Help, I Am Melting

This last 2 weeks have been hot! Blistering hot is more like it. Budapest has a number of micro-climates, but ours had been tipping the thermometer between 95F-103F. Sure, there are many places in the US where it gets just as hot, but they generally have AIR CONDITIONING.

On one of the hottest nights, Ron suggested we dine out since I need to review restaurants for my Frommer's assignment anyway. He went through my list calling places to see who had A/C and who didn't. This is like Santa's good or naughty list come summer time. He discovered a Thai restaurant, Parázs Prezzó that I had wanted to try. Jackpot! They have A/C. Reservations were made for 7pm and we were there on the dot waiting to be cooled and fed. For once we did not care how efficient the service was, the longer they took, the more air conditioning we could absorb into our pores. If we could only do a slow release of the coolness, like a time release vitamin capsule, it would be perfect.

When we arrived the place was jammed, but three tables had reserved signs on them. The woman behind the bar said “Sit anywhere!” even before we said we had reserved our space. Once we adopted our table the two waiters went into a confab, while shooting looks in our direction. They were too far away speak to, but I could have written a note on the napkin “We did have a reservation!” to hold in the air. Interestingly, not one worker who was visible was of Asian heritage. Yes, we all know that Hungarians originally came from somewhere in Mongolia, but those facial traits have long since evaporated through cross-breeding with other Europeans.

Once I relaxed and realized we were not going to be evicted from our feeding ground, it dawned on me the air temperature was barely cooler than outside. Perhaps the air was on, but with some many hot bodies, it really wasn’t cool. Neither was the food, it was hot and my carrot salad was spicy hot. Incredibly good! This restaurant gets two thumbs up.

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And the Weather Today...

Today's weather has been brought to you by a melted BudgetNomad. Yesterday's temperature created a new record for that day in July.

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Hot Under the Collar, the Shirt, the Pants...

HOT!! Can you say it is hot? It has been hot for days now, but the last couple it has been 90 degrees or hotter. If you want that is Celsius, use Google to figure it out. I am too hot to be bothered. What is the forecast for tomorrow? More hot, but with an er, so hotter.

If you are reading this while in air conditioning, know right now I dislike you very much. Air conditioning here in Budapest is as ubiquitous as the proverbial teats on a boar. Joints to the mall are worthless, where the temperatures hover about four degrees lower than outside. One store, LUSH, which once had an open kiosk on the mall floor, had to close down when all of their handmade natural soaps melted one summer. 

The only place to find relief is at the movies where you literally need to wear a jacket since the A/C is cranked up like it is on steroids. Alas, there is only one movie theater left were they show movies in English on a regular basis and have air conditioning. We just may have to camp out there if this continues. 

When I was with my one private student today, he was telling me his partner's electric bill has gone up 150,000 Huf since using the air conditioning. That is more than my monthly salary at the university. 

Reading that many Americans are going without too due to economics is...can I say heartWARMing? 

"A study by the Pew Research Center, “Luxury or Necessity? The Public Makes a U-Turn,” Rich Morin and Paul Taylor, (April 23, 2009), showed that the percentage of Americans who considered “air” a necessity, rather than a luxury, peaked to 60% in 2006, and dropped sharply to 45% in 2009. This was attributed to economic decline. In spite of widespread use of air-conditioning, there are numerous families existing without “air” for the first time. Many live their entire lifetimes without “air.” This is evidenced by emergency requests for fans when a heat-wave occurs. The fact that it is okay to live without "air" is supported by overwhelming evidence that air-conditioning is not “green.” Quoted from here.

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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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Happy 2010

We made our last trek up the mountain of stairs for breakfast today. We leave at 5am tomorrow morning for Mombasa, Kenya. Zanzibar was nice, but we overstayed. Seven nights is too long. As romantic as the name sounds, there is not a lot to do and those who come expecting beautiful beaches are gravely disappointed. Add in the electric and banking issues and it can make it extremely challenging.

Honestly, over two weeks into this trip, we planned it the way we usually plan trips, but we goofed this time around. Normally, what we do is pick the time we want to be away and then fill in what we want to do, where we want to stay, and what we want to see within that range. Up to this trip, this method has worked well for us. As I said, in retrospect, 7 days on Zanzibar is too long. Four days would have been plenty. We could have done the turtle tour to spend another day doing something, but we had the feeling there were would be as many turtles as there were dolphins, making it a waste of money. 

The beaches in Stonetown are not swimming beaches, they are for the fishing boats and tourist dhows, though there is not much of a beach anyway. The better beaches are a taxi ride away. We are not beach people anyway, but those we know who have come for the beaches swore they made a mistake. The sights on the island are limited. Today, we did go to the old palace of the Sultan. It was interesting, but in dire need of repair in every inch of the place. 

We saw the fort last night when we went to dinner, we did the spice, dolphin, and monkey tour. We toured every touristy souvenir shop innumerable times and they all have basically the same merchandise.

We have seen more of the hotel room here than we ever have on any vacation. Part of this is that the heat and humidity wipes us out, but there really is not much to persuade us to stay out for. Been there, done that. We could have cut it short, but live and learn. According to the owner of the 236 Hurumzi Hotel, Stonetown is the largest city on the island and there is not much else on the rest of the island. Even if there were, we would need to taxi there, the public transportation consists of trucks with lengthwise benches in the back. When they are filled up, they go to the destination. After arriving someone, we may never be seen again, not knowing how to return again.

A stop at Mercury's for a drink took some time today. Later, we went to another restaurant we had drinks at previously, but this time Ron had a pizza. One last trip through the shops was just to waste some time until the fan and air conditioning at the hotel were turned on again. For dinner, we went to Monsoon Restaurant, but almost didn't. We wanted to have a drink on the terrace and dinner inside. They refused to allow us a drink outside, but would serve us dinner inside. Not understanding their reasoning, we questioned it again when the manager, a German woman overheard us. She came to the rescue and said it was fine. Inside, you leave your shoes at the door and sit on mats on the floor. Dinner was good, but my chicken curry was a leg and thigh only. Ron had prawns and a healthy serving of them too.

We did our last stop at Kilude Cafe, said good-bye to Esther, our favorite waitress and went to bed for a 4:30 am wake-up call.

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Hello and Good-bye

In our four plus years of running our B and B, we have never had an experience like this. A couple of days ago, we received a call from the BKV, next door. The BKV is the company that runs the whole of the transport system in the city. They had some people there who were looking for us, but could not find us. When I had them on the phone, the man said they had a booking with us for Saturday, but did not want to wander looking for us, so decided to 'check us' out ahead of time, but they could not find us. I gave them specific directions, including the bell to ring. The BKV employee came back on the phone, I gave them to her also and she offered to walk them next door. We are within spitting distance. They arrived, I told them over the intercom that the door has no sound, but to just push it open. Then, I explained, take the elevator to the fourth floor and I would meet them. I listened for the elevator, but did not hear, but went out to meet them and found they were climbing the stairs huffing and puffing. Being they were an older couple, I quickly, mentally reviewed my CPR skills. Thankfully, I did not have to depend on memory. The man greeted me with an angry recourse of not being able to find us after they walked back and forth past the building. Let me say, which I did not to them, the building is clearly marked with a building number unlike many in the city. It is difficult to miss if you are looking. The man's stream of complaints were that once they did find the building, they had no idea which buzzer to press. I cautiously stated that not only is the information on our website in multiple places, but I am compulsive about putting the information on e-mails confirming a reservation and all subsequent e-mails that transpire thereafter. The wife sheepishly confessed she never did print any of them out. When I asked why they did not take the elevator, thinking a fear of such apparatus, they shocked me with the statement that they could not find it. How does one miss passing a large shaft in the middle of the stairwell? Okay, perhaps you by-pass the door on the first little landing that is three steps from the foyer level, but once you have climbed the first flight of stairs with the open wire cage to your left, surely you must know there is an elevator there. My fellow Americans, you can really be stupid and cause me embarrassment in calling myself an American. It is intelligence like this that causes great fear for the upcoming elections. They finally get into the apartment; we offer them tea and they accept. I could tell immediately, I did not like the husband. He reminded me of a retired Marine Captain, sitting there smug and condescening, though he could not find an elevator in front of his nose. We were pleasant and jovial and just the day before, we had guests return to say hello and spend an hour with us before taking off, because they said they felt like our extended family. If so, this couple here were the dreaded in-laws like the move Meet the In-laws. The husband made me feel like I was in Guantanmo and he was cross examing me. They were staying at the Marriott currently since his company was footing the bill, but once they had to reach into their own pockets, they wanted something lower on the financial food chain. "So, our son and his new bride are coming tomorrow. We want them to have the best time since they were just married. What do you suggest they do?" My first thought was to respond that I needed to get my crystal ball out, but instead I asked what their interests were? From the look on his face, you would have thought I had said your son married a transsexual and they adopted a baby from Somalia. In reality, it seemed that he had never been introduced to his son and had no clue what his son enjoyed other than women. As difficult as it was, we made the best of a bad situation. The wife asked to use the bathroom, but I knew it was an opportunity to snoop around. It was so transparent. Ron offered to show her the rooms, since they booked both. When she returned, she was gracious, they stayed and talked for another thirty minutes or more and then left. Though we were dreading it, they were due this afternoon and all was ready for them. We had gone breakfast item shopping; the fridge was stocked. At 11:00 am today, the day they were due to arrive, the phone rings. It is the wife. She is calling to cancel the reservation. After thinking about it, the son and new wife will be honeymooning and since there is no a/c, they may be too hot. There is no a/c in any hotel under four stars and not all of them have it. The only sure bet is five stars and a fat nightly charge. She offered to give us some money for the late cancellation, which I should have accepted, but honestly, I was so flabberghasted, I said no. Really, I wanted her to feel guilty and not feel like she bought it off with money, but anyone who cannot find an elevator will not have the capacity to think beyond tomorrow. The reality in my own mind is that the husband did not feel comfortable with us, the wife found us and made the plans without an ounce of his input, which he probably did not offer, and then brow beat her for making a mistake in his judgment. She was the sacraficial lamb having to make the call to cancel. I have been mentally torn about this. Anger over the rudeness of a last minute cancellation when they were here 2 days ago, was the utmost viable emotion I was feeling. As I had told her, we denied many bookings that overlapped their time here and could have rebooked the room. GUILT, GUILT, or at least a feeble attempt. It was not the money as much as the principle of not telling us sooner, but waiting until that morning. I feel judged and took it personally, though honestly, I did not feel comfortable with them anyway. I can honestly say that in our years, we have been fortunate to have guests who we truly enjoyed. Some we have had more interaction with than others, but that is their choice; it is their vacation. However, we have never received more than outstanding complements on our home and hospitatlity. We received dozens and dozens of e-mails from former guests just giving us updates on their lives and wanting to stay in touch. The husband and wife that returned to say hello were here for four days before going to a Habitat for Humanity project for two weeks and returned to share their experiences. All in all, I should be thankful this couple and their son did not stay. It may have ruined a long streak of good luck and happy memories. I do hope that where they finally chose to stay, they were able to find the elevator.

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The Heat is Back

We had some hot days last week, but then a weather front came through with torrential rain. It just stymies me how forceful the rain can be. Having been to Niagra Falls, Iguazu Falls, and Viktoria Falls, there are some close resemblances at times. Yesterday was 85 degrees and today will hit 92 degrees. Going to the mall is not an option for cooling off. Their air conditioning is not strong enough to keep the soap kiosks from closing in the summer. The one year they remained open, all of their product was a soupy mess all over their display counter. This is good training. We are planning our trip to Australia for December. Alice Springs gets up to 112 degrees. Good thing we lived in the central valley of CA. We know heat.

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