Day 45: My first hitch-hiking experience – Bugac, Hungary

(Him: Charlie)

Background:

I would bet you $10 you haven’t heard of Bugac. I would even bet $5 many Hungarians do know where this place is either. This is how remote our destination is on this day-trip – Kiskunsag National Park, where we had a sneak peek of traditional Hungarian cowboys on the Great Hungarian Plain.

We knew public transit is not the ideal way to get there, but since it’s possible, we went ahead anyway. The route involved bus from Budapest to a small town (Kiskunfelegyahaza), then bus to an even smaller town (Bugac). And then the entrance to the national park is about 5 km west east of Bugac. On the way there, thanks to a local, we got off at an intersection that’s closest to the national park, and then successfully found the park entrance after 30min of walking. We were told that we would wait for the bus at the same intersection on the way back. And so we did…

The visit to the park was great and the cowboys with their horses were awesome, but then time came the return trip. It’s 3pm and the scorching sun ruthlessly burned our skin. AND being at the Great Hungarian Plain, there was hardly any shade to hide!! Just before when the bus was supposed to show up, we made to intersection with our bodies drenched in sweat. 5 min passed by, 10 min passed by… 20 min passed by, but we were still standing in the sun waiting for the bus. We had no idea what happened, but we must have missed the bus somehow. So our options were a) keep waiting in the sun, and the bus will show up within 1-2 hours, b) walk to Bugac, find a real bus stop and confirm schedule, and c) hitch-hike to Bugac and wait for the bus. Without much hesitation, we chose to hitch-hike.

Raising my arm and thumb was a struggle

I’ve never hitch hiked before, and it was quite a struggle for me before I even raised my hand. For some reasons, I consider hitch hiking quite embarrassing, so I thought I would take my time to “choose” a car that appears more “friendly”. But as many cars passed by and the sun became increasingly unbearable, I thought “Fuck it! I will take the next one up”. So there went my the arm and thumb up for the first time.

The first car that passed by was a small sedan with 2 men in it. They gave me a quick glance and continued on. “That’s not a good sign! Am I making a fool of myself?” I started to doubt. Feeling a bit dejected, but a part of me really wanted to keep trying, for getting out of here and for successful hitch hiking. So I continued on…

The second car was also an old clunky Russian Lada, probably as old as me. The two ladies inside saw me, made eye contact, slowed down and stopped! One lady poked her head out the window and I showed her on our note pad where we wanted to go. I could see their eyes filled with curiosity “what the hell are these two Chinese people doing here in the middle of nowhere?” Well, they could have their curiosity, but my worried turned to ecstasy as she started to unlock the back seat. I waved Joanna over and we jumped it!! It was a very old car with less than basic interior and, of course, no A/C. We continued to sweat like crazy but we were smiling. We tried to make conservation, but it was futile, as we couldn’t even say “thank you” in Hungarian. I hope they at least appreciated our smile and body language.

We were so relieved when we saw the town, and the bus stop with a cover. Although the ride took only 5-10 min, and we would have survived if we didn’t hitch-hike (although we may suffer a sunstroke), but nothing beats completing my first hitch hiking with a success!!

(Cowboy and horses on Great Hungarian Plain) 

Day 44: Step back in time, and have fun! – Szentendre, Hungary

(Him: Charlie)

“Two Thumps Up!” – JL

“One of the best ones we have seen so far!” – CC

Just when I started to feel numb about old buildings, castles and churches, serendipity came to my rescue! It was supposed to be a trip to another “pretty” town, but a museum in Szentendre saved our day – hence the remarks above.

This is the Szabadteri Neprajzi Muzeum, the largest and best open air village museum in Hungary. Showcasing villages from Hungary’s five distinct regions, the museum takes visitors back in time to experience the rural life. Each village has complete settings with real-life size dwelling houses, barns, churches, workshops, etc.

For us, experiencing the rustic life in a very basic form is intriguing. I am particularly impressed with the interesting tools people used in the past – water mills, wind mills, and even tread mills. These ingenuities have long been relics in this electric and carbon fuel era.

And as if the museum itself was not entertaining enough, how about hands-on soap making, home-made honey tasting, sheep herding, and learning some folk dancing?

All in all, Jo and I had a blast at the museum. What a surprise! Highly recommended!

(who can guess these are fire fighting engines!)

Day 43: Culture, a life line of Hungary – Budapest, Hungary

(Him: Charlie)

Budapest is a beautiful city. It’s also a very lively city as well. Jo and I compared Budapest with Prague and we feel that Budapest is a better city. Not only because Budapest has a more spread out old town (the Prague old town is only concentrated in one area, and does not seem to have not much outside of it), but it also is more metropolitan with tons of cultural events and modern life.

One of the things I noticed in Hungary is how proud Hungarians feel about their art heritage, and how well they preserve it. In Budapest, as well as other Hungarian cities, many squares, roads, landmark buildings are named after poets, composers, musicians, writers, architects, etc. If we take out the art from Hungary, a huge part of the Hungarian culture would be lost.

What would be biggest component of the Canadian culture? What about the Chinese culture?

(Thermal spring near Eger, Hungary)