There are No transexuals in Transylvania

The houses still bear reminders of the country's Communistic ways.
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G'day from Romania. Arrived in Bucharest from Budapest this morning at 8:50am and I catch the long train from here to Istanbul at 13:24 where I don't get off until 08:24 tomorrow morning. Bucharest is nice if you can use that word liberally. I shared a 6berth cabin last night with an old women that was from Brussels and that's as much as I could understand. I was supposed to be impressed that she had travelled all the way from Brussels to get to Bucharest. I raised my eyebrows and she was happy. The other person was a girl about my age from Romania in Transylvania who had been studying in Budapest for about 2 months. Fortunately she spoke English quite well so we were able to talk. Her name was Miela (?) and as I didn't have any puncture wounds on my throat in the morning it would be fair to say she was great to have as a cabin mate. I was able to get a few tips off her about Romania. But when I asked her what were some of the things I must see while I was in Bucharest and her first response was the Parliament House, I thought Romanian tourism hasn't really come far since it escaped 40yrs of communism in 1989. Miela explained to me that a lot of the buildings were very square, plain and blocky. Imagine a city full of council houses. That's Bucharest. They are trying to build new buildings to remove that feel about the place but there is that gut feeling that just doesn't feel right. There are a lot of stay dogs in the place which Miela said the authorities were trying to impound but the pound was now full. Dogs and rubbish. They were the two main things I saw from the train window apart from buildings. I don't think I'll return via Bucharest. I just don't feel safe by myself. I left my bags in the luggage safe at the train station but took my camera with me and from the looks that I've been getting, I don't think cameras are that common around here. The return train stops in a village about 51Km south of here and is a safer connection then coming into Bucharest and transfering so I think I'll return via that village. I would like to see Bucharest more but maybe with more people with me. Safety in numbers and all that. Budapest was really nice. I went to the Gellert Baths ( http://www.gellertbath.com/ ) which are just over the Danube River in Buda. Apparently Miela used to live around there somewhere but she knew the coffee shop I went to after a bath. I figured it'd be good to have a bit of a wash after a few days on the train. Might thought process stopped before I worked out how to carry around wet bathing shorts. How to describe Budapest? If all the countries were students in a classroom, you'd have the loud mouthed guy who thinks he's tough (USA), the strange quiet guy who everyone thought was the devils spawn (Iran) well Hungary would be that quiet kid at the back who everyone knows but no one talks to, always have his head down working hard but not quite an A student. It would be possible to live in Budapest without needing to think about the outside world. Yes it has it's fair share of Burger Kings and western shops (even Tesco's) but there's just enough culture to make you feel in another world combined with just enough western influence to give you your creature comforts. Depending on which tourist guide book you read, it has between 1million and 2 million people and about 5 or so bridges over the Danube River. One that looks like the Humber Bridge, one Golden Gate bridge, one that's like the Golden Gate but mirrored below and they're just the ones I crossed. There is an island in the middle of the Danube called Margaret Island with some parks and accomodation on it. but I never went that north. For those that don't know Budapest is actually two cities. Buda, the newer city sits on the west bank and is where most of the money is, is where the Gellert Bath is. Pest (No, I'm not making that up) is the older city on the east bank but is where most of the CBD is. The hills around Budapest are like the Peak District with trees covering the hills or Hobart without the Wellington Range and Meehan Range in the distance. Still absolutely amazing to look at. I feel I will be back in Budapest for a day or two on my way home. I'd better go. I found out we're starting the tour with Fanatics at midday tomorrow and I'm staying at the Art hotel. It's a bit of a walk so I might catch the tram. I'll change some money today as I got caught out last night when I bought some extra Hungarian currency only to find the train only took Romanian levi and I was very thirsty last night. Talk to you all sometime in Turkey if I get a chance. Otherwise probably in Budapet next week. Love Jason

If there is two things I can say about eastern Europe, it's that they love their cigarettes and their porn. I'll just leave it at that.