The people in Prague warned me about Budapest, and for very good reason. Yowzer, I feel like I'm back at uni again, it's been a bit mad. The first night (Sunday) was the Jager Train which I really need to post a video of because it was SUMMIN else, there were nearly 400 Jager bombs lined up on a long table, the jager shot balancing on top and they were knocked over using this massive stick which created a domino effect, knocking all the shots into the glasses one after the other, it was crazy. I put my name down for five which was five too many as I had indulged in a really fancy 2 litre bottle of red wine, in a plastic bottle, oh the shame. Let's just say that it was NOT a winning formula and had some pretty undesirable outcomes, one of them being the purchase of a 100 euro pair of shoes (as I quite literally had walked straight through my other pair) that are one size too small, yeah, I might as well throw them away, I don't know what I was thinking, 100 bloody euros on a pair of shoes that I KNEW were too small but liked so much I bought anyway, what is WRONG with me? That's what a hangover does to you, it also makes you go and watch Twilight,in Hungarian and eat McDonald's for breakfast. All in all, just a shameful waste of a day. We decided to give the 1 euro cocktail night a miss and go to bed early so we would be up in time for the walking tour of the city the next day, which we did, and it was pretty amazing. We walked pretty much solidly around the city for seven hours, we tried traditional Hungarian food, we went to the best Christmas market and we learnt loads about the history of Budapest.
Feeling a bit better about our lives we decided we'd join in on the hostel festivities... dress up night. Of course, I still have my ridiculous panda hat from Amsterdam so I was SORTED, we walked to our "sister" hostel called Retox (never, ever stay there, unless you wish to die of alcohol poisoning, or stupidity). It was the most insane place I have EVER been to. Think of THE most stereotypical American frat house you can think of, and times it by 12665545454. Yeah, by that much. The hostel is basically a massive bar/club with a few rooms upstairs. Everyone was dressed up, in one corner there was beer pong set up, but EXTREME beer pong, in another corner there were strawpedo time trials going on (I saw a guy down a bacardi breezer in 1.4 seconds, not even kidding, these guys have daily practice sessions to prepare for the weekly time trials), in another corner there were "turbulance shots" going on, basically whenever the beat dropped in the song and a certain line was said you had to smash a massive shot of tequila and champagne onto the table and knock it back, eish. There were people arm wrestling, making out, there was a projection screen with weird music videos (Lonely Boy) that everyone was lined up in front of, copying all the moves, and they knew EVERY single move (most people at that hostel are permanent residents). They had a drinks "stock market" screen, prices of drinks went up and down according to what was/wasn't selling, tequila eyeshots, piggy back races, 100 club, kings. I just sat back and thought, mother of god, I'm too old for this shit. And really, I am, come on, it's just ridiculous. What's even scarier is that a LOT of people in that hostel are the same age, some even OLDER than me. Yeah, I'm serious, they live in those crazy hostels, party every night, the only time they go outside is to walk to the other hostel or get some Mackers (Aussie for McD's), it's a little sad, yeah, VERY sad, We were extremely sensible and decided to head back to the hostel and YAY me, because I have woken up SANS hangover and am ready to go visit the thermal baths that Budapest is so famous for.
Tonight is the pub crawl of some of the "ruins bars" in Budapest which I'm really excited about seeing, I've heard so much about them.
I have another two nights in this hostel and just hoping to make it out alive. I might treat myself to a hotel after this, I've had 3 weeks of sharing a room with no less than 8 other people with THE most bizarre things going on at night, so SO bizarre.
Tonight is the pub crawl of some of the "ruins bars" in Budapest which I'm really excited about seeing, I've heard so much about them.
I have another two nights in this hostel and just hoping to make it out alive. I might treat myself to a hotel after this, I've had 3 weeks of sharing a room with no less than 8 other people with THE most bizarre things going on at night, so SO bizarre.
I'm not quite sure where I'm off to next, the plan was to go to Salzburg and then Interlaken in Switzerland but I'm thinking I might head a little further east with my friend to Krakow, and stay in a hotel, for the first night at least, where there will hopefully not be another AUSSIE backpacker in sight, NO more Aussies, no more.
