english
Ex Member
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Hungary is quite a fantastic country. I went to Budapest, which was quite nice as cities go, and it still had some good communist stuff lying around - the old ministry of agriculture has a statue outside of it showing the typical communist farm labourer, chisel-jawed, with an enormous scythe. And there was a Soviet war memorial, which was impressive. I went to the Puszta, which is like a proto-Central Asian Steppes, where people live in rude huts, basically, farm and go about like Steppe nomads. I bought a braided whip there, just like one of JeffH's whips. It was a style of whip used for centuries. Nice crack on it, sounds like gunfire. The hotel was stuck in the seventies, to be honest, and musically Hungary is a bit behind the times; think "The Final Countdown" and "Eye of the Tiger", and maybe something by Bachman Turner Overdrive. Lake Balaton was rather overrun by Germans, for whom it is a major beach destination. Coming from an island, it is difficult to see why someone would travel large distances to go to sit by a beach on what is probably the most polluted, tacky, brown lake I have ever seen. I'd rather swim in lake Superior. But the north was lovely. Went to Ukraine for a day, which was quite depressing. There was a restaurant called the "White Stag" which was a game restaurant - on the walls, there were deer, wild boar, wild duck and many other skulls, as well as guns, crossbows, etc. Fantastic restaurant. Eger, where we stayed, is a very wine-oriented region, famous for it's Bikaver, or Bull's Blood. It is widely considered to be some of the finest wine in the world, along with Tokaji. But I did hear some American tourists complaining that the wine list only had local wine. How idiotic. I bought a fur hat, because summer is when they are cheapest, and basically I had a great time. No slinging though. I didn't have any time too, and the rocks were all poor quality granites, flints, etc. Not good for slinging. I did a bit of archery though, using traditional Hungarian gear - the bow was a little strong for me, at around 80 pounds. I shoot normally at 65 or 70. Still, it was a lovely bow. If anyone does go to Hungary, don't go to lake Balaton, because it is basically like Southern Spain with Germans, if you know what I mean; tacky beach resort where drinking lots of crap drinks, listening to a lot of trance music and getting tanned are the primary pre-occupations. Not nice.
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