1800's. There are farmers out plowing their fields with a mule with a hoe tied to it. People swathing fields with sythes, and horse drawn carts taking hay and other goods back home or in to town.
So I go to check in to my hostel at 9am after a very interesting train ride, and who is here but Mickey the Aussie that I met in Budapest and had dinner with!! Yes! I know someone! I took a nap and she went out so I had the afternoon to myself. So what did I do.... I went wondering through the old city and found the cemetery, of course I would. But there were alot of other very neat places around there other than that. Though the house in which Vlad III was born was very anticlimatic, it was just a plaque on the wall that had a brief history on him, but the house was not kept up so it kind of just looked like the crappy houses around it. Oh well.
So during my wonderings through old town, I ran in to Mickey and we started walking the town and just kept going in to the countryside. We climbed a big ass hill and from there we could see the whole city and a couple goats and sheep on the hill we were sitting on. We chilled there for a while watching the lighting storm that was happening away from us. Then realizing that well it is starting to get dark and the dark clouds are now starting to suround us, it would be a good idea to head back in to town and get some food. Right as we got back it started to pour and we just dodged in to the first place we saw. It was a nice place and the tables looked all fancy and the server was in slacks, tie and vest.... shit, we just ended up in the most expensive place in town. But it is pouring outside so we thought, fuck it, we will just eat here. We looked at the menu and found some interesting sounding food from the Hungarian Specialties section (I could not tell you what the name of it was). But what it ended up being what cabbage rolles filled with meat (like pigs in a blanket), and some cornmeal. It was yummy and so was the beer I had there (Romania has very good beer also :) ). After food and a beer I wasn't that excited to see the ticket, and it came to us at 36 ROM. And 3 ROM=1 USD, so our bill for the both of us to have a nice dinner and a beer was 12 dollars, or 6 dollars a person. I love Romania!!
That night I hung out with an American couple that was there and the owner who was working the night shift. I played it classy and got a 2 liter bottle of beer (oh yes they have those here) for about 4 Ron or a dollar thirty three. Yes!! Finished that, and bs with them all for a bit, then it was bed time.
The next day I used as pretty much a kill day where I did very little but lay about and go to the open market and get some apples and socks (sweet jesus i am messing my socks and shoes up here lol). Then Mickey and I went on another little hike up another large hill over looking the city. But at the top there was a restraunt, so we went around the hill and made our way up over the back where there really wasn't much for trails and no roads. Got nipped by some stinging needles, sadly they have those here also. At the top I had a beer at looked over the city. It was very nice up there!!
Then again that evening we went back to the Hostel, and there was a Scottish couple, two French Canadians, the Americans, and the the owner with his girlfriend (who works during the day). We all ate some delivered food, and did a little driking, after a while an Aussie girl was down stairs with us, with two other guys. A long story short, a couple games of sombraro pool (pictures soon), and a couple bottles of cheap wine and "sparking white wine" it was 5:30am and the sun was coming up. Wow, way to go me.
The Train ride to Brasov was one that I spent either sleeping or listening to the weird guy in front who was like 55 talk to his girlfriend who seemed to be about 20. Wow, they play by some really different rules here lol, and if I had to see them make out one more time, I was going to be in jail in Romania, because for the love of god.......
Now I am in Brasov living it up and I am finally caught up with my blogging.... damn. Ok well time to go do something productive so I have something to write about other than I spent my time in Brastov blogging ha ha ha. Well stay classy, cheers!!
So I go to check in to my hostel at 9am after a very interesting train ride, and who is here but Mickey the Aussie that I met in Budapest and had dinner with!! Yes! I know someone! I took a nap and she went out so I had the afternoon to myself. So what did I do.... I went wondering through the old city and found the cemetery, of course I would. But there were alot of other very neat places around there other than that. Though the house in which Vlad III was born was very anticlimatic, it was just a plaque on the wall that had a brief history on him, but the house was not kept up so it kind of just looked like the crappy houses around it. Oh well.
So during my wonderings through old town, I ran in to Mickey and we started walking the town and just kept going in to the countryside. We climbed a big ass hill and from there we could see the whole city and a couple goats and sheep on the hill we were sitting on. We chilled there for a while watching the lighting storm that was happening away from us. Then realizing that well it is starting to get dark and the dark clouds are now starting to suround us, it would be a good idea to head back in to town and get some food. Right as we got back it started to pour and we just dodged in to the first place we saw. It was a nice place and the tables looked all fancy and the server was in slacks, tie and vest.... shit, we just ended up in the most expensive place in town. But it is pouring outside so we thought, fuck it, we will just eat here. We looked at the menu and found some interesting sounding food from the Hungarian Specialties section (I could not tell you what the name of it was). But what it ended up being what cabbage rolles filled with meat (like pigs in a blanket), and some cornmeal. It was yummy and so was the beer I had there (Romania has very good beer also :) ). After food and a beer I wasn't that excited to see the ticket, and it came to us at 36 ROM. And 3 ROM=1 USD, so our bill for the both of us to have a nice dinner and a beer was 12 dollars, or 6 dollars a person. I love Romania!!
That night I hung out with an American couple that was there and the owner who was working the night shift. I played it classy and got a 2 liter bottle of beer (oh yes they have those here) for about 4 Ron or a dollar thirty three. Yes!! Finished that, and bs with them all for a bit, then it was bed time.
The next day I used as pretty much a kill day where I did very little but lay about and go to the open market and get some apples and socks (sweet jesus i am messing my socks and shoes up here lol). Then Mickey and I went on another little hike up another large hill over looking the city. But at the top there was a restraunt, so we went around the hill and made our way up over the back where there really wasn't much for trails and no roads. Got nipped by some stinging needles, sadly they have those here also. At the top I had a beer at looked over the city. It was very nice up there!!
Then again that evening we went back to the Hostel, and there was a Scottish couple, two French Canadians, the Americans, and the the owner with his girlfriend (who works during the day). We all ate some delivered food, and did a little driking, after a while an Aussie girl was down stairs with us, with two other guys. A long story short, a couple games of sombraro pool (pictures soon), and a couple bottles of cheap wine and "sparking white wine" it was 5:30am and the sun was coming up. Wow, way to go me.
The Train ride to Brasov was one that I spent either sleeping or listening to the weird guy in front who was like 55 talk to his girlfriend who seemed to be about 20. Wow, they play by some really different rules here lol, and if I had to see them make out one more time, I was going to be in jail in Romania, because for the love of god.......
Now I am in Brasov living it up and I am finally caught up with my blogging.... damn. Ok well time to go do something productive so I have something to write about other than I spent my time in Brastov blogging ha ha ha. Well stay classy, cheers!!
Budapest part II
Ok last night I was quite tired by the time i was done and figured I needed to write something in my blog, but didn't have enough energy to finish lol. But anyways, after the day of caving, the original plan was to leave, but I decided to stay another day because I had so much fun. The next day at breakfast, I was getting everything ready and preparing myself to head over to the House of Terror and I met another ex-pat who was working out of Germany. So she tagged along with me with the intentions that she was going to the House of Terror with me, and then she was heading on her own for a walk.
The House of Terror is a building in Budapest that when the Nazis and Soviets occupied the area they used this house to hold and exicute 'political' prisoners. What is kind of a mind trip is that this place was in full function of crazy interigations, torture, and killings until the fall of communisim in 1989. That is in my life time!! It was all brought to my attention on how crazy it was, was when I was talking to Anikol (the gal at the hostel the first night), that she remebers when she was young, a black car would pull up to the house, and then who ever they took out generally was never seen again. Anikol is only two years older than I. But it was quite a troubling place, even for someone like me who loves that sort of thing, I found myself being creeped out, or maybe it is when you go to a musuem in the states about something like that, it is all recreations and even at that point most find it distrubing. I actually walked through actual cells, places they tortured people, and even the exicution room where all the stuff actually went down. Yikes.
None the less after the extremely uplifting two hours, we decieded to get some coffee and continue to chat a bit. Kristine was very nice, and we continued to chat and get dinner. We debated and chated about everything from the Nazi and Soviet influence in Eastern European culture, to the different mindsets between men and women and how she gets mad at her boyfriend for the same reasons I think every one of my ex's have been mad at me in the past (ha it isn't just me it is all men ;) ). She was even nice enough to walk me to the trainstation at 10:30 pm. When it was time for a farewell, I said, "Damn, this is my least favorite part about meeting poeple on this trip, is saying good-bye..... I really suck at them" her reply was a German phrase, but in translation it means "Everything has an end but the Wurst (ie a Sausage) has two". It made me chuckle and off I went....
So I am on the train and pass out yay!! It is a good way to start a 10 hour train journey at night, until I reach the Romanian boarder. They asked for my ticket and passport on several occasions, and then three people came in and started to ask me if I have a cough, running a fever, or in general don't feel good. Then after answering no to everything, they made me sign a peice of paper stating that I was not infected by the swine flu and have not been in contact with anyone who has had the swine flu. Wow!! Romania really doesn't want the swine flu to get here. And angry boarder guards suck when you were asleep and are suddenly awoken and yelled at, all at about 3:30am. I heart Romania!!
The House of Terror is a building in Budapest that when the Nazis and Soviets occupied the area they used this house to hold and exicute 'political' prisoners. What is kind of a mind trip is that this place was in full function of crazy interigations, torture, and killings until the fall of communisim in 1989. That is in my life time!! It was all brought to my attention on how crazy it was, was when I was talking to Anikol (the gal at the hostel the first night), that she remebers when she was young, a black car would pull up to the house, and then who ever they took out generally was never seen again. Anikol is only two years older than I. But it was quite a troubling place, even for someone like me who loves that sort of thing, I found myself being creeped out, or maybe it is when you go to a musuem in the states about something like that, it is all recreations and even at that point most find it distrubing. I actually walked through actual cells, places they tortured people, and even the exicution room where all the stuff actually went down. Yikes.
None the less after the extremely uplifting two hours, we decieded to get some coffee and continue to chat a bit. Kristine was very nice, and we continued to chat and get dinner. We debated and chated about everything from the Nazi and Soviet influence in Eastern European culture, to the different mindsets between men and women and how she gets mad at her boyfriend for the same reasons I think every one of my ex's have been mad at me in the past (ha it isn't just me it is all men ;) ). She was even nice enough to walk me to the trainstation at 10:30 pm. When it was time for a farewell, I said, "Damn, this is my least favorite part about meeting poeple on this trip, is saying good-bye..... I really suck at them" her reply was a German phrase, but in translation it means "Everything has an end but the Wurst (ie a Sausage) has two". It made me chuckle and off I went....
So I am on the train and pass out yay!! It is a good way to start a 10 hour train journey at night, until I reach the Romanian boarder. They asked for my ticket and passport on several occasions, and then three people came in and started to ask me if I have a cough, running a fever, or in general don't feel good. Then after answering no to everything, they made me sign a peice of paper stating that I was not infected by the swine flu and have not been in contact with anyone who has had the swine flu. Wow!! Romania really doesn't want the swine flu to get here. And angry boarder guards suck when you were asleep and are suddenly awoken and yelled at, all at about 3:30am. I heart Romania!!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Budapest
Wow, what a city that is. I am soooo going back. So yeah, lets even try to start to begin with what I did there. When I got to my hostel I don't think I have ever met more friendly people in my entire life. My entry came completely with a shot of Palinka (which I am in love with now), and alot of great recommendations on things to do. So the first night I got there, I chose not to go out, but to stay in and just relax, and I got to know Anikol the gal who was working the night shift at the hostel. We played darts with a guy Mark from Canada, and another guy from Tawian until about 3 am. It was a good amount of fun.
Then the next day was time for a great three hour walking tour of the city. Our guide adam was a pretty neat guy, though hard to understand at times. We got to see alot of the city and get some great stories about the city. Here is a good little tid bit, did you know that the Teliphone as the machine was invented by Thomas Edison, but the people who helped connect two phones together were Hungarian tecnitions that Edison had brought to New York to help him. And the common greeting 'Hello' means can you hear me in Hungarian, so when they would pick up the phones to see if they worked they would say hello back and forth to see if they could hear eachother and it is something that just caught on that you say hello when you answer the phone :).
After the tour I met these two very nice gals one was from Australia (Micky) and the other from San Diego (Brit), and we went wondering around chatting through out Budapest. Then dinner and a couple drinks. They were amazing people and I was very glad to have met them!! I have found I have met some of the greatest people on this trip, and unlike back home where I will meet say 10 people and about 7 of them will be worthless and about 3 would be cool, out here 9 people are cool and only one will be annoying or useless.
Then the next day I ventured out to the natural thermal baths which are world famous. It was really nice to go and very relaxing, but I have a feeling it would have been better on a cooler day. They have pools (half of an olympic size pool) that the water is 36 C (about 97 F) so it was hot outside and hot in the pools, but man did it make my back and legs feel better after all the walking I have done :). I also got to go in a sauna that was 100C (212 F), and i am sure that is what hell feels like. I lasted about 7 mins in there before I had to leave because I thought I was going to die. But outside there, there is a pool you go in to that is 15 C (60 F), to cool off afterwards. I met a girl there who was laughing at me as a cursed because it felt soooooo cold. I now forget her name (I am a bad person I know), but she was an ex-pat (ie used to live in the states now lives overseas perminatly) and works in Switzerland and has for the past 10 years. So that was a fun chat, but sadly I had enough of it and needed to go back to the hostel.
Then on monday, it was time to do a little caving!! Wow it was sooo intense and extreme lol, well for me anyways. Mark the Canadian came with me, and it was a blast except I was almost too big width wise to go in there. And I found out why at one point when I was stuck for about 15 seconds. Most frighting 15 seconds of my life. But over all I made it out alive and it was a crazy fun experince that I am happy I got :).
Ok there is more to the stories, but it is 1 am here, I need to get some rest and I will add pictures later..... geez just so much to do that it is hard to keep it all down, but I am doing my best :). Hope everything is well back home and I wish you all well!! Cheers!
Then the next day was time for a great three hour walking tour of the city. Our guide adam was a pretty neat guy, though hard to understand at times. We got to see alot of the city and get some great stories about the city. Here is a good little tid bit, did you know that the Teliphone as the machine was invented by Thomas Edison, but the people who helped connect two phones together were Hungarian tecnitions that Edison had brought to New York to help him. And the common greeting 'Hello' means can you hear me in Hungarian, so when they would pick up the phones to see if they worked they would say hello back and forth to see if they could hear eachother and it is something that just caught on that you say hello when you answer the phone :).
After the tour I met these two very nice gals one was from Australia (Micky) and the other from San Diego (Brit), and we went wondering around chatting through out Budapest. Then dinner and a couple drinks. They were amazing people and I was very glad to have met them!! I have found I have met some of the greatest people on this trip, and unlike back home where I will meet say 10 people and about 7 of them will be worthless and about 3 would be cool, out here 9 people are cool and only one will be annoying or useless.
Then the next day I ventured out to the natural thermal baths which are world famous. It was really nice to go and very relaxing, but I have a feeling it would have been better on a cooler day. They have pools (half of an olympic size pool) that the water is 36 C (about 97 F) so it was hot outside and hot in the pools, but man did it make my back and legs feel better after all the walking I have done :). I also got to go in a sauna that was 100C (212 F), and i am sure that is what hell feels like. I lasted about 7 mins in there before I had to leave because I thought I was going to die. But outside there, there is a pool you go in to that is 15 C (60 F), to cool off afterwards. I met a girl there who was laughing at me as a cursed because it felt soooooo cold. I now forget her name (I am a bad person I know), but she was an ex-pat (ie used to live in the states now lives overseas perminatly) and works in Switzerland and has for the past 10 years. So that was a fun chat, but sadly I had enough of it and needed to go back to the hostel.
Then on monday, it was time to do a little caving!! Wow it was sooo intense and extreme lol, well for me anyways. Mark the Canadian came with me, and it was a blast except I was almost too big width wise to go in there. And I found out why at one point when I was stuck for about 15 seconds. Most frighting 15 seconds of my life. But over all I made it out alive and it was a crazy fun experince that I am happy I got :).
Ok there is more to the stories, but it is 1 am here, I need to get some rest and I will add pictures later..... geez just so much to do that it is hard to keep it all down, but I am doing my best :). Hope everything is well back home and I wish you all well!! Cheers!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Buda buda rockin' everywhere
Wow, this city is amazing!!! There is just sooo much to do here! I am going to write a full think on it maybe tomorrow, but I am now a little upset and tired, so I think I am going to lay down. I just got an email from my hostel booking site that said that my booking had an error (I think I entered my CC info in wrong), so I can't head to Romania tomorrow..... boo to that, oh well I guess that means I can get to the House of Terror!! Holla, see you all tomorrow!!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Bratislava was quite the place....
ue
One should never go... ha ha ha. Ok maybe a day trip there would be nice to see the old town, and all the little things there. But you could sit and just look around and see the heavy communist influence all through out the city. Very creepy. It didn't help that it was very cool and rainy out the entire time, but being a person from the good ol' northwest a little rain and the cold didn't stop me from adventuring through out the city.
The one quote that kept playing in my head was from EuroTrip, when the group arrives in Bratislava and the guy comes out and says 'good thing you come in summer time, because in winter it can get kind of depressing.'
In the information packet I got said that walking through old town was like being stuck in a fairy tale. I didn't find that to be very true, I found it very easy to think that I was in the mid-evil times and the city had been under seige not too long ago. (and yes the picture to the bottom right... people lived in there). Another really funny thing that I noticed was that it was more expensive for things in Bratislava than they were in Prague, which didn't make too much sense to me.
So after a little while of wondering around, I had enough and retired to the hostel for the evening. There I met some cool people down in the bar of the hostel, Texas (some guy from texas), and Thomas from Canada. Thomas and I pretty much came to the conclusion that this town sucked, and it was time to leave as soon as possible, so him and I met up in the morning after breakfast, and caught the first train to Budapest.
Once in Budapest, we got lunch, shook hands and parted ways. That is kind of how it has been while I have been gone, you meet people and then say good-bye and the chances of ever seeing any of these people again is slim to none. It is just an interesting feeling of making instant friends, and then parting ways just as fast. Kind of sucks if you ask me, but oh well. It is nice because it is really easy to meet others, because if they are in a group of two or less, really we all have the same thing in common. We are by ourselves or with just one other person, we have no clue what is going on, and we all want other people to talk to, so you create friendships almost instantly.
So far after one day in Budapest I have been having a blast, I think I am going to go to one of the baths today for a little bit, then going to the museam of Terror!! Full update on those coming up later ;). Till then, everyone stay classy and keep rockin in the free world!
One should never go... ha ha ha. Ok maybe a day trip there would be nice to see the old town, and all the little things there. But you could sit and just look around and see the heavy communist influence all through out the city. Very creepy. It didn't help that it was very cool and rainy out the entire time, but being a person from the good ol' northwest a little rain and the cold didn't stop me from adventuring through out the city.
The one quote that kept playing in my head was from EuroTrip, when the group arrives in Bratislava and the guy comes out and says 'good thing you come in summer time, because in winter it can get kind of depressing.'
In the information packet I got said that walking through old town was like being stuck in a fairy tale. I didn't find that to be very true, I found it very easy to think that I was in the mid-evil times and the city had been under seige not too long ago. (and yes the picture to the bottom right... people lived in there). Another really funny thing that I noticed was that it was more expensive for things in Bratislava than they were in Prague, which didn't make too much sense to me.
So after a little while of wondering around, I had enough and retired to the hostel for the evening. There I met some cool people down in the bar of the hostel, Texas (some guy from texas), and Thomas from Canada. Thomas and I pretty much came to the conclusion that this town sucked, and it was time to leave as soon as possible, so him and I met up in the morning after breakfast, and caught the first train to Budapest.
Once in Budapest, we got lunch, shook hands and parted ways. That is kind of how it has been while I have been gone, you meet people and then say good-bye and the chances of ever seeing any of these people again is slim to none. It is just an interesting feeling of making instant friends, and then parting ways just as fast. Kind of sucks if you ask me, but oh well. It is nice because it is really easy to meet others, because if they are in a group of two or less, really we all have the same thing in common. We are by ourselves or with just one other person, we have no clue what is going on, and we all want other people to talk to, so you create friendships almost instantly.
So far after one day in Budapest I have been having a blast, I think I am going to go to one of the baths today for a little bit, then going to the museam of Terror!! Full update on those coming up later ;). Till then, everyone stay classy and keep rockin in the free world!
Bratislava skyline (the nicest one!)
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