Magyar My Home

So here I am, out of Asia and in Europe - Budapest, Hungary to be precise. The land of my ancestors.

I have a one-person flat in Obuda. Obuda (or 'Old Buda') is a pleasant enough neighborhood, though there's not a whole lot to see. my street has a post office, a supermarket, and some Chinese restaurants- what more does a person need?

Speaking of food, Budapest seems to have a passion for 'Turkish' fast food, especially gyros and falafel. Pizza is also popular but most of it is pretty lousy. As mentioned, there are also greasy Chinese takeout places everywhere and plenty of chain burger joints too.

Budapest is a beautiful city. It's kind of a shock to see fine buildings everywhere after the comparative poverty of Vietnam, but I suspect that if it weren't for Communism half of those buildings would have been torn down to build shopping malls and Gaps.

The public transit system is pretty good. There are basically three metro lines which cover Pest (with one sneaking over into Buda) and there is a bewildering network of bus and tram lines, which I am still trying to figure out. The trouble is that the metro shuts down at 11:30, forcing me to use a cab to get home.

Budapest is also a shockingly quiet city. Downtown on a weeknight seems practically like a ghost town. At first I thought this was just in contrast with bustling Saigon, but locals and expats confirmed that Budapest really was was that silent.