[Leaving Budapest for Arad, Romania]
Got up early in Budapest, went out on the street (a main thoroughfare) around 7:00am, decided to walk and see what stores were open. Saw a bread & croissant place, went in and bought two items that looked interesting and ate them. For some reason the clerk thought I wanted three of the second item, but she barely understood English. Total cost: $2.
After that, saw an open produce shop and bought a big 30 cent apple, went back to my room and ate it. As I had been walking, I realized that the shorts I was wearing had no drawstring, no way to tighten them. Since I had my pockets heavily laden with stuff, they kept sliding down. Had to change shorts, then checked out of the guesthouse.
Got my 2000 forint key deposit back ($10), headed for the M2 (Red Metro) and the short, wild ride to Keleti train station. Could have easily walked it, but I was getting a kick out of the subway! Got off and immediately was confused about which underground concourse to use to get to the train station. There were many choices! Since I had checked out this same route yesterday, it was frustrating to be disoriented again.
Arrived at the station way ahead of time anyway, studying what I call the "big board". The only words in English were "arrivals" and "departures"-- the rest were in Hungarian and German and my German is very bad. Was able to figure it out anyway. My train was to leave 9:45am for Arad, Romania but I got scared when the only 9:45am departure was for Timisoara, Romania. It eventually dawned on me that Timisoara was the terminus of this train, which also passed through Arad.
They still hadn't assigned it a "vagany" (track) by 9:30am, so I grew worried, but then the "big board" showed it on Track #1, which was a long distance away. A whole throng of people made a mad dash to get there with me. Got there and sign said "Wien to [something or other]", so I was dumbfounded. Pointed to train and asked the nearest person, "Timisoara?". She nodded, so I got on-- whew!
First class section was pristine and very modern, but nearly empty, except for a Swedish couple and a few others. Swedish man started a conversation with me and approved of the fact I was headed for Helsinki and Stockholm.
Steward came by offering tiny cup of coffee and a Snickers bar. Took them, not knowing if they were free or what they might cost. Of course, they weren't free! Had awkward time paying for them, since the steward spoke no English and I couldn't understand the numbers in German (or maybe it was Hungarian)! Finally, just had to hold out all my money and have him take some. I hate when that happens! Had to ask the Swedish man how much damn stuff cost. It was about $3.
Scenery was quite drab and weather was drabber, but not raining. There were a lot of rundown and gutted old buildings, graffiti, people on bicycles (not for pleasure), mixed in with quaint farm scenes, even goats almost on the tracks! Train stations were looking quite run down, especially the last ones before Romania.
Passport check at Lokoshaza, just before going over the border and another one in Curtici, Romania. Scenery became even drabber in Romania. I used a train W.C. for the first time. Shortly we arrived at what I thought must be my stop, but nowhere could I see a sign to that effect. Asked a woman, "Arad?", she nodded, and I went to the door.
It had not occurred to me to watch someone open the door earlier during the trip, but now I was faced with needing to get out fast and not having the slightest idea how to open the damn door! Started yelling and a woman came by and hit the release button. Was so eager to get out that I decided to skip one or two of the steps-- bad misjudgment! Took one leap for the train platform and almost fell flat on my face. Might’ve easily sprained or broken something.
Camera fell out of my pocket onto concrete, but was not damaged. Many bemused looks from local folks. One man, in broken English, asked if I was British. I said “American”, and he broke into a broad smile, saying he loves America and thanked us for ending Communism in his country. After gathering my dignity back as best I could, I asked at an info office if anyone spoke English and was brusquely told "no"! Decided not to try to get a map from that jerk.
Exchanged all my remaining dollars and some euros for Romanian lei and went to sit down and rearrange my money belt and wallet. After catching my breath, I went outside and saw a very bustling street scene, with cars everywhere. Asked a young cabbie if he spoke English, he said “yes” and knew where my hotel was, so we were off on the wildest car ride of my life [up to then]!
Traffic in Arad is insane! The cabbie drove like a madman, missed many cars by a inch if that, broke every rule, cut cars off, almost hit pedestrians, etc. Trip was taking a lot longer than I expected, so I started questioning the cabbie if he knew where he was going and he was starting to get annoyed with me. Finally, we reached an area and he pointed to what looked like a park. My hotel was the Hotel Parc, so I was thinking, oh crap, he took me to a park! Fortunately, the Hotel "Parc" was just behind the "park".
Ride was so surreal all I could do was laugh out loud at the end! Cabbie was not pleased. Fare was a measly $3.50 [including tip]. Think I got a deal because he forgot to start the meter until five minutes into the trip. After going through all that, I realized I hadn't fastened my seat belt!
Hotel lobby and elevator looked quite impressive, but my room, although OK, was below Motel 6 standards. It had a phone, TV, bed with a broken slat and bath/shower which was a slip-and-fall waiting to happen. Nonetheless, I took a bath before heading out, armed with a map from the front desk. It was mid-afternoon and I was just interested in walking around and looking for socks and underwear.
Found a store with both. Young lady salesperson spoke some English and had a good time helping me decide what to buy. Ended up getting largest sizes of everything-- a good choice. This was boutique merchandise--not cheap stuff, but I didn't have time to shop for best prices. Had foolishly only bought one pair of $1 socks at a department store in Budapest because I wasn’t sure they would fit.
Found a post office and mailed 10 postcards-- more expensive than I expected. Was already beginning to run out of cash because I didn’t realize that most Romanian stores do not accept U.S. credit cards. There was a major street nearby that had several ATM's and money exchanges. A money exchange in Romanian is a "schimb valutar" and it seems like there is one on every block.
Were many choices on this stretch of a major boulevard and I was trying to decide whether to use an ATM or exchange some of my euros. Spent way too much time walking back and forth before deciding on an ATM that seemed at least clean. This gave two thieves plenty of time to notice me and follow me after I got money from the ATM. Continued sightseeing for a while and then started back to my hotel.
Crowds were thinning out and there may not have been any shops for me to slip into at the time these two befriended me. One guy was a suave and good looking Mediterranean type and the other was an absolutely ugly cretinous looking guy with two hideous gold teeth. Long story short, I ended up asking them to recommend an inexpensive but good restaurant and they said they were going that way.
I was quite a fool, and although I was getting suspicious, it’s hard to know when to just run away-- it’s much easier just to trust. As it turns out, they pickpocketed me in the parking lot of my hotel, where there were no people around. Won't go into details, but they distracted me and after they left I thought I had checked my wallet but it was another five minutes, when I got back to my room, that I realized it was gone. I knew for sure they stole it.
The thieves got only one of my two credit cards, 210 Romanian lei (85 U.S. dollars), my driver's license and some unimportant stuff. Due to my use of a money belt, I still had my passport, one credit card and $250 in euros, so it wasn't that bad. [I would find out later that the thieves were totally unable to use the credit card they stole, thank goodness!]
Made the mistake of calling the police before my credit card company and ended up at police station for more than an hour before demanding to go back to the hotel to make necessary credit card calls. Back at the hotel I was part of a scene at the front desk that doesn't make hotels happy, with me getting testy with the young lady desk clerk when she admitted she did not know how to place a call to the U.S. [she eventually found out] and the police standing around impatiently, waiting for me to finish.
Of course, if I had had a working cell phone and had done my homework, things would have been a lot easier and I would not have rung up $75 in phone charges on my hotel bill. For various reasons I took several rides between the hotel and the police station. Traffic was horrible. Police used their lights and siren and drove like madmen, just like the taxi driver. Everyone in the damn city drove like a madman! Cops almost hit two kids on bikes who crossed the road just in front of the car with siren on. Epithets were flying. [I have to admit that all this WAS exciting!]
Three of the cops spoke English. One of the two responding cops spoke enough to get by. Detective handling the case spoke better English. He showed me photos and surveillance video of two guys who looked very much like my thieves from above. These were photos looking down from ATM where they withdrew cash from an earlier victim's credit card. None of the stills or video they had showed their faces.
I was asked to write out and sign a statement in my own handwriting, which took nearly an hour. Quite a hassle for me. After all, I was the victim! Was another cop in his 50's, a burly fat older man, who spoke English well. Think he was chief of police or head of that particular station.
He said he had relatives in Michigan and was very patient and apologetic, as were all the cops, although they all seemed bemused at times. There were some heated exchanges between the cops themselves, however! If I had been able to take some photos, they would have been priceless.
Back in the safe confines of the hotel, I apologized to the desk clerk for my earlier testiness. She said the hotel would refund the cost of one night's stay [IT NEVER HAPPENED!] but I would have to pay all phone, food, etc.
Had my first real sit-down meal since starting vacation. Hotel food was reasonably good, but the large dinner (Hungarian goulash) was about $18, more than I would have liked to pay, since there was otherwise cheap food elsewhere. Funny thing about the restaurant is that there was plenty of wait staff but almost empty of customers.
--END 28 JUNE--
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