Day 17. Budapest

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Still in Budapest? Well yes I am. 

I was meant to be here for a grand total of four nights, one of my longer states anywhere and a number I have found to be a good limit that doesn't allow you to become bored (not that you every truly get bored, but you don't long to see new places) with a place but gives you long enough to see a lot and party a lot.  Well tonight is my sixth night. Deciding to scratch Bratislava from my itinerary was an easy call as I heard it was quite boring and I was frankly loving the feel of it all in Budapest. So I extended, before i had even been out that night. But now, I keep extending. I can't escape. Haha. What can I say. I love it here. But I was a bit disappointed that I arrived the night after the bath party (a wild and raucous party in the thermal baths) and would be leaving the day of and would be missing it. So I cancelled one night in Vienna and extended here yet again. I am going the whole hog. And staying the full week doing every BPH party.  

Today I forced myself to venture out and do some touristy shit. So I went and joined a walking tour. But to be honest the whole tourist bit kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. My experience hanging out with the staff here is so grungy, bohemian and free that I just couldn't hack walking around, camera in hand and listening to stories about why a statue was erected or bad jokes about Hungarian accents or them speaking Hungrish. Also I picked out a "free" tour, something I had never done before, usually preferring bike tours. I had always assumed that these free tours were run by the council or local tourism boards or something. But they are in fact a company and tips are expected. Silly of me not to realise that but I just think that is something says it is free in the name, it really ought to actually be free. Also it means that big groups turn out to save their dolla dolla and the tours are just kind of mass produced and tacky. Well this one was at least. Better to just shell out for a real tour I think. So I went along for a while and then started thinking long and hard about extending or not. So I bailed on the tour and headed on home. 

I should mention that just before I did bail, there was this statue of a little girl down by the river that you are supposedly meant to rub its thighs for good luck. A bit pedofelic I thought, but, when in Rome. So away I rubbed, now remember this for latter and judge for yourself just how lucky this was for me. 

So I went back and decided, yes, extend again. 

Something. I did something I can't remember. 

Hanging out in the hostel a girl Laura, who had just checked in was on Facebook and flashed around this photo of a guy she had met on her trip who had fucked up his foot in Croatia. We all ooed and ahhhed and were glad it was not us. A moment latter I checked my Facebook and what the hell. There was the very same photo on my news feed. :O

It was a guy I has met in Budapest at the hometown stereotype party. She had met him in Prague I think. Crazy little world. 

It was then time for the bar crawl. Led by Will today. Now apparently Will is the one staff member that gets the hostel bad reviews occasionally, he can be rude occasionally. But I would gladly punch anyone that thought Will was anything but an amazing human being. He is from London, but has lived in hipster Melbourne as a barissta. So away we went, stopping off at an ATM on the way. Oddly, the new girl Laura and I both had trouble getting money out of a machine, both using cash passports, this was odd. Eventually a friendly ATM was found. But what was weird is that somewhere in the space between pulling my card from the ATM and putting it in my wallet as I walked, literally, ten steps the card disappeared. I think I was pick pocketed. But have no way to know for sure. Anyway. After searching the area I decided I needed to go back to the hostel and cancel the card. An hour on hold and a lot of stress my card was cancelled and luckly unused. Phew. 

Then to meet back up with the pub crawl, I had all the spots marked out on the map and ran back there. And I do really mean ran. Screw the time it takes to walk. I was in a hurry I had been stressed out of my mind. It was time to FUCKEN party. 

I found them all, and perhaps smartly, perhaps foolishly downed two vodkas in about three minuets, then Will led us to a thinly little local dive bar and made us all do shots. And then another drink directly after that. But all was well in the end.

After this we started meeting up with the other sister hostels and headed to a dub step and techno club. On the walk there some d bag stepped on the back of my shoe to which I jokingly went ape shit at him, laughing at the end. Before I realised that he had actually broken my boot. Fuck. So now I was stuck all night with one boot with a sole hanging half off.

 But I found my people. The staffers again. Particularly Krusty (they give the most awful nick names out here) and after a bit of dancing and drinking we headed up to the roof to chill and chat. It was at this point that Krusty (aka respectable 23 year old salesman Alex from Nebraska) started to complain about his eye hurting. It suddenly dawned on him to wonder if perhaps he had left a contact lense in there. After a bit of a drunken eye poke he discovered that in fact he did have a contact in there. Just in the one eye mind you, that had been in there for at a minimum of five days. I guess never having needed glasses I can't really understand how he had not been just a little bit curious about why he could see so well without contacts. 

After begging me to tell him sad stories to make him cry and make the pain of a five day old contact removal, and many vain attempts on my part to comfort him we eventually left the club. On the threshold though he smashed his toe on the door frame splitting the whole front of the pad wide open. Good nigh for Krusty. 

So he, broken footed and I broken booted somehow made our way to both late night pizza and yet another bar and then back to Retox bar to drink more with the staffers and then finally off to bed.