1.9.96 (Sun)

I am now in the hotel in Budapest and am very unhappy because I have lost my camera. Only God knows why and when and where and how it was stolen. I have kept all my valuables very close to myself but still. Maybe I should keep them even closer, next to the skin.

But right from the beginning, I don't like this place. It is not really beautiful. The weather is not good. And it is a Sunday, i.e. the city seems dead today. Just this afternoon, two men cornered me inside the metro train. I found it strange that they jammed me to the door so hard when the other parts of the train did not seem really crowded, not realizing that they were pickpockets. I tried to get away but found it quite impossible. Afterwards, a passenger told me that my backpack was opened. Obviously, those two thieves cornered me so that I could not move, opened the bag, examined the content, but found nothing of value, just a novel and a notebook. The funny thing was that the purse in which I keep my cosmetics was also opened. They must have thought that there was money inside.

But of course it is not funny now. One of those thieves out there finally got my camera. And I only have myself to blame. What should I do now?

I dislike this place so much that I have changed my plan. Instead of staying for three days, I will leave on the third day for Wien. That night I'll take a night train to Venezia. Wien is not in my plan but I must leave here earlier. I have originally booked a sleeper on a direct train from Budapest to Venezia. The price was about HKD300. But then I considered it unsafe to travel alone on a Hungarian train for about 16 hours. So I changed my plan. The night train from Wien is a EuroNight train of very high quality. And I will have a single room. But it is expensive, about HKD1,380. But safety and comfort always take money.

Now, about yesterday.

Despite a lousy morning in Kutna Hora, I had a splendid afternoon. The musical Jesus Christ Superstar was good. I won't say it has shocked me but I like it very much. Since I didn't know the language, I concentrated on the music and the stage effects. The music was quite good. The effects were moving. The "Hosanna" scene made me feel why the Romans were afraid of JC gathering the Jews. And the scene of the 39 lashes was very powerful, breath-taking and heart-breaking. (Why 39? Is it recorded in the Scripture?) The actor playing JC was good but Judas' performance was weaker. But on the whole I like the show. I might like it more if it had been in English.

Then I had a dinner at a small restaurant introduced in the Lonely Planet. The food was really nothing special but its menu was in many languages including English (so at least I knew what I was ordering). And the food was cheap. An a la carte main dish ranged from 70kcs to 100kcs. It was cheap even if it were in HKD.

After the meal, I walked from V. Nam. to the Old Town Square and then Charles Bridge. It was very beautiful at night. When I arrived at Charles Bridge, my first thought was, "Is it possible... to be so beautiful?" There were enough people there making me feel safe but not overcrowded. And I enjoyed some good music free at the Old Town Square.

The trip to Budapest was not so smooth. First, I could not open the locker storing my backpack. Then when I boarded the train, I was told that I did not have a ticket though I had bought a sleeper reservation ticket. I had to rush to the ticket office to buy the train ticket, carrying all my luggage all the way. Then I did not have enough kcs for the ticket and had to draw a cash advance using my MasterCard (I forgot about the interest charged). Because of the weight of my luggage, the running and the frustration, I was a mess sweating and panting when I was at last allowed to get on the train.

I shared a compartment with a Slovakian lady. We chatted a little. Then because she said good night and slept, I had to turn off the light and slept too so as not to disturb her. But it was good to lie down and rest after all the hustle and bustle. And I did have some broken sleep. My companion was sound asleep. And I knew how "sound" her sleep was. But our sleep was disturbed first by the Czech border police, then the Czech custom, then twice by the Slovakian border police, then the Hungarian border police.