Where There is Smoke...There May Be Corruption

There is smoke coming from Budapest and it is not a fire, but the fumes of angry citizens over probable corruption. For once, the liberal and conservative media are in agreement that there is something rotten in parliament.

In 2012, in an attempt to wipe out teenage smoking, the government decided to slice the number of licenses for retailers to sell cigarettes country-wide from 42,000 outlets, which included supermarkets and gas stations, to a mere 7,000. Now, being a reformed smoker for over 31/2 years, I don’t much care what they do. Actually, it cuts down on the numbers of smokers blocking the sidewalks outside cafés, restaurants, and other businesses, I am thrilled. It may make negotiating the sidewalk less like a game of Pac Man. 

From the cut and burn of licenses, businesses had to reapply for a license to sell tobacco. What quickly became apparent was that these authorizations were going to those who had close ties to the ruling right-wing party Fidesz party. As things unfolded, it seemed that many had no prior experience in running a business. Some were even family members of the politicians while others were Continental cigarette manufacturer employees. An upper level executive of Continental is a friend of Orban’s chief of staff, who happened to initially author the legislation. 

Wikileaks was not needed here when there was a leak from the Fidesz gang. It included the instructions for the bidding process for the certificates to sell, which included "just as long as the (opposition) Socialists don't win any".

Tobacconist protesters are stating that of the 5,145 former concessions that were once licensed, only 60 have received the bid throughout Hungary. One such protester has stated that he has been selling cigarettes since the 90s and to stop now would not allow him to cover expenses for his business. Being on in years, he has no other employment opportunities. 

After all the bidding had become a done deal, they added several amendments to the legislation. Included was a mighty profitable sales margin of 10 percent. Furthermore, shops may also sell ice cream, drinks, newspapers, and give out small loans. The original law was to sell cigarettes only.

Our next door neighbor, the dog groomer, was ousted from her rental to make way for a National Tobacco store. My private little thrill was to pass her place on a frequent basis to catch a voyeuristic glimpse of the dogs she was grooming. Now, the view is cigarettes.

Related articles

• Hungarians fume over revealing tobacco scandal
• Are E-Cigarettes Safe?
• Fidesz grants tobacconists 10% profit guarantee, permission to sell ice cream

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Guess! Can You?

I was coming back from the gym the other day and has a woman approach me wearing a shirt like this one. Before she could say anything, I said 
“Okay, let me guess. One you are way too old to be wearing that t-shirt, but with your make-up and high heels I would guess you think you can get 20,000 Huf for a half hour. Well, guess again, honey.”

Guess what happened next. 

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Budapest Travel News

I have mentioned before, the terminal 1 of the Liszt Ferenc International Airport will be closed at the end of this month. All budget airlines will be moved to terminal 2. Terminal 1 used to be referred to as "the old airport", "the smaller airport", or "the budget airline airport". Now is will be called the airport that closed. 

As domino effects go, Malév's bankruptcy has started the fall. Malév left a debt of 4.2 billion Huf that it owes the airport. That is some chunk of change regardless of the currency. Add to the mix that tourism is down still with projections that there will be 1 million less passengers coming through the airport this year as opposed to the 8.9 million last year.

What has not been addressed with this news story is what impact the other airlines have on tourism with their ever increasing fees and unreasonable demands. This in itself could have some impact on air travel globally.

Related articles

• Ryanair's rip-off charges help boost profits to record £400MILLION despite higher fuel costs

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• Drop in airport passengers amid issues with carriers

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• Are budget airlines' bad habits being adopted by more established airlines?

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• Budget airlines hike surcharges for passengers ahead of summer

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Did I Need a Study for This?

I just read a new article in the Hungarian to English news that an increasing number of Hungarian businesses close within the first year. Can we all take a deep breathe in and go DUH!!! in unison, please? First of all, this is  and has been an international business fact for as many years as I can remember and for things like this I have a good memory. Why should Hungary be any different? I will share why I think there is a major difference here in two words. Poor planning. 


I have had successful businesses that have last from 3 to 16 years, so I do know something about business. Those that were at the lower end of the longevity scale were closed by my choosing, not because I went out of business for negative reasons. This is my primary observation of new businesses. They don't scope out the area well enough before investing in opening the business. 


For example and I have written this before, within 1 square block of our apartment, there were 7 florists and a few of them were large operations. Before you rent a retail space don't you think you should at least ask yourself "What is the competition here?", "Are these services needed?", and "How much can I afford to invest in remodeling while still saving something for marketing?" I was very sad to see one of my favorite florists close up shop. They had the most beautiful and original window decorations, it was a pleasure to walk by, but they also drew me in to buy.


One street over from us, in one small space in the last five years, there has been an empty store, a fruit/vegetable store, a bike rental, computer store, discount shoe store (no shoes over 1,000 Huf), then a regular shoe store, and currently a cafe. The fact that there is a Turkish restaurant right next door, another restaurant 2 doors away, a Burger King four doors down on the corner, a pub on the other corner, a cafe right around the corner, and three restaurants right around the corner within the block, didn't seem to deter them at all. 


What makes me groan WHHHHHHAAAATTTTT? is when they rip out everything that was left by the previous tenant, including perfectly good tile or painted walls and spend weeks remodeling. They open for 5-8 months if their luck holds and then one day you see any empty store front once again. What a waste of money.


Doesn't anyone know about demographics and marketing?

Related articles

• Imre Kertész's Hungary: a country on the wrong side of history | Florence Noiville (guardian.co.uk)
• How Much Do Florists Earn? (proflowers.com)

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Goodbye Friends - A Business Comes Out

I have decided it is time to come out of the business closet and announce a business I have created. For some time now, I have been running a boutique service, not advertised except by word of mouth. Even at that, I have not shared it with too many. Now, I have decided the time is ripe to make it a full fledged business. After creating the website, I signed up with PayPal merchant services in order to accept credit cards. I think the business is something that everyone can use if they they think seriously about it. You can visit the site for Goodbye Friends here.  I am working on a referral plan for membership discounts, so if anyone has any input, please let me know. However, please use info@goodbyefriends.com.
Send the link to all of your friends real and virtual too. 

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A Week in Review

This week has sped by, so here is a review of the highlights. Our property manager notified me that the real estate agent they work with found tenants for our condo. The only hurdle is that they have to pass the credit inspection of the HOA (Home Owner's Association). The property management company has already cleared them. If the HOA is satisfied, they will move in on June 1st. Like Rumpelstiltskin, we had to promise our first born, ah, rent check to the property manager, so we do not receive anything until July. Keep those fingers crossed.

The thesis grading nightmare has not ended. I had four BA theses to read and grade, but I just finished them today. The first round of State Exams will be this Wednesday. Hopefully, that "I really am on summer break" feeling will kick in before July 1st. Though with almost weekly State Exams on Wednesdays, through June 23 and extras on the 25th, it just may be at bay. 

What I intend to do on my summer vacation, by Ryan James. 


I plan to sort through my photos and find the best the best from the last 17 years. I have found print on demand companies on the Internet where one can create a "store" to sell merchandise from greeting cards to sweatshirts with everything in between on a per order basis. 

Another goal, or as my students love to say, an aim is to create a new website. I have bought the domains www.ryanjames.org, www.drryanjames.com, and drryanjames.net because I am going to get serious about starting a Life Coaching business with specific specializations. Don't waste your time  checking the domains now, there is nothing there. When they are up and running, you will be informed. I really wanted ryanjames.com, or ryanjames.net, but some singer has the .com domain, while some strange little characters that look like they have been kidnapped from South Park are on the .net domain.

In the meanwhile, to keep myself off of the streets, I have been playing around with freebie websites. Here are the ones I have created. 

Dr James Thesis Advising - This has all of the MLA and writing tips. I was tired of repeating it a million times. 

ElTE Journals - Spotlighting my budding writers, they have some of their work here. Good, bad, and indifferent, that is what writing is about, the process. 

Dr James Writing Program - Being the coordinator of this program, having all of my class information and program requirements in one place made sense to me. One stop shopping for students. 

Social Problems MA Class - This is for new class I will be teaching in the MA program come fall. I have not done much more with this site other than create it. The text books I ordered are sitting in Texas, waiting to come here. 

Dr Ryan James - In my travel writer's group, one of the organizers claims there is no such thing as having your name all over the Internet. This is really just a place for me to store things that I will reflect on when I retire. But, it draws attention, so be it.  

BudaBaB - Using the wisdom of more is better for page ranking, I created this supplementary site just to send more people our way. 

BudaBaB Wish Lists - As the name infers, this is where I just humble myself and say, "Hey, if I have helped you with my website and you did not stay with us, here are things I would love to have as a token of your appreciation." I think I did it in a genteel manner.

I have these websites down cold now. I should offer to design websites for people in exchange for books. Any takers?

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And the Real Estate Beat Goes On

In this educational journey of buying property over the Internet, there have been many twists and turns. The Realtor that Mike had referred me to was very pleasant and accommodating for about a week, but then turned. He changed personalities so fast, a schizophrenic would be impressed. Suddenly, he felt we should come live there and rent for a few years before buying anything. Standard reasoning should be clear that if you are paying rent, you are not saving money for your down payment. That aside, he totally by-passed the fact that I said we were looking for an investment until we were ready to move back to the States sometime in the future. This felt like a brush-off because it was just that. Time to move on to Istvan's referral.

I e-mailed this Realtor Larry. gave him the lowdown on what we wanted, where we were at mentally and geographically, and asked if he could/would assist. He immediately arranged for a phone call to discuss things further. We spoke, he said he could help and signed us up for e-mail alerts on properties that came in through his agencies listing services. I was feeling heard and helped. I told Larry how much money we had in cash to buy a place. There were dozens and dozens of places within our range, but he suggested we still try to pre-qualify for a mortgage so that we don't use up all of our cash. He put me in touch with a loan officer at Bank of America. B of A is my secret nemesis, but we do have our checking, savings, and money market accounts with the CA B of A and we had our CA mortgage through them, making this a logical way to go.

The officer Larry referred us to, Peter, is a Platinum Member of B of A's corp of loan officers, the top 5% of the entire corporation. Shiny objects distract me and gain my attention, so Platinum was shiny enough to get me excited about working with Peter. After e-mailing Peter, he responded within a couple of hours. He immediately brushed me off, misreading my e-mail thinking we had no US income at all. Trying to keep my B of A contempt under control, I politely wrote back pointing out the error of his reading. Now understand, we only want a mortgage up to $30,000. It is not like we want to finance 75% of a property. We are just looking for a bit of cushion in case a really hot property comes along that is over our cash threshold. 

First Peter did not know if he could underwrite a loan for Americans living abroad. This took a couple of days and he found he could if we had sufficient US income. Well, I have no US income and our foreign income is not acceptable for US banking standards. Then we found out that the rules for giving loans to US citizens who are living abroad has changed in September 2009, not in our favor, of course. 

After Peter did much investigating, I had to scan and send off Ron's last two tax returns and copies of his 1099s for his retirement and Social Security as well as the evaporating pension fund. I included copies of our B of A bank statements, because I thought they were pretty damned impressive, but obviously not so. Peter wrote back stating that he could not run my credit report without any US income making it totally dependent on Ron. Now here is the glitch. Ron needs to have three open lines of credit to fully qualify. The problem here is that before we left the States, I paid off all of our credit cards and cut up most of them to avoid having debt. Ron still has a B of A Mastercard that he has not used in years and a Diners Club card. Ron's two cards are not enough according to Peter. After some pushing, he agreed to run a credit check anyway. We had a mortgage with B of A up until just five years ago. Ron had his truck loan through B of A. This idea that you have to be in hock up to your neck in order to borrow money is why our economy is in the shape it is in. 

We are waiting for the verdict, but it is not going to ruin my day either way. I can go either way. A mortgage will help Ron's Federal taxes, but being able to pay cash for a place and not having any big debt is are dream come true also.

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A Forest Without a Spirit, a Beach Without Water

Our driver, Dennis, was ready for us at 8am. The owner of the agency came with him and wished us a pleasant journey and also asking that we spread the word. His agency needs business, tourism is really down. They are all struggling for work. As most of our excusions have borne out, the scenery leaving the city is interesting, but not beautiful. With every mile, you are confronted repeatedly with the poverty that abounds, yet the people all look content. As I look at the roadside businesses created in shacks, huts, and tin buildings, I cannot help but wonder how they raised the money to even stock a store. Most of the areas look desolate, not buyers in sight, so it boggles my mind how they can stay in business. Yet, the Coca-Cola delivery man is everywhere as well as their logos.

Driving for close to 2 hours, we finally reached our first destination, the forest. Dennis led us to the office to buy our tickets from the Kenya Forestry Service. At $20 per person, we were official to hike the trails, but if we wanted to drive them, it would cost more. We had thought we were heading for a 'kaya', a spiritual place where we could only be led into by a holy person from the reigning tribe of the particular kaya. Instead, we met Jonathon, our guide for our hike. Jonathon was quick to respond to our questions about this being a kaya, saying it was only part of the National Forestry Service and not associated with any kayas. Our first disappointment in the day's adventures.

I was set to have a spiritual experience, but I was destined to have trees identified for me, butterflies named, and bird watching here and there. Jonathon also found some elephant shrew, but neither of us could spot where he was pointing, so we missed them. The longer we walked the hotter it became. At the end of an hour, Jonathon said, "Wow, is it hot!" My response was that if he thought it was hot, then imagine how we felt. He said the temperature was hovering around 98 degrees and the storm clouds above proved that the humidity was just as high. We walked to the elephant trail, passing through an electric fence to keep the elephants in their own area. Part of the forest is a sand quarry where they mine the sand for making glass. It is the finest, silkiest sand I have ever felt. He took us to a tree house for a look-out point. It was too high for my taste, so I stayed behind, not having an appreciation of heights. Ron climbed up, but did not return with exaltations, so I guess I did not miss much. It turned out Jonathon was in a hurry to leave early today to attend a friend's wedding. We told him we saw enough trees, so we could return to the office. There were a splendid assortment of butterflies, but as their nature is, they do not stay still long enough to pose for a picture. I did not take a single photo during this forestry venture. There were also no spiritual experiences to be had either.

The next stop was a special beach with a boardwalk. However, when we arrived, we found that there was an 800 shilling (8 euro) admission charge per person, so we decided to forgo it and moved on. It was deserted, so I think the entrance fee was dissuading visitors. The final stop was a premier beach in Mombasa. It was littered with vendors selling drinks. Each had about 20 bottles of soda or water to offer, the extent of their stock. The beach was empty, but the sand went for a mile before reaching ocean. Seaweed was decorating the sandy beach brought in during high tide and left there. Some seashells were interspersed with the green leaves, but nothing is allowed to be removed from shores, leaving me helpless as a collector.

Ron decided he needed to dip his feet in the water, so I waited with Dennis. Ron had a long walk ahead of him, but finally reached his thighs. Dennis said that at 4pm, the beach would be filled, because this is when the water returns. All those that were arriving early with their inner tubes and water toys were in for a disappointment for a few hours to come.

With the beach half way back to the hotel, the ride to return was shorter, but once we reached the hotel at 1:30pm, there was not much to do.  It was too hot to explore Fort Jesus again, so we stayed in the room and read or wandered down to the patio for a cup of tea. With non-stop air conditioning, the hotel is a welcomed refuge, unlike Zanzibar, where the electric goes off and on. There are often entertainers on the patio also, usually a trio playing all of the golden oldies of the American music. One singer joined in for some time and sounded like Louie Armstrong.

One thing that I cannot fault anyone for in our experience is the service we have received. Everywhere we have been the service has been excellent from top to bottom. A couple of times, we have walked in on the maid cleaning our room. Each day, the furniture is polished, the sheets are changed, and the floors are mopped, in addition to all of the usual cleaning duties one would expect.   

Behind the hotel is a Chinese-Malaysian restaurant. We gave it a try for dinner. The food was great, but it was curious to see an all Black staff in a Chinese restaurant.

To read more about a Kaya forest, go here.

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New Years Eve

This is an exercise in absurdity. Our hotel prefers cash payments due to their electric problems, but also with the bank's electric problems. They cannot always get the credit card to go through. They could do it the old fashioned way of calling it in, but they claim they cannot always get through. Yada, yada, yada. For a large expensive, full service hotel, you would think they had a better back up system to aid the guest. When they do take credit cards, they ONLY take VISA, not MasterCard. So my questions that went unasked are why they do not warn guests in an e-mail prior that they first of all are having the electric problems on the island, which may cause disruptions, second that they would prefer cash, and third that ATMs that work are as rare as the Red Colobus monkeys are on Mars. The worst part of this is that the hotel 236 Hurumzi, is owned by an American who opened it over ten years ago and has expanded it ever since. You would think he would know better by this time how to handle tourism, but he admitted to us that he does not even own a credit card. All well and good for him, but he is not the guest.

My original intent was to pay the bill using my MasterCard debit card on our euro account. This was not going to work if they only took Visa. Being hotter than 6 feet from the sun's surface today, Ron suggested we take a taxi to the Barclays Bank where we knew our MC and their ATM would play nicely together. The taxi took us to the bank passing the People's Commerce Bank along the way, where only Visa is accepted, but they had a line snaking 2 blocks long, none of it in the shade. At the Barclays, I jump out. There is a mob, not a line, but a mob. After a few hand signals from non-English speaking natives, I come to find out they are waiting to get into the bank itself. Only 2 are allowed inside at a time. There were only 4 people ahead of me for the ATM. Jackpot! Well, for 5 minutes it seemed like a winner, but then an armored truck pulled up. The security guard with a big fat machine gun made everyone leave the area. Only the person standing at the ATM in the middle of a transaction was allowed to finish. Ron was sitting the air conditioned taxi waiting. When I popped back in, the driver suggested another bank. That bank had 2 ATMs, but no line. Suspiciously, I approached. No electric on either one. The guard confirmed they were not working. Back in the taxi, we went to another. Same story, different bank. The fourth bank had a line, so that was a good sign. I was number twelve. There were 2 women in there together who were taking so long, the guard went in twice to yell at them. Ten minutes later, they emerged and they were already in there when I arrived. Calculating how long it would take me to reach the machine, standing in the hot sun, watching Ron and the driver sit in the air conditioned car, I put curses on the hotel, Zanzibar, Tanzanian banks, and everyone else adding to my discomfort in the heat. I jumped back in the taxi telling Ron the hotel could take a credit card and like it. This was their fault after all for not warning us. Just by chance, I had the driver take us back to the first Barclay's bank. No truck, only 3 people in line for the machine, I jumped out, told Ron to send the taxi on his way. It had now cost us more than twice the original amount quoted. Eureka! I was able to get the money needed.

Walking back, we went through the big market. I bought another bag of vanilla beans for less than what I paid on the spice tour. I had him through in a bag of red saffron too. We stopped at the Zanzibar Coffee Company on the way. It is not air conditioned, but they did have fans and it was cooler than outside. When we made it back to the hotel, we counted out our money.

After paying the hotel and paying for the New Year's dinner tonight, we had about $6.00 left over for all day New Year's Day. Oh, hell! Originally, we had booked the New Year's dinner here at the hotel, which was supposed to be quite a show with entertainment and multi-course meal, but when we checked in we saw that it was $125.00 per person. There was no way we were going to pay that, so we canceled those reservations right quickly and hoped something else would turn up. With the electric issues, it was iffy which restaurants would be open and who could cook, but we found that the Fort Museum had a buffet and entertainment three nights a week. One of the nights was Thursday, which happened to be New Year's Eve. We booked it for $25. each. 

On the way, I started thinking about our lack of funds, so took the Visa ATM card with us. We went to the bank that has the long lines all of the time, because it was closest. Ron fussed that we could do this tomorrow, but I insisted that doing it after the sun has set was smarter than during the heat of the day. At the rate people were going through the line, he estimated we would finish in an hour. An hour tonight was better than 2 tomorrow. When we were 4th in line, people came out crumbling, all natives. When I asked someone what they were saying, I did not like the response. The machine is out of money. Well, I would not take that for an answer, so while the rest were moaning, I moved forward. Like hitting the lottery, the money spit out. We could eat another day.

At the fort, we bought our tickets. The "restaurant" is outdoor seating at the edge of the historic fort built by somebody to protect their conquered goods from being ripped off by some other invader who really had no right to be here to begin with. The buffet was simple at best, not having 1/2 of what is advertised for other dinner buffets. Rice, chippata, stewed vegetables, beef on a skewer, chicken, fish, and fruit. Drinks were extra. Supposedly an all-you-can-eat buffet, it all disappeared after the first half hour. The entertainment consisted of a drummer, and accordianist, and two female singers who sang to us in Swahili. Grand total, there were 8 of us there for dinner and 2 others who were there for the show only. By 9:30, it was all over. Such a festive New Years were were having.

To work off that one shot at the buffet we had, we walked around the park. It was grounded and the food vendors were there selling their food. Deciding that this year was not going to be as festive as the last two, we returned to the hotel. Outside on the street, three dancers were performing Swahili dances. All the neighborhood came to watch, so we sat and watched also. When they were done, we went to our little cafe for a cup of tea. Moments later the dancers and drummers followed us in and gave us a command performance, but their command, not ours. It was fun, but by 11pm, we were in bed reading and slept through the changing of the years.  

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Money Woes Is Me

Thunderstorms this morning, making the air feel like we are swimming around the room. Humidity does not begin to describe it with the oppressive heat. Last night, we left the screened windows open for air; the ceiling fan was working overtime too. When I peeled myself from the sheets, it was obvious it had rained in. Luckily, my computer and camera were on the shelf under the closed window.

By the time, we made our way down our 2 flights of stairs, across the hotel and then 4 flights of stairs to the breakfast room, artificial resuscitation would have been welcomed. These stairs are not really stairs, they are like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Each one takes a contortionist movement of the legs to reach the next step. A Slinky going down them would give up in disgust and refuse to go further than 2 steps out of fear of heights. Though, the staff run up and down them like they were nothing, but the staff is mostly under 25 years old too. 

Armed with umbrellas that we never needed, we went to explore the city. A walking tour is offered, but we did not make it in time to book it, so we hoofed it on our own starting at the seaside and working our way through the maze of streets. With the electric problems, customers need to shop and plan out where to eat early in the day or there may not be as many options past 4pm. Sunset is at 6:15pm every day and by 6:45pm, it is dark. We were told this is because of the proximity to the equator. It was the same in Kenya, too. If you are looking for a glorious sunset, don't sneeze or you will miss out. 

One of the shops we came across has a number of batiked items, jewelry and hand woven scarves. Many of the products support the Masai Women's Collective to aid them in being financially independent. One of the things that attracted my attention were wonderful lounging pants, one size fits all. The skinny salesman/artist showed us how they work for keeping them in place. I had the idea of getting 2 sets for each of the bedrooms and one for each of us. Guests can use them for lounging or to come to breakfast before showering and then we just launder them when they leave us. They are wonderful 'hang-around' on a lazy day type pants; my kind of clothing. We picked out other things we wanted to buy as gifts, but without cash could only promise to return. Supporting a women's collective and young artists makes me feel like my money is well spent.

Our next venture was to the market. Stall after stall, it was not much different than Cairo or Morocco, but smaller. Everyone has a bargain; everyone wants to sell you something. The items of choice are vanilla beans and saffron. Both are dirt cheap here. In CA, the supermarkets used to keep both under lock and key due to the expense and theft. Here you can buy either for $2.00 a pod for vanilla or a packet of saffron. I will stock up before we leave. At the market and everywhere else people are hawking bags of cashews, spices, or DVDs of Swahili top ten hits. Not that I am interested, but I am curious if there really is a DVD of music in the wrapped cover they offer.

We decided we had better find an ATM and get some cash. What we had was wearisomely low. When we found the bank, there was a long a block long to use the machines. Where these due to the electrical problems or just a run on the bank? I stood in line for over thirty minutes while Ron tried finding another bank. When I finally found the machines in eye sight, I saw the Visa logo only. This was a concern since our bank ATM is a MasterCard. Sure as there is a death at the end of life, the machine would not accept my card. But, it did not inform me of this right out. We played cat and mouse with false hopes before it flashed "REJECTED, cannot make this transaction". Two blocks away was a Barclays Bank, so we went there. Suspiciously, there was no line. We went in the door, it was air conditioned. We could have stayed there for longer if the "We are sorry for the inconvenience, but this machine is currently not working. Please try again later" message flashing on the screen was not so discouraging. Now fear was creeping in. Most places do not take credit cards, but even if they could, without electricity then cannot run the cards. They have not learned or don't want to bother calling it in the old-fashioned way.

Diagonally from Barclays a half block down was another bank. I went there, but no machine at all. The bank had closed down.  With cash concerns, we returned  to our room to think things out. Some of my best ideas come when I am on the computer and sure enough, I remembered while uploading some posts that our other bank card was a Visa debit card. This is not the account I wanted to draw from, but if push came to possibly having to steal to get money, we would do it. First, we returned to Barclays. It did say to check back later and this was later. Now the damn machine was not even lit up. Someone must have shut off the generator. Back to the other bank, with fingers crossed, it swallowed my card and spit out cash. Hope of shopping trips returned, not to mention eating another meal after the provided breakfast. 

Now feeling flush, we went to the Old Fort where there is an old fort, hence the name, but also a tour booking service and tourism information. We booked the Spice Tour for tomorrow. As luck would have it, three Swedish people from our hotel arranged the same tour and requested an air conditioned van or they would  not go. Thank you Swedes.

Across the street from the fort and on the waterfront is a large park that was refurbished and reopened this year. By 6pm, it was filled with food venders cooking on grills and selling their foods. One such was grilling a root type vegetable which we had never seen before.  There was a young couple eating one nearby. I took a chance they were tourists and asked about it. It is called a maniok (we are not sure of the spelling). It is similar to a potato, but a bit different taste. We tried one and it was good, especially hot off of the grill, but not as good as it could have been slathered in butter. Another foodsmith nabbed us to show us all of his offerings. He could have been named Neptune; he had every type of sea creature ready to grill as well as potatoes, sweet potatoes (African are a bit different from what we are used to), chicken or beef on a stick, falafel, and coconut bread. After his whole speech, we turned him down and went to our cafe next to the hotel.

The soup of the day was pumpkin with coconut milk. Could I resist? No! It was delicious; so good in fact, I could have forgotten about a main dish, but I had a chicken fajita, also recommendable. Tomorrow night, we may just may attempt the food on the go, in the park, for dinner.

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Hello Paul Roberts

Hello Paul Roberts,

This comment came through: “Wonderful story, you might look at using PayPal to transfer the money to the school bank account.” Thanks Paul! For a wild moment after reading your comment, I had a long ‘DUH!!’ moment and was ready to give myself a swift kick for not thinking about this. BUT, before I did something self-abusive, my memory loss was reverted. I have a PayPal account; however, gosh darn them, they will not send money to Hungary. Hungary is not in the Euro zone yet and I guess PayPal does not want to muddle around with Forints.

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Tossing Money to the Wind

A Hungarian benefactor living in the US gave our department at the university a check for $2,000. An American check here is worthless. You cannot cash it for less than $60.00 in fees and it takes up to six months. The faculty on the other hand was all salivating at the prospect of spending it. The list included a projector for PowerPoint presentations, an all-in-one fax/copier/scanner, and the list went on. This demanded a faculty meeting to decide how to spend this worthless piece of paper and how to cash it.

While sitting in the meeting fairly disinterested since none of my suggestions were receiving any attention, when it came around to how to cash the check, I felt six pairs of eyes burning into my face. Well here is an idea, we will give it to Ryan and he can deposit it in his US bank account in CA and then give us the money. Oh, boy! Did I NOT like that idea. But, I had them mail the check certified to a friend in CA who deposited into my account. Then the next issue was how to get it back. The options were to take it out in $400.00 increments, my daily ATM allowance from the bank with a $5.00 charge for each plus their ‘we can screw you’ currency conversion charge of 10%. Option two was more fiscally sound. I could shop for what they wanted, pay by credit card and then pay off my credit card immediately with the money in the account. They wisely chose option two for ¾ of the money.

However, the patron gave them yet another check for another $2,000. My nightmare all over again, but this time they wanted it in cash. Yikes! It seemed like a brainstorm to get a cash advance from the ATM on a credit card. I took out the max equivalent of $1,000.00 and shoved it into a pocket in my wallet. I would do this in two installments; after all, they were dependent on my generosity to get the cash either way. They would just have to wait for the cash sequel.

So I have this thick wad of Hungarian forint bills stuffed in my wallet and I am heading to the metro. This was one of those days when the ticket inspectors were checking tickets before you could attempt to get on the escalator to the trains. They mob up there like defensive guards at a sporting event. Traffic is slowed to a snail’s pace and everyone is suddenly in a hurry even if they were not five minutes before. Not being concerned, having my annual pass, I open my wallet to display it as I go gliding by onto the moving stairway. I am bumped in the back by the next anxious passenger throwing me forward as I am trying to put my wallet back in my backpack. That does not happen, though. The wallet goes flying into the air, gravity and airflow of the escalator tunnel pulling it open and forint bills go flying through the air like confetti at a wedding. A thousand dollars of forints are traveling faster than I am and in all directions. People going down are angry and disappointed that those on their way up have the catcher’s advantage and the best escape. I immediately visualize wrestling Hungarians to the ground or getting a second job to recoup this money.

When I finally reach the lower level, my reverie comes to an end, I loosen the tight grip on my wallet and put it snuggly into my backpack thinking of what could have been.

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Rain, Rain, Go Away

The phone alarm was set for 9:00 am, but at 3 in the morning, the alert warning of an SMS pierced through the silence and my dreams. My immediate thought was that it could not be morning already, and it was not, just an SMS. It must have taken hours to reach me since it was from one of our booking agencies, yet they close at 11:00 pm. Delayed reaction in the phone service, I guess. In my sleep, I must have shut the alarm off in the process of reading the message, because it was off when I awoke at 10:15 this morning.

I felt like I was behind schedule, and then realized that I am on vacation and there is no schedule. I am alone and do not have to worry about anyone’s desires, but my own. Still I did not want to waste the day. I have this feeling that not being out in the city is a desecration of valuable time. The shower was uncooperative. There is a two dial system, one for water on and off, the other for hot water. The water went on fine, but there was no hot, just three degrees colder than iceberg. I could not force myself to the torture for more than two minutes, so my hair did not get washed.

Breakfast was similar to what we serve: coffee or tea, white and brown bread, three large slices of cheese, three of a lunch meat, peanut butter, and nutella. There were two Brits across from me, but they left shortly after I arrived, two women across and to the left of me, but they did not communicate except with each other. Two Americans wandered in and sat next to me, but were busy dishing two women they were traveling with, and one Brit single man on the end. Not much social intercourse happened outside of the established groups.

As circumstances would have it, rain was pouring down in buckets. The incentive for me to get out is to take pictures. However, when I have to consider juggling a camera and umbrella, my enthusiasm dwindles to nil. I took my time with breakfast, watched some news in my room, and headed out by 1:00. The sun was shining and it looked like it had never rained that morning.

Where to go, where to go, that was my decision for the morning. I had no idea. I decided to try the number 14 tram line, but started to get impatient waiting for it to arrive, so I walked the line instead. After walking about three tram stops, I decided it was not worth continuing. The outlook for something interesting was not promising. I turned back and went to Hard Rock Café to buy some pins. Walking the streets beyond the hotel, I found some interesting buildings. Since I love the architecture here, I was able to snap some shots.

I walked through the flower market and took some pics of the flowers for sale. This was insurance if I do not see what I hope at the tulip growing area. The water on the cellophane was either from the rain or they were freshly sprayed for freshness. Some of the colors are amazing.

From here it was on down to the Dam, where the Royal Palace is located toward the Central Station. As I approached the Dam, there was a demonstration in process. There was a woman giving a speech on two huge screens projecting her image from the stage. There were red and white balloons floating in the air, with words that escaped my understanding. As I was snapping pictures, a young man offered me a paper, but I said I could not read it. Then I questioned him about the purpose of what was happening. He explained it was a demonstration about illegal rent increases. When I responded that I thought it might have been something about the immigration issues, he smiled and said “Not this time.”

I walked to the Central Station and then was going to walk around it, but there is a highway there. I was in search of a coffee shop that my friend Earl and I found when he and I were here. I was turned around for a minute, but then realized where I needed to turn. It was about 45 minutes of walking that I found the coffee shop. It was filled with people and there was not a seat to be had. I kept walking for another 30 minutes before turning back to try again for a seat. When I returned, there were a few seats available. I had a picture of this coffee shop from the last time. They have one wall with built in containers of rainbow colors along the wall, each filled with coffee beans.

On the table, there was a flower arrangement. One of the lilies in the vase was just above my eye view, so the pollen falling out was obvious. It seemed like such an interesting shot to be called “Spilling the seed”. I took a couple of shots of it hoping one would turn out since it was such a close up. Then as I was looking up, I noticed the lily in bloom along side of a branch of a plant just getting ready to bud, seemed so significant that it needed to be photographed also.

From here I went to the Magna Shopping Center. The building looks like a royal building, so I am curious of its history. It is a splendid building and the last time I was in it was with Ron is 2001 when St. Nicholas was holding court for the children. Even without the Christmas décor, it is a magnificent building to spend some time in. A constant battle was playing out in my head. One side was saying well, you are not doing anything important, so why not go back to the hotel and read. The other side argued that the sun was shining, the air was clean, stay out and enjoy it. So, I walked, looked, and wandered down streets I had never explored, went into stores never ventured into, and checked out the urban shopping centers. It seems that you can learn much about a culture from their shopping centers. The architecture is usually unique, but also the stores that are housed in the center give the curious mind just how far globalization has spread. It pleased me that in these centers uncovered today, there were no stores that could be labeled American.

Thus far, my transportation pass has been more of an insurance policy than a useful tool. It has lived in my jacket pocket all day today, not once getting a chance to be displayed. For 9.30 Euros for 72 hours, it is not a great waste.

One discovery that was unexpected, especially for me was a church. Amongst the urban jungle of shops, full scale stores, and shopping centers, there is a Roman Catholic Church. I know I have passed by it dozens of times in past visits, not to mention the current one, but it has never called out to me before. Perhaps this is the first time the doors were open, I do not know, but I went in. As churches go, it is not outstandingly beautiful inside. It is rather plain and the statues look like cheap quality reproductions. The sign said that the renovations have just been completed, but the organ is still silenced, please donate to give it sound once again.

As I walked to the front, I found it curious that half of the church was filled with pews, while the rest has chairs toward the front. What really caught my eye was the stained glass on the left altar window. The colors sung out and I heard their call. Stained glass and mosaics always interest me. The altar was beautifully carved, but again there was nothing else to make this church distinguishable. Then I noticed a large board with note up toward the statues of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The English explanation was that during the reformation, Holland followed and Catholicism was illegal. On the space where the church is currently, was a house where Catholics met clandestinely to worship. The only identifying fact was a street tile in front with a parrot on the tile. Hence, this church is named the Church of the Parrot and there is a parrot hanging in the back of the church.

On the way back to the hotel, the thought of fulfilling Ron’s wish of having an order of French fries with curry sauce, ran through my mind, so I went to my favorite place for them. Okay, check! That is done. Whew, what responsibilities are involved when traveling.

At 6:00, one side of me won the battle and returned all of me to the hotel for some reading and a nap. I conquered the hot water and had a long shower when I woke. Now it is 9:50 pm and I have yet to eat dinner. I was tempted to return to the Chinese all you can eat in one hour place that Ron and I ate at in 2001. It is still here and still you only get one hour to chow down, but at this late hour, they most likely are closed. There are a number of places with sandwiches and slices of pizza, so I will grab something. What has been interesting for me to observe about myself it that there are a number of places where normally I would love to stop to sample food, like the bagel shops. It seems that each time I come across one of these types of establishments, I question whether or not I am hungry, realize that I am not, and then move on. My only sampling today was an apple pastry in a cheese shop. Now I am hungry.

The plan for tomorrow is to find the tulips outside of Leiden.

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