Through three Catholic countries on a Sunday; not too shabby.
Day 4
Post-exam frenzy. Finally back on track with reflections of Europe hitching, which really deserves a decent record.
After a few days of warmth amidst the Krakow rain chez Leif, it was time to move on to the big B - Budapest.
A little tricky route though. There was no distinguishable big highway through Slovakia. No page on hitchwiki on the route either. Improvisation is the key.
So did the usual thing, took the tram down to the southern tip, typically right before the highway starts. Borek Fałęcki was the stop according to hitchwiki.
Being static for three days means it's quite hard to move on again, especially when one was getting used to the comfort. Uncertainty is not always the best feeling.
At the station, typical hitchhiker's dilemma. How long do you stay on one spot and when do you try another one? If so, where? Whatever decision you make, timing dictates all and all is out of your control. You might miss a car that is willing to pick you up at your original spot right when you're leaving, and same goes on the other spot. Tough decisions.
Time wasn't helping. It was 12pm and a Sunday. People were walking out of church. Oh no I'm going through three Catholic countries on a Sunday, means less traffic and lowered chances.
Different hitchhikers will have individual timeframe of when to move on. My own was around 30 minutes, if I was patient enough. I normally was.
So I eventually moved on to the second spot for hitchwiki, Opatkowice. But oops not enough Zloty (Polish currency) left. So I walked on a bus asked the driver the for the above bus stop, barely able to pronounce it, but the point went through. He saw my lack of funds, said don't worry about it and kindly drove me all the way there. Man with a good heart.
Still a little unsettled for kickstarting a new day of hitching, I approached some drivers in a gas station. Map is beautiful, cause that Polish couple could barely speak a word of English. I wanted to go down the E77 straight through the Slovakian border. At first they named a town I could not locate, and then finally looking at the map, we discovered we were going the same direction! Bingo. No more anxiety.
Further down south was snowy. And Polish countryside in snow is just quite stunning. I was just enjoying some good views, occasionally exchanging a few words, and generally had a good time.
They dropped me off at a town called Rabka, a junction that leads either to toher parts of Poland or straight into Slovakia. Call it a town, Rabka is actually just one main street with houses and shops along it, much like many other Polish villages where state roads go through. Snow was melting so it wans't too hard to walk.
Walked to a better spot and put out an SK sign. A Bulgarian car stopped. Bulgarian traveler who was having a blast in north Poland now on his way home. 15 minutes later, we suddenly found ourselves discussing how to make big bucks in the casinos.
Then he proceeded to talk about how a lawyer complained about him building a house in front of the lawyer's house, hence blocking his view. He apparently defeated the lawyer legally and shagged his daughter. His moments of glory I presume.
But one further thing he said was interesting. To this day I still cannot quite figure out the entire idea. But it basically goes as follows: the EU now subsidizes certain energy projects, especially ones in Eastern European countries. What this guy was planning to do was buy cables and land, cover them up. Then talk to energy companies and try to sell them the land which was already built with cables. At the same time apply for EU subsidies so you get parts of your investments back. And with some skiill companies will buy your land at a much higher price. Brief discussions with Brenner led me to think that this could be linked to territorialization of certain unused land by building on it.
Lost thoughts. And we arrived to Ruzomberok. Once we crossed the Slovak border, weather was getting a little better, still dark clouds and such. Ruzomberok was quite a picturesque and colorful town, although rather deadly. Probably cause it was Sunday. Drove around a bit, took some pics, and that was pretty much it. There was really no reason to stay any longer. At least it was more than one main street.
And I understood immediately why there was no page for this down on hitchwiki; it simply wasn't necessary. Road out of town includes one junction with clear directions. With a proper map there was no way anyone could miss it. All I did was then stand under a sign that said Zvolen. Within 20 minutes a car stopped. A small energy company car.
The guy, in his late 20s, was driving down on the way to Nitra, second biggest city of Slovakia if I'm not mistaken. Apparently he drives the around the country once in a while, pretty much every weekend, because his home town was in north Slovakia, girlfriend lives in one town, and he works in Nitra. Busy schedule, but lucky Slovakia isn't too big.
He just wanted to practice his English, and we had fun finding expressions. He just thought it was interesting there was random Chinese guy hitchhiking. First time doing this, he said. Hope I left a good impression.
Along the E77, you eventually hit Donovaly, actually a valley, and a ski resort. Still quite a bit of snow, and definitely a gem if you're to find a less crowded place. Beautiful mountains though.
We passed Banska Bystrica which was third biggest city I believe? It was sunny now and you just smile when you notice weather changes when you go south. You go through climate zones so quickly you don't even realize, and a few conversations later you suddenly realize sunny spring is in town.
A complicated web of highways at Zvolen. Glad he went out of his way to take me straight to entrance of the next road. Sunny afternoon, took a break and had a self-made spam sandwich. Spam is just lovely sometimes, especially when fried and served with noodles and fried egg.
Not that many cars on way down to the border, but still a few passed by. Just as I was wondering whether it would be a long wait, within 15 minutes I was picked up. Sign with H and a smiley face certainly helped.
It was the Hungarian couple mentioned in the previous Romanian post that picked me up. I won't talk more of it here, just discussed general economic and political issues. And the origins of Hungarians, which are infinitely fascinating. I still remember a running story in Hong Kong that Hungarians are originally from outskirts of China, those Huns that attacked Mulan. Another instance of popular belief, and beefed up sense of nationalism: see we kicked them all the way to Europe? Looking at Hungarian faces, I had reasons to doubt. But it goes further than that. Linguistically it doesn't make sense as Hungarian is grouped with Estonian and Finnish. Plus Hungarian call themselves Magyar. Then why did the name Hungary stick? Answer from the car: Brits and western European called us that because they thought we were Huns. Somewhere along that lines. But according to wikipedia: originally believed to be ruled by Attila the Hun, a nomadic invader, Hungarians, or better said, tribes of Magyar were part of a Bulgar alliance called On-Ogour (resembling to Hungary phonetically), which in Bulgar-Turkic means 10 arrows, or 10 tribes, which were how the tribes were organized, one of which being Magyar. Interesting facts, may or may not be true, but nationhood is such a fluid concept anyway to which there really is no need to pay too much attention.
Border was picturesque. Glad I got on this car because it seemed to be the only car heading south. Timing timing timing. And apparently border town is actually one joint town with the border town on Hungary side. Small village houses as I saw, somewhat different from those in Poland. Good day it was, and I was glad I was making it straight to Budapest.
The rest was history. Rejoined the crew in the Nagy house. And a few days of Hungarian penthouse madness.
Post-exam frenzy. Finally back on track with reflections of Europe hitching, which really deserves a decent record.
After a few days of warmth amidst the Krakow rain chez Leif, it was time to move on to the big B - Budapest.
A little tricky route though. There was no distinguishable big highway through Slovakia. No page on hitchwiki on the route either. Improvisation is the key.
So did the usual thing, took the tram down to the southern tip, typically right before the highway starts. Borek Fałęcki was the stop according to hitchwiki.
Being static for three days means it's quite hard to move on again, especially when one was getting used to the comfort. Uncertainty is not always the best feeling.
At the station, typical hitchhiker's dilemma. How long do you stay on one spot and when do you try another one? If so, where? Whatever decision you make, timing dictates all and all is out of your control. You might miss a car that is willing to pick you up at your original spot right when you're leaving, and same goes on the other spot. Tough decisions.
Time wasn't helping. It was 12pm and a Sunday. People were walking out of church. Oh no I'm going through three Catholic countries on a Sunday, means less traffic and lowered chances.
Different hitchhikers will have individual timeframe of when to move on. My own was around 30 minutes, if I was patient enough. I normally was.
So I eventually moved on to the second spot for hitchwiki, Opatkowice. But oops not enough Zloty (Polish currency) left. So I walked on a bus asked the driver the for the above bus stop, barely able to pronounce it, but the point went through. He saw my lack of funds, said don't worry about it and kindly drove me all the way there. Man with a good heart.
Still a little unsettled for kickstarting a new day of hitching, I approached some drivers in a gas station. Map is beautiful, cause that Polish couple could barely speak a word of English. I wanted to go down the E77 straight through the Slovakian border. At first they named a town I could not locate, and then finally looking at the map, we discovered we were going the same direction! Bingo. No more anxiety.
Further down south was snowy. And Polish countryside in snow is just quite stunning. I was just enjoying some good views, occasionally exchanging a few words, and generally had a good time.
They dropped me off at a town called Rabka, a junction that leads either to toher parts of Poland or straight into Slovakia. Call it a town, Rabka is actually just one main street with houses and shops along it, much like many other Polish villages where state roads go through. Snow was melting so it wans't too hard to walk.
Walked to a better spot and put out an SK sign. A Bulgarian car stopped. Bulgarian traveler who was having a blast in north Poland now on his way home. 15 minutes later, we suddenly found ourselves discussing how to make big bucks in the casinos.
Somewhere in Slovakia after before Polish border.
"You know, when the Soviets came I went to the States and started my business there. Do you like making money? You gotta spot opportunities where people don't spot them. I had this construction company that I started when George Bush had his tax cuts. So I paid for the necessary stuff, but all equipment and machines were exempt from tax! Made quite a bit out of that. Ye and there was this time in Vegas..."Then he proceeded to talk about how a lawyer complained about him building a house in front of the lawyer's house, hence blocking his view. He apparently defeated the lawyer legally and shagged his daughter. His moments of glory I presume.
But one further thing he said was interesting. To this day I still cannot quite figure out the entire idea. But it basically goes as follows: the EU now subsidizes certain energy projects, especially ones in Eastern European countries. What this guy was planning to do was buy cables and land, cover them up. Then talk to energy companies and try to sell them the land which was already built with cables. At the same time apply for EU subsidies so you get parts of your investments back. And with some skiill companies will buy your land at a much higher price. Brief discussions with Brenner led me to think that this could be linked to territorialization of certain unused land by building on it.
Lost thoughts. And we arrived to Ruzomberok. Once we crossed the Slovak border, weather was getting a little better, still dark clouds and such. Ruzomberok was quite a picturesque and colorful town, although rather deadly. Probably cause it was Sunday. Drove around a bit, took some pics, and that was pretty much it. There was really no reason to stay any longer. At least it was more than one main street.
And I understood immediately why there was no page for this down on hitchwiki; it simply wasn't necessary. Road out of town includes one junction with clear directions. With a proper map there was no way anyone could miss it. All I did was then stand under a sign that said Zvolen. Within 20 minutes a car stopped. A small energy company car.
The guy, in his late 20s, was driving down on the way to Nitra, second biggest city of Slovakia if I'm not mistaken. Apparently he drives the around the country once in a while, pretty much every weekend, because his home town was in north Slovakia, girlfriend lives in one town, and he works in Nitra. Busy schedule, but lucky Slovakia isn't too big.
He just wanted to practice his English, and we had fun finding expressions. He just thought it was interesting there was random Chinese guy hitchhiking. First time doing this, he said. Hope I left a good impression.
Along the E77, you eventually hit Donovaly, actually a valley, and a ski resort. Still quite a bit of snow, and definitely a gem if you're to find a less crowded place. Beautiful mountains though.
Donovaly.
Life in Slovakia is tough man, the guy was telling me. Economy isn't doing too good. I'm OK because I have a job, relatively well paid. Apparently it was some energy merger between an Asian and European firm. Details I no longer remember. But he was living an OK life. Unemployment was getting high though and many graduate without jobs. It just seems to be the general picture in East Europe; bleak outlook for the future.We passed Banska Bystrica which was third biggest city I believe? It was sunny now and you just smile when you notice weather changes when you go south. You go through climate zones so quickly you don't even realize, and a few conversations later you suddenly realize sunny spring is in town.
Near Zvolen! Or was it Banska Bystrica?
A complicated web of highways at Zvolen. Glad he went out of his way to take me straight to entrance of the next road. Sunny afternoon, took a break and had a self-made spam sandwich. Spam is just lovely sometimes, especially when fried and served with noodles and fried egg.
Not that many cars on way down to the border, but still a few passed by. Just as I was wondering whether it would be a long wait, within 15 minutes I was picked up. Sign with H and a smiley face certainly helped.
It was the Hungarian couple mentioned in the previous Romanian post that picked me up. I won't talk more of it here, just discussed general economic and political issues. And the origins of Hungarians, which are infinitely fascinating. I still remember a running story in Hong Kong that Hungarians are originally from outskirts of China, those Huns that attacked Mulan. Another instance of popular belief, and beefed up sense of nationalism: see we kicked them all the way to Europe? Looking at Hungarian faces, I had reasons to doubt. But it goes further than that. Linguistically it doesn't make sense as Hungarian is grouped with Estonian and Finnish. Plus Hungarian call themselves Magyar. Then why did the name Hungary stick? Answer from the car: Brits and western European called us that because they thought we were Huns. Somewhere along that lines. But according to wikipedia: originally believed to be ruled by Attila the Hun, a nomadic invader, Hungarians, or better said, tribes of Magyar were part of a Bulgar alliance called On-Ogour (resembling to Hungary phonetically), which in Bulgar-Turkic means 10 arrows, or 10 tribes, which were how the tribes were organized, one of which being Magyar. Interesting facts, may or may not be true, but nationhood is such a fluid concept anyway to which there really is no need to pay too much attention.
Near border.
Border was picturesque. Glad I got on this car because it seemed to be the only car heading south. Timing timing timing. And apparently border town is actually one joint town with the border town on Hungary side. Small village houses as I saw, somewhat different from those in Poland. Good day it was, and I was glad I was making it straight to Budapest.
The rest was history. Rejoined the crew in the Nagy house. And a few days of Hungarian penthouse madness.
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