A capital city’s main train station is not a place to stay for a long time: it reveals too many parts of the city that are not so pleasant (this applies to most cities, i guess). Stray kids and dogs seem to be the most salient problem in this one. Rather aggressive act of begging was quite common, both by young and old, in street, shop, and train car. Also saw a man in clean dress shoes walk around to spot left over food on restaurant tables to eat before it was thrown away. I’ve seen many acts of begging in korea, but here it makes people feel worse by not complying since the begging party make personal contacts, displaying their misery. Defying the rule of first impression will be tough for romania.

Yes, i’ve read and heard lots of stories about tourist ripped off or corrupted police. Some of them came true in 30min spent in the train station. Arrived at 8:30am in the satisfyingly comfortable sleeper train. Tried to catch the next connecting train departing in 20 min, but failed. Not sure if it’s the rule of reservation system or miscommunication, but couldnt get reservation-only ticket from the counter. due to unreliable time tables all around the station which shows unmatching info, thought to try the digital info kiosk. A man approached and offered help since he’s the station officer. He took us to a far away ticket counter which was closed, and summoned a lady to issue something. To make a story short, i faced the romanian corruption. Shortly afterwards, this exp was followed by the thick-faced lady in money exchange shop who would not give the correct amount of money. Emotionally somewhat shocked, took a refuge in THE trustworthy mac d for morning coffee- shamelessly.

Stopped at a station for passport control on romanian side. It took well over 30 min. Saw two officers quickly counting money (hungarian forint) and divide it. I dont know what it was for.

Back to budapest to catch the night train to bucharest. Spent the day in this grand bath house/ swimming pool. Very different from korean public bath system where scrubbing skin is a major part, but relaxing atmosphere. =

In a church at kosice.

Texture is similar to finnish bread cheese, but salty.

Bright silver trash cans. Good contrast to old buildings in the city.

Managed to leave the mountains after crossing the poland-slovakia border in pouring rain. On the way to kosice.

The guide book says all the poles ride this cable car to the summit of one of the tatra mountains at least once in their lifetime (that includes the pope for sure..). It seems very true: at 6:45am before the ticket office is even open, there is a queue of eager tourists even with extreme fog (including myself).

Due to the lack of foreign language information, dont know the historical facts. A bit sleepy but picturesque rafting with a professional driver. He was like malon brando with some missing teeth. He must have been very funny if i understood polish. Offered all the ladies in the boat an opportunity to wear his gears for photos, while he ‘protects’ the lady in action with a rope.