TE 2009 – Day 5 (Aug 16)
Tuesday, 8 September 2009Jakarta, Indonesia
After another mediocre breakfast at the hostel, we went to see The Blue Church (from outside only) before catching the 11:50 train to Budapest. The train ride took around 2.5 hours and cost €13.80 per person. Nice train. Taxi (HUF 2300) from train station to Origo hostel, where we arrived 15:30.
Now the fun began. We had originally booked a room at Friends hostel, but due to renovation, the management had booked us into Origo hostel instead. But when we arrived at Origo, the woman in charge said it was full(!), and instead tried to get us a room at BC hostel, a block further down the street. However, the responsible person at BC hostel didn’t answer the bell nor the phone, and the door was closed. So the woman in charge at Origo told us to wait. And so we did for 3.5 hours. I killed time by enjoying two beers at the cafe downstairs, while Astrid and Saras waited inside Origo. Finally a somewhat drunk guy (Alex) turned up and was very sorry, and promised to make good by offering dinner the next day. We was finally able to check-in to BC at 19:00. Not much time was left of the day, however, and we just went out in search of food, and strolled a bit along the Danube River, before calling it a night.
We paid €11 per person per night at BC, which was the original price agreed with Friends hostel. Shared bathroom outside the room, which was nice enough. The city block looked pretty rundown and there were even bullet marks in the concrete, but the hostel property itself was renovated.