March 7, 2025 • 40 mins
Adam's love affair with bath houses continues as he visits the city of Budapest, Hungary's vibrant capital. Unfortunately, whilst at the renowned Széchenyi thermal baths, he loses his cherished silver necklace and pendant, both of which were gifts from his Grandmothers.
Hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, the search begins to recover his family treasure. Tune in to an episode of mixed emotions!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I lost my most prized possession.
Play the theme music. Hello and welcome to this
(00:20):
episode of Tripology. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
ever steaming Adam. I'm suitably steamed, mate.
I'm as soft as a baby's bum. Oh.
Like a little Chinese dumpling steams to with a pinch of your
life. You know what's so funny about
that is that after saying it, I immediately, immediately
thought, oh, why didn't I say like a Chinese dumpling?
(00:42):
And you said it. I'm so glad you said that.
Exactly like that, mate. Soft and supple.
That's it. We're best friends.
We're In Sync, we think of the same things.
We've got synesthesia across ourminds, Thinking things, smelling
things, saying things. That's tropology.
Mate, I'm having such a good time.
I am having a good time. I'm missing you dearly though.
There's been so many things overthe last few weeks where I've
(01:02):
thought, fuck, I wish Alan was here.
Miss you too, my friend, as you can see, still here in my little
dorm room in Brazil, still gallivanting around, having ever
such a nice time. But wouldn't it be that much
greater if you, Adam, my best mate, my tripological boy of
epic proportions, were by my side?
(01:24):
All steamed and supple. Yeah, of course it would, mate.
And I think that's probably whatwe're up against now, is that,
you know, on my side I'm constantly talking about you and
telling people about the pod. On your side, you're constantly
talking about you and telling people about the pod.
He is the egotistical, narcissistical, tripological
(01:47):
man. But don't mate, there's, there's
some things that I don't mind doing on my own.
Of course, we're both solo travellers at heart.
We are, you know, fundamentally solo travellers and backpackers.
I think we're very comfortable in our own company.
However, there have been a lot of times over the last few weeks
where I've just thought it wouldbe so wonderful to experience
this with you because I I think I'm doing a lot of stuff that I
(02:11):
had imagined doing with you as well, which I guess compounds
the issue a little bit. Congratulations.
Do you want to talk about them? Well, maybe you have to leave
that for the Patriot, but they mate, you know, I, I've said
this before and I know you've said it as well.
We're partial to a city, aren't we?
We. Love a good city from Tokyo to
(02:31):
Seoul, all the cities I've not been to but would like to one
day, we love a city. I am, of course, talking about
the cities of Europe, of which many, well, you've been to many
of them, haven't you? And I and I haven't.
And I, I feel, I feel almost embarrassed.
And now I can say that I've beento many of them, but I was a
little bit embarrassed when people are going, Oh, you've
(02:52):
been to Prague? No.
Oh, you've been to Vienna? No.
Oh, you've been to, you know, Budapest.
No. Oh, you've been to Scopia.
No one's asking me if I've been to Scopia, but I have.
It's a nightmare, isn't it, whensome there's like there's
profound ability that some people get, usually attractive
women who you're trying to impress where you go like, yeah,
I've been, I've been travelling for quite a long time, baby, you
(03:14):
know, being on the road. And then they proceed to go, oh,
have you been to? And then perfectly, with
pinpoint accuracy, sink the battleships of every place
you've not been to in the last 10 years.
For me, it's always like Japan. It's always like East Asian
countries. And then like, I don't know what
to do with that because at that point I'm like, right, Should I
(03:36):
get my passport out? Do you want to see the stamp?
I kind of feel the same way. And we, we actually touched on
this a couple of episodes ago, didn't we, about the competitive
nature of travelling. And I do, I do.
I've spoken to a lot of people recently that sort of where how
many countries they've been to as a badge of honour.
And I would, I would really quite like to talk about that
(04:00):
very briefly because I don't think it's a healthy thing to
do. I think it's actually quite
toxic and it maybe misses the point of what it is that we love
about travel and also the sort of travel that we try and
encourage. Yeah, I nearly came unstuck last
week, didn't I, by trying to addtwo more countries, the Guise,
Para and Europe to my little list of countries been to.
And I think that would have beena real mistake because there was
(04:23):
so much at that point that I'd not seen in Brazil.
So I'd have had this weird little green, yellow Blue Flag
of Brazil in my travel basket, but no one would have known that
really, I hadn't seen much of Brazil at all.
Yeah, I think you've kind of hitthe nail on the head there.
Is that the trip I'm doing through Europe, which is
essentially inter railing? I've gone from from London to
(04:44):
Brussels, Brussels to Luxembourg, down across to Tria,
which you know, we'll have to doan episode on that because one
of my good friend friends lives down there, Daniel Danny.
I had a great time with him and he sort of showed me around
Tria, which is a city he's been living in for I think the last
seven years. But it's the oldest city in
Germany and there are some very,very old Roman ruins there.
(05:04):
Hence why I've sort of been feeling it would have been nice
if Alan had been it to enjoy this and explain everything for
Christ sake. And yeah, and then of course
I've been to Prague and I've been to Bratislava and I've been
to Vienna and I've been to Budapest.
And I would really like to sort of share with you my experience
of Budapest. Because if ever there was a
(05:25):
place in recent years that I've been to and thought, why the
hell has it taken me so long to get here, It's Budapest.
I really want to hear about it before we, before you tell me
all about Budapest. I've actually been studying our
Instagram, the algorithm, it's instagram.com/anthropology
podcast. I've been studying it very
carefully and I think I know howto create a viral clip right now
(05:47):
just here on the podcast. You ready?
Yeah, OK. Go on.
I'm excited. You've been into railing, Aren't
you a bit old for that? Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I've had a couple of conversations, Alan, I've had a
couple of conversations with some little nippers, some 19
(06:09):
year olds who have said, oh, oh,you're, you are travelling
still. Like you're not here for work.
And I go, no, no, I'm, I'm just sort of backpacking through
Europe And they're like, oh, oh,right.
No, but it's not, I mean, it is sort of surprising that you
would do that. But I'm, I'm inspired.
I'm inspired. I'm not, you know, it's not
embarrassing. Nice turtleneck, granddad.
(06:34):
Yeah, just just for the the listeners who are only listening
to the audio. I am absolutely sweating my tits
off because I've chosen to wear a turtleneck.
I am in Scopia in Macedonia, in Macedonia at the time of
recording and it is pretty cold outside.
It's actually the coldest place I've been since Kosovo.
Little name drop there. Crikey, another place that I've
(06:56):
never been to. Yeah, I'm also sweating because
I've had to turn the fan off andI'm in Brazil and it's very,
very hot. So I've rolled my sleeves up to
hear all about Budapest, mate. Let's go.
So Budapest, you've been there. You were very kind in sending me
some tips. You even forwarded some
information from a dear friend of yours who I think has not
only been there, but didn't theyused to guide there?
(07:17):
They used to guide teams of young sort of travellers.
Usually they're being found at student unions and persuaded by
a Rep to go on a trip, and my friend would take them there and
basically chaperone them as theywould drink themselves into a
Budapestian stupor. Yeah, well, there was absolutely
some some drinking going on, I guess steaming, taking, taking
(07:41):
on a second meaning there. But you, you will know this
because you're a man of the world.
I was reminded of this when I arrived in Budapest, that
actually the West side of the river is Buda and the east side
of the river is Peshed. I know a little portmanteau Buda
and Peshed coming together to make something not quite as good
as either Budapest. Now, what would you say Budapest
(08:06):
is famous for? Because when it comes to right,
just let me, let me talk you through this and you'll be able
to see where I'm going. I'm not really one to go to
every museum or every art gallery or every exhibition.
I just don't think that a city is defined by its museums, or
it's statues, or it's religious monuments actually.
What? Yeah, ever since we parted ways,
(08:31):
my trip's getting a little bit less religious.
No. But I do actually think that
this city is somewhat defined bythe thing that I'm I'm going to
talk about. Goulash, Turkey legs, the escape
from communism, the music of Solaris.
My dad will love that little reference.
(08:53):
And I don't know, I suppose justsort of brilliant Hungarian
spirit. Oh, baths, of course.
Steamy hot baths. Yeah, you could have also
mentioned Robert Kappa. Nope.
I know because I don't want to mention Robert Kappa, OK?
And if I'd wanted to, I would have, because I know who he is.
(09:15):
There's me trying to sound like I know a thing or two, even
though the other day I just wentto the museum for the first
time. I was like, oh, I don't know
anything about this guy, but. Who is he?
He's a sort of Hungarian American photojournalist who was
very famous for photographing the Spanish Civil War and then a
lot of conflicts after that. OK, well my own personal brand
(09:36):
of mental illness is that I'll spend all my researching him
now, so thank you very much. But no, you can you can go to
the museum in Budapest, which I would highly recommend.
I spent about 3 hours walking around the exhibition seeing a
lot of his work and some of the photos are absolutely
incredible. I probably will share them on
the Instagram at some point. Make sure you get Robert's
(09:58):
permission before you do. He died actually, I think in 67.
Was it 67 or 57? He stepped on a landmine in
Vietnam. All right, well don't worry
about it then. Just use this shit on our
Instagram. No problem.
Yeah, crikey. Anyway, you were right mate.
Of course it's the public baths.OK.
(10:20):
We we know. We know on this show, don't we,
that I'm partial to a public bath.
I mean, I absolutely love getting my kit off.
I love sitting in a steaming hotpool just watching the world go
by. Yeah, you go around in a
breakaway turtleneck. So just for speed, as soon as
you get to the bath, you just RIP it off and you're ready to
go. This is the last time I wear a
turtleneck ever. I think you look lovely in that
(10:43):
town now. OK, so I know a little bit about
about us. I know that there's one called
Sasheni, something like that. And it's like a real
effervescent, beautiful bath time experience.
Yeah, I think if you ask a Hungarian person with with, I
think if you ask them where thatwhere that bath house is using
the word you've just said, I think you get pretty close.
It is quite difficult to say. I think it's pronounced
(11:04):
something like. Go on, can you do a better job
I. Don't think so.
I asked so many people. If I had a dollar for every
person I asked, I mean, I'd be quite wealthy, but I think it's
something like Shay Chenyi or something.
Say Chenyi. Bath.
But it is important to mention this on the podcast because this
is a really strange situation. I was thinking about boycotting
(11:26):
those baths because they are 36 euros to get into.
OK. That's expensive.
Yeah. You sent me a message, didn't
you? Yeah, I sent you a message and I
said, mate, I know that you've told me that these are a good
thing to do. However, they are prohibitively
expensive. And you, you sent me a message
back that I really couldn't haveexpected, which was, I think you
should still go. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
(11:47):
I I asked you if you'd been and you went.
No, I fucking haven't. This is Euros.
And you don't even get naked. Yeah, yes.
So they're the big ones. And I didn't realize that there
were so many different bath houses, but you got but the big
ones that we've just mentioned, which let me just quickly
describes you. I mean, it's like a huge
pavilion almost, isn't it? With a number of outdoor pools.
(12:08):
And then they've got some indoorthermal pools as well.
There are multiple steam rooms, multiple saunas.
It is an absolutely ginormous complex where you can probably
fit a couple of 1000 people quite comfortably.
I actually think they do festivals and events there as
well where like a DJ will play sort of techno music while
everyone else takes a bath. Yeah, I am.
I love the sound of that. And and I did go there and I
(12:29):
thought it was fantastic. I'll tell one of the stories
later on. And then you've got Rudash,
which is the Turkish bath house.I mean, if you can only go to
one, I would say that has to be in the conversation.
Having said that, still quite expensive coming in about 25
euros, something along those lines, depending on the ticket
(12:49):
you buy. Because they've even got a
rooftop pool where you can have an amazing view over the whole
of Budapest. It's really, really quite
something. But they are architecturally
probably the most impressive because when you go down into
the Turkish bath area, it feels like you're going back in time.
There are sort of columns in this big Dome shaped roof with a
stained glass window. And I was in there from 9:00
(13:10):
till 11:00 in the morning, whichwas men only.
It really did feel like like going back in time.
How far back in time do you think it feels like you were
going? Do you think it feels like sort
of a few hours or more like a few centuries?
Oh, it feels like 6:00 AM in here.
If we if we ever reach a stage in society where we say things
(13:32):
like it feels like we're going back in time and we only mean a
few hours, that'll be quite funny.
No, I would say a good few 100 years at the least.
Wow, a few 100 years simply by the act of taking a bath?
Well, that's worth the money. Yeah, yeah, totally.
And then we've got Geller as well, which is another famous
one. Again, very expensive,
architecturally incredibly impressive on the inside.
It is very quite sort of opulentand decorative, very grand and
(13:57):
however I found don't shoot me but I found it was lacking in
soul and atmosphere. Lacking in soul and atmosphere.
That is a scathing review of Geller.
If I know, if I know the people at Geller, they will not be
happy about that. And they'll be on the emails.
They're they'll go to trilogypodcast.com, they'll find
the Hostel common room contact form and we'll be hearing from
(14:18):
them. Yeah.
And then you've got the other two baths, Lucas, which is
probably my favorite just because it's super cheap.
It's about €1012.00. And it feels like where the
locals go, right. It's sort of on the Buddha side,
a little bit further north. So it's a bit of a trek if you,
you know, the city itself is slightly further South than
those baths, but well worth a visit.
(14:38):
Yes, yes, it's outdated. Does it need renovation?
Absolutely. Is it a fucking labyrinth that
seems like it was designed backwards?
Yes. But I think just that element of
discovery. You walk through a door and
there's like another six pools that you didn't even know
existed. You think bloody hell, it's
absolutely amazing. So highly recommend that.
And there's another one called Dander which is lesser known, I
(15:01):
guess because it's so small, it's nowhere near as popular.
And I mean you're talking like 9or €10 for those.
So I did all 5. If you want to know more in
depth analysis and my sort of review of them and what you
should do and what you shouldn'tdo then send us an e-mail.
Get on the hostel common room contact form on the website
tropologypodcast.com. I would love to to tell you
(15:22):
about them in more detail. And if you were to describe a
way that one once in the bath you could achieve a deepened
sense of relaxation, what word might you use as a verb to
describe that? Meditation, perhaps?
Let's go on a brief 1. If you love the podcast as much
(15:43):
as we love you, please could youtake the time to rate the show
on your favorite podcasting platform.
Yeah, go and give it five stars.Everyone else has.
We're just waiting on you. Thanks for supporting us, it
means the world to us. Like a man slowly sinking into a
sulfuric bath in Budapest. Allow your conscious mind to
(16:03):
return into your brain. It's just we hear more.
Basically, Adam's in Budapest. We want to hear about it.
I I can't tell you how much I loved the city mate.
I do say this about a lot of places but Budapest is the
latest 1 and I do think I might live there one day and.
A number of times I hear that sentence out of your mouth now.
(16:24):
I think, you know, what was it that someone said to us once
when we were in India? Was it that we are a reflection
of the person we're speaking to?It was something along those
lines, wasn't it? Well, no.
What? What happened was a very, very
spiritual man said to you, you, you complimented him.
You said I think you're a lovelyguy.
And he said to you, we are only a reflection of the people we
(16:45):
are ourselves looking at us basically to what he meant was
that you are also lovely. So yeah, that's.
And I wonder if I wonder if I just enjoy a lot of places
because I'm in my element, as itwere.
And that is in no small part thanks to this one hostel and
(17:06):
the lovely owner and then a teamof people that had me extending
no less than three times. So I, I went there for three
days to Budapest initially and Iended up staying for about 8 or
9. And like I said in the previous
episode, mate, it's it's one of the first times that I've really
told myself to to leave a place that I actually wanted to stay
(17:26):
in. Why did you so?
It was almost the opposite tale of what I experienced in Brazil,
Paraguay, Uruguay. You wanted to stay but chose to
leave. Why?
I think because I had a number of cities sort of lined up and
I'd already been in Budapest forover a week.
I think from a tourist perspective and what I like to
(17:49):
get out of a location, it's justto maybe get a tiny little
window into what it might be like if I did live there, you
know, go to the local cafe, sit in a park for a couple of hours
and people watch, go to all of the bath houses.
Once I'd done that, and I also had a plan to get on and and
sort of see some other cities, Ithought you, you, you've
(18:10):
probably done about as much if you stay here any longer.
I guess that there's even more chance that that will just form
the end of my trip. And then when I move to New
Zealand, I'm just going to end up leaving from Budapest, which,
you know, would have been fine, but I was a little bit concerned
that the novelty would have wornoff.
And I also don't have a plan to live there at the moment.
(18:30):
So I was trying to sort of quit while I was ahead, as it were.
But let me just give a quick shout out to to this hostel.
It's called the Bubble and it's very central.
The location's absolutely fantastic.
It's actually more like a flat share, it's more like a
converted apartment and there was an amazing little crew of
us. I mean, Olga, the owner is from
(18:52):
the city. She is such a wealth of
knowledge and gave me some really good backpacking advice
because she's clearly a very well travelled person herself.
She said 11 tiny little thing that actually changed my trip
became the running theme of my trip.
She said, if you see an open door in Budapest, walk through
it. Wow.
And I love that because there's so many cute little gardens and
(19:13):
courtyards. And she said if anyone
approaches you and says, you know, what are you doing here,
just say you're an architecture student or something.
But there were so many, so many times throughout my trip there
that I, I took her up on that. And for that reason, I ended up
seeing some incredible graffiti,some really cute little
courtyards, beautiful architecture.
It's a really, really stunning city to look at and there are
(19:35):
loads of little nooks and crannies and cool little
alleyways and stuff. So get exploring if you do go
there. It really is quite, quite
something. Now with at risk, I'm going to
risk derailing the episode here a little bit, but last time I
was in Budapest, and I love Budapest.
It's one of my favorite Europeancities.
I met someone who I've not been able to get out of my head ever
since and she was a sort of, I mean she was begging for change,
(19:59):
but she was bent over what can only be described as a right
angle. She was the most 90° person I've
ever seen in my whole life. She had a cane and she came up
to me sort of. So you know, her head is at
waist height. But look at that.
I was sat down drinking coffee. So we were eye level.
She was bent. Over and she came up to me and
(20:20):
she simply looked at me and saidchange.
Right. Right.
At which point I said I don't have any change.
I was kind of doing a bit of a cashless thing, you know, card
only. So I said I don't have any
change. And she made a noise which to
this day, I mean, I struggled tobelieve it wasn't some sort of
(20:42):
curse. It was quite guttural.
It was the kind of noise you canonly make from having your torso
at 90° before. And she kind of went like like
this a little bit and then walked off and I've not felt
myself since. I didn't stumble across this
(21:04):
person. You never met her.
Because see, for me was like oneof the defining things about
Budapest. Have you read, Have you been on
Reddit forums where they've saidthey've also met this same
person? And yes.
I've found pictures of her online.
You are joking. Really.
That's yes, but it's risky with stuff like this because at the
risk of sounding like I'm makinglight of the homelessness
(21:27):
situation or even the specific community of, of people begging
in Budapest, I don't want to really want to put her online a
picture of her. But I mean, I've given you some
keywords to search and you can maybe go about researching her
for yourself. But she is a known figure in the
Budapest community. Fair enough.
Yeah, I can't say I came across this person that you met, but
I've got no doubt that it would have shaken me up a little bit
(21:49):
was it wasn't a sort of friendlyinteraction, obviously.
It just felt a lot like I'd beencursed.
I mean that that that kind of ties into the story I'm about to
tell me, because it does involveme losing something, something
very dear to me. Yep, that's her all right.
(22:11):
That's the kind of thing she does.
Incredible sentimental value andI felt like my luck had changed
the moment I lost it. And I know that that's probably
psychological. And so is this interaction that
you had with this lady. It's probably psychological.
But let's get back to the bath houses.
(22:33):
I was at the bath house that neither of us can pronounce with
a, with a good friend of mine, Ross.
Ross, if you're listening, mate,you're a diamond Scottish guy.
And we, we kind of hit it off immediately and we ended up
going to the bath together. Really expensive ones.
Now I should preface this story by saying that because of you,
Alan, I have started accessorizing in recent months
(22:55):
and I never wore necklaces and Inever wore rings.
However, I now sport a lovely little silver ring and also a
little chain that I actually have been carrying with me for
the last 10 years. Believe it or not, but I've only
just started wearing it a coupleof months ago.
Now the chain is. I think you look lovely in the
chain, Adam, but I have to say it's surprising you say you're
(23:16):
accessorizing is because of me because famously one of your
friends said that she found me unattractive because I wear to
rush jewelry. So it seems like given the
information you had, it seems like an odd choice that you
decide to follow in my footstepsand start wearing chains and
(23:36):
watches and. No, but I mean, you've told me
that you think I'd be good with a few accessories and I'm also
not in the market of trying to impress her so so.
Yeah, me neither. Class class.
But OK, So moving swiftly on I should say.
I should preface the next bit bysaying that I was in one buds
(23:59):
called dander that I've mentioned.
Very very local and small. If you don't go there, don't
kick yourself, but you know you're trying to take a load
off, might as well. However, I noticed about an hour
in that the colour of my silver ring and the colour of my silver
chain had changed. They'd gone from silver to kind
of an oxidized, weird bronzy, almost like a pearlescent type
thing. And because of the light, I
(24:20):
thought, well, maybe it's just the sort of warm yellow light
outside. And it was dark actually at that
point. Maybe my eyes hadn't adjusted.
And then when I ended up leaving, because I was there
until close, I got into the, the, the light that was in the
foyer, if you like the reception.
And I'd noticed that in actual fact, they had completely
changed colour. Oh dear.
Now that's just something to be aware of.
(24:41):
If you do have silver jewellery,maybe remove it, but mine seems
to have just naturally gone, gone back to the way it was.
You can also use toothpaste and baking soda I think.
But yeah, I mean there's. My chains actually destroy.
I'm not wearing my chain at the moment because the sea has done
the same thing to it. It got went completely brown.
Oh no, It's real silver though, isn't it supposed to be?
Yeah. Oh dear.
(25:02):
OK, well my chain was bought forme by 1 grand grandmother who
unfortunately passed away at theend of last year, and then my
other grandmother, my nan, my nanny, my dear nanny, she bought
me the Chris Saint Christopher pendant that I wear on the
chain. So I like to feel like I have
both of them with me when I'm travelling and they sort of keep
(25:24):
me safe if you like. Beautiful, sentimental St.
Christopher, of course, the patron St. of travellers.
There you go. And I, I do, for some reason,
even though I don't really believe in fate or destiny or
anything, anything like that, I do sometimes feel like they sort
of keep me safe. I've never had any problems and
I've also never lost anything. But I was quite upset that
(25:44):
they'd changed colour so didn't do anything immediately to try
and rectify that. But then when I went to these
baths, I'm now about to tell youabout the big ones.
So shame you forgive the pronunciation.
I thought there's no way I'm going to take these, keep these
on, I'll take them off, I'll putthem in my bag and then they
(26:05):
won't change colour or get even worse and then, you know,
obviously I'll just put them on when I get out.
So did that. Ross and I had an amazing time.
It was so funny, mate. You know exactly what to expect.
But you've got these big outdoorbaths and we spent I think 3
1/2, four hours in there. You know, we were getting our
money's worth. There is.
If you're interested guys, thereis one sauna called the Phoenix
(26:26):
Sauna and there's a little cold pool in there as well.
And that's where you can get naked.
But they all they require, all they require, all they require
is a towel. But then the the whole facility
apart from that, of course you have to be wearing like swimming
shorts or a bathing suit of somekind.
And there was what, one this isn't career anymore, but Ross
(26:49):
and I were in one of the outdoorpools and all of a sudden we
heard a lot of commotion and there was a lifeguard who was
whistling really loudly, shouting and pointing towards
the middle of the pool. He was going like Whip Foo.
Take the towel off, Ross. You've got to imagine, right,
that the pool was pretty full. I mean, hundreds and hundreds of
(27:11):
people, other people walking around.
And we kind of like looking to see what's going on.
And then another lifeguard comesaround the other side of the
pool and starts pointing to thisone guy in the middle.
The other lifeguard is still whistling her head off.
We're thinking, what on earth isgoing on here?
And then as we sort of time goeson, we realise that they're
talking to one man in the middleof the pool who's got a Red Hat
(27:31):
on and a yellow T-shirt. And we thought, oh, obviously
they're, they're obviously talking to him.
For some strange reason, you're not allowed to to wear T-shirts
in the pool, which we like. Didn't really question, but
because they were getting so irate and they continue to
whistle and sort of gesture get out the pool, you know, waving
their arms in the air. He kind of got the idea, put his
hands in the air and started walking towards the edge of the
(27:53):
pool. And as he got out, it was
revealed that he was wearing AT shirt but he was completely
naked. I like the methodology.
He was like actually obeying toomany rules if anything.
No, no, you said have to wear 2 garments of clothing.
That's it. And you can imagine the roar
(28:15):
from the crowd where we saw his bum cheeks and he's walking up
the steps really slowly, but he didn't even turn around and look
for like, you know, he wasn't like, waving to the crowd or
anything in appreciation. He just sort of walked out and
one of his friends sprinted overfrom the other side of the
complex and put a towel around him and whisked him.
Away. He's a good friend.
But it was, it was so, so funny.I mean, it was a real like
moment of community from the rest of us showing support for
(28:38):
him for getting naked in the pool.
And then, you know, the sort of day went on we end.
It ended up getting incredibly busy actually, because we went
there quite early and then we got out the pool, got all our
stuff ready and then dive back to the hostel, at which point I
tried to put my chain and ring on.
Successfully, I imagine because they're quite easy to put on a
(28:58):
chain and a ring. They are, but that's assuming
that you've still got them in your possession.
And I unfortunately realized that evening that I had in fact
lost them. So I was shit.
It was. And that hit me so hard, mate.
It hit me so hard actually that it completely removed all
enjoyment from my time in Budapest from there on.
(29:20):
And I remember sending you a message and it was such a quick
change in my mood that I wasn't even sure that I wanted to keep
travelling anymore. Not then, anyway, because, well,
I I felt like I'd let my grandparents down and that
something bad was going to happen to me as a result of me
losing what I thought was sort of keeping me safe.
Have you ever been through anything like that?
(29:40):
I often, well, I mean, you know that I lost my dearest Pashanka
and I sort of have all my sentimental things are sort of
travel things, right? Pashanka of course being the
long scarf. I travel and constantly
reincarnate by buying new scarves and then my bag lucky is
really sentimental. I do think if I lost my bag, it
would have a similar effect on me.
(30:01):
Yeah. So I'm not, yeah, I'm not above
being that sentimental at all. Yeah, everyone at the hostel was
so supportive. You know, they turned the hostel
upside down. People were looking in their
bags. They kept on sort of asking me
on a daily basis whether I'd found them.
And, you know, don't worry, maybe it'll turn up in a jacket
pocket or something. You know how this universe
transpires. Bless the owner of the hostel,
(30:23):
Olga. She even emailed and called the
bathhouse to see whether I'd left it there and if anyone had
picked it up and handed it in. And I, I was so appreciative of,
of people's concern, I guess, but you know, equally so angry
with myself that I'd let it happen.
It was just a a sort of slip in my focus I guess.
(30:43):
Tried to get through the next few days feeling pretty grim.
I obviously was travelling a lotso didn't really have much, you
know, I had quite a lot to distract me and I was just
trying not to think about it. But I was coming round to the
idea that I'd lost them forever.You're a man that's prone to
beating himself up as well, I think.
I think you're someone that thatgets pretty low if you think
(31:04):
you've fucked up. Yeah, especially when it's
something like that. Because now, unfortunately, both
my, my grandmothers, my grandmother and my nan have
passed away. And it's really the the way that
I stay connected to them. You know, my my grandma, oh,
bless her, the one that brought me the chain.
She said to me many times when Iwent away travelling.
No matter how far away you go, remember that when you look up
at the moon, it's the same moon I'm looking at.
(31:26):
So we, so we're never that far away.
So lovely. And I always loved that.
I always loved that message. I've told quite a few people
that over the years, but I, I was really down in the dumps and
trying to cheer myself up. And I thought, you know, for
some weird reason, I was checking my coat and my bag
again and again and again as if anything was going to change.
(31:49):
I even remember putting the chain and the ring together,
right. I put the, the chain sort of
opened the chain up and put the ring on it like another pendant
and then closed it up and put them both in my bag.
But you know, who knows, maybe it just dropped out when I was
getting my stuff out because I was kind of like rushed out the
changing room and then cut 2 like 10 days later.
(32:10):
I was going through the border, through border control between
Serbia and Macedonia. And I'd just been on what is
probably the worst bus journey of my entire life because of the
people that were on the bus, notbecause of the the distance or
the journey itself or the bus company.
(32:31):
But yeah, really not nice peopleon the bus.
I mean middle-aged racist men that just were.
Controlling boy, what's their age got to do with it?
Because if they've been young, controlling racists, would that
have been that have been worse, if anything?
I still would have mentioned their age.
All their iPads. I'm allowed to say middle-aged
(32:54):
now because I am 1, but. But yeah, it was just a horrible
atmosphere. And they were like, hogging
sections of the bus. And one man in particular, when
I got on the bus, I went to sit next to him and he covered the
seat and then gestured to get tothe back of the bus.
And, you know, I mean, all the seats were full.
I didn't have any other option. But I, I just didn't want to sit
(33:15):
anywhere near this guy. His energy was awful.
And then throughout the entire night, you know, they were
getting off the bus, smoking a couple of cigarettes, coming
back on, stinking of fags and being really sort of loud and
boisterous and drinking on the bus.
It was just, it was a night bus where I was hoping to get a few
hours sleep and it just didn't happen.
So I arrived, arrived at the border.
Of course, you know, there's kind of a no man's land section
(33:37):
where you exit 1 country. And then you got to, you know,
walk off the bus, show your passport a couple of times, get
back on the other side. And I was getting scrutinized.
I mean, I was on, I was getting questioned very heavily at about
7:00 in the morning at the border by the Macedonian border
agents. And bearing in mind I'm super
tired. I've had absolutely no sleep.
(33:58):
I'm like stewing because of how horrible the atmosphere is on
the bus. And these guys are now peppering
me with questions about what I'mdoing in Macedonia, why I'm
here, if I don't have any friends here or a girlfriend,
whether I've got a job, all these other questions.
And, and there was flicking through my passport, passing it
around about four different members of staff.
And because they were taking so long, I just started playing
(34:20):
with my jacket. And as as one is to do when
people are taking a long time. Well, I mean, I was, I was also
like quite sheepish and looking at the floor because I was like
worried that they were going to ask me something that I didn't
know the. Answer It was a sheepish
playing. You weren't doing it in
defiance. You were like, Oh well, if
you're going to take so long, I'm going to play with my
jacket. I hope you're happy.
(34:41):
Come on, Jacket I. Was I was so nervous, I was
thinking to myself, what do normal people do?
How do? How does one behave normally?
I think normal people just behave with their jacket, also
play with the jacket. So I.
Behave, Jacket. Well, it didn't behave, I'll
tell you. Slap slapping the security
agent, you idiot. Sorry, that was my jacket.
(35:08):
There I was. I was just fiddling with the end
of my jacket and I felt something that felt a little bit
hard, like it shouldn't be there.
Oh, Jacket. What have I told you?
I never knew you felt that way about me.
I've been thinking about you in this way for a long time, but I
never knew a reciprocated jacket.
You know how I feel about a man in uniform.
(35:31):
And, and I felt something that was like a coin or something at
the bottom of my jacket. So I looked down and lo and
behold me, lo and fucking behold, there it was in the in
the lining of my jacket. Ah, my ring and my chain had
fallen through a pocket. There was a tear in in my coat
and it'd fallen all the way through the inside of the jacket
(35:52):
and then basically ended up right in the very corner,
completely hidden away. And do you know what the saddest
thing about this was, mate? I didn't even crack a smile.
Because you knew the jacket had stolen them.
It was a betrayal from Jacket. Jacket, what is in your pocket,
(36:15):
you absolute pig. You nothing weren't sick.
I think I just took it in my stride because the whole time I
was telling people at the hostel, you know, like I'd said,
they're very concerned. I've said, but I just, I never
lose anything. I never lose any.
No, I can't get this across. I can't get this across.
I was, I was trying to say to them, you know, I, I just, I've
(36:37):
been travelling for so long and obviously been in so many
situations, but still always keep my possessions with me.
Doesn't matter how drunk I get, doesn't matter how sort of
disorganized things. Doesn't matter how treacherous
my apparel is. I I never lose anything.
And they were like, well, you know, there's a first time for
everything. It's, it's shit happens kind of
stuff. And then when I found it in my
(36:59):
jacket, I, I sort of had this sorts of thought to myself,
yeah, well, obviously you never fucking lose anything.
Yeah, you use it as an opportunity for a little bit of
self flagellation. Yeah, but, you know, and then,
of course, the day turned and the guards let me through with a
little smile. And it just, it's been getting
better and better ever since. But I, I think the take away
(37:20):
from that story is just how quickly your psychology can
change because, and it doesn't matter if you're travelling, who
you're with, what location you're in, you know, even like
your mood and your energy levels, something that was so
important to me vanished into thin air and I crumbled.
So what's the lesson though? You're going to what steps are
you going to take to prevent that from happening in the
(37:41):
future? Because I think that, you know,
I think it's your right to be sosentimental because it's a very
beautiful thing from your from your grandparents.
But then also sometimes with travel, like there's no place
for sentimentalism, is there? Unfortunately, because we live
such transitory lives that move around so much.
Yeah, yeah. You know, I was talking to the
hostel, the the other people in the hostel staff about this.
(38:02):
And one young girl, Jess from SA, she's an amazing person.
I hope you stay in touch. She must, because she's got a
shout out on the pod already. Oh.
No, she's awesome. She she did say one really
interesting question that she's been asking people is what is
something you've lost while travelling that you would like
to have back? My mind.
(38:25):
And it's quite an interesting question is that you are right,
you can't be too sentimental when you're travelling because
we do end up sort of losing things.
And it is probably a better way to travel, to only take things
that you don't mind losing. Because it happens.
Not if you're me, but I how am Igoing to tackle it in the
future? I suppose just the stuff that
really means a lot or is of serious importance, IE your
(38:48):
wallet with all your money in itand your IDs, your passport,
your phone and things like jewellery.
If they do hold sentimental value just with those things,
just show them a bit of extra care where if you're going to
put it away somewhere, actually think about what you're doing,
stop what you're doing and concentrate and just think about
where it is you've put them and how you're going to get them
back. It's good advice, Adam, because,
(39:10):
you know, if you just actively make a deal of it in your head,
OK, I'm placing the chain in my pocket, you're never going to
forget where the chain was. And that's pertinent now because
there's a section called the Lost and Found section.
We stick it at the back of an episode.
It's where we basically we lose that half of the show every week
and you have to pay a little bitof money on the old Patreon to
(39:32):
find it. Again, comes out 24 hours early.
We're going to head there now. patreon.com/tropology podcast,
you can write as a message, tropologypodcast.com, hostel
common room form. And we're on Instagram at
Tripology Podcast. But for now, we're going to
blast off and we'll see you all next week.
I'll see you there. Bye.
(39:56):
Can we show me what is true in my heart only?
What is true in my heart? Only what God?
I lost my most prized possession.
Play the theme music. Hello and welcome to this
(00:20):
episode of Tripology. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
ever steaming Adam. I'm suitably steamed, mate.
I'm as soft as a baby's bum. Oh.
Like a little Chinese dumpling steams to with a pinch of your
life. You know what's so funny about
that is that after saying it, I immediately, immediately
thought, oh, why didn't I say like a Chinese dumpling?
(00:42):
And you said it. I'm so glad you said that.
Exactly like that, mate. Soft and supple.
That's it. We're best friends.
We're In Sync, we think of the same things.
We've got synesthesia across ourminds, Thinking things, smelling
things, saying things. That's tropology.
Mate, I'm having such a good time.
I am having a good time. I'm missing you dearly though.
There's been so many things overthe last few weeks where I've
(01:02):
thought, fuck, I wish Alan was here.
Miss you too, my friend, as you can see, still here in my little
dorm room in Brazil, still gallivanting around, having ever
such a nice time. But wouldn't it be that much
greater if you, Adam, my best mate, my tripological boy of
epic proportions, were by my side?
(01:24):
All steamed and supple. Yeah, of course it would, mate.
And I think that's probably whatwe're up against now, is that,
you know, on my side I'm constantly talking about you and
telling people about the pod. On your side, you're constantly
talking about you and telling people about the pod.
He is the egotistical, narcissistical, tripological
(01:47):
man. But don't mate, there's, there's
some things that I don't mind doing on my own.
Of course, we're both solo travellers at heart.
We are, you know, fundamentally solo travellers and backpackers.
I think we're very comfortable in our own company.
However, there have been a lot of times over the last few weeks
where I've just thought it wouldbe so wonderful to experience
this with you because I I think I'm doing a lot of stuff that I
(02:11):
had imagined doing with you as well, which I guess compounds
the issue a little bit. Congratulations.
Do you want to talk about them? Well, maybe you have to leave
that for the Patriot, but they mate, you know, I, I've said
this before and I know you've said it as well.
We're partial to a city, aren't we?
We. Love a good city from Tokyo to
(02:31):
Seoul, all the cities I've not been to but would like to one
day, we love a city. I am, of course, talking about
the cities of Europe, of which many, well, you've been to many
of them, haven't you? And I and I haven't.
And I, I feel, I feel almost embarrassed.
And now I can say that I've beento many of them, but I was a
little bit embarrassed when people are going, Oh, you've
(02:52):
been to Prague? No.
Oh, you've been to Vienna? No.
Oh, you've been to, you know, Budapest.
No. Oh, you've been to Scopia.
No one's asking me if I've been to Scopia, but I have.
It's a nightmare, isn't it, whensome there's like there's
profound ability that some people get, usually attractive
women who you're trying to impress where you go like, yeah,
I've been, I've been travelling for quite a long time, baby, you
(03:14):
know, being on the road. And then they proceed to go, oh,
have you been to? And then perfectly, with
pinpoint accuracy, sink the battleships of every place
you've not been to in the last 10 years.
For me, it's always like Japan. It's always like East Asian
countries. And then like, I don't know what
to do with that because at that point I'm like, right, Should I
(03:36):
get my passport out? Do you want to see the stamp?
I kind of feel the same way. And we, we actually touched on
this a couple of episodes ago, didn't we, about the competitive
nature of travelling. And I do, I do.
I've spoken to a lot of people recently that sort of where how
many countries they've been to as a badge of honour.
And I would, I would really quite like to talk about that
(04:00):
very briefly because I don't think it's a healthy thing to
do. I think it's actually quite
toxic and it maybe misses the point of what it is that we love
about travel and also the sort of travel that we try and
encourage. Yeah, I nearly came unstuck last
week, didn't I, by trying to addtwo more countries, the Guise,
Para and Europe to my little list of countries been to.
And I think that would have beena real mistake because there was
(04:23):
so much at that point that I'd not seen in Brazil.
So I'd have had this weird little green, yellow Blue Flag
of Brazil in my travel basket, but no one would have known that
really, I hadn't seen much of Brazil at all.
Yeah, I think you've kind of hitthe nail on the head there.
Is that the trip I'm doing through Europe, which is
essentially inter railing? I've gone from from London to
(04:44):
Brussels, Brussels to Luxembourg, down across to Tria,
which you know, we'll have to doan episode on that because one
of my good friend friends lives down there, Daniel Danny.
I had a great time with him and he sort of showed me around
Tria, which is a city he's been living in for I think the last
seven years. But it's the oldest city in
Germany and there are some very,very old Roman ruins there.
(05:04):
Hence why I've sort of been feeling it would have been nice
if Alan had been it to enjoy this and explain everything for
Christ sake. And yeah, and then of course
I've been to Prague and I've been to Bratislava and I've been
to Vienna and I've been to Budapest.
And I would really like to sort of share with you my experience
of Budapest. Because if ever there was a
(05:25):
place in recent years that I've been to and thought, why the
hell has it taken me so long to get here, It's Budapest.
I really want to hear about it before we, before you tell me
all about Budapest. I've actually been studying our
Instagram, the algorithm, it's instagram.com/anthropology
podcast. I've been studying it very
carefully and I think I know howto create a viral clip right now
(05:47):
just here on the podcast. You ready?
Yeah, OK. Go on.
I'm excited. You've been into railing, Aren't
you a bit old for that? Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I've had a couple of conversations, Alan, I've had a
couple of conversations with some little nippers, some 19
(06:09):
year olds who have said, oh, oh,you're, you are travelling
still. Like you're not here for work.
And I go, no, no, I'm, I'm just sort of backpacking through
Europe And they're like, oh, oh,right.
No, but it's not, I mean, it is sort of surprising that you
would do that. But I'm, I'm inspired.
I'm inspired. I'm not, you know, it's not
embarrassing. Nice turtleneck, granddad.
(06:34):
Yeah, just just for the the listeners who are only listening
to the audio. I am absolutely sweating my tits
off because I've chosen to wear a turtleneck.
I am in Scopia in Macedonia, in Macedonia at the time of
recording and it is pretty cold outside.
It's actually the coldest place I've been since Kosovo.
Little name drop there. Crikey, another place that I've
(06:56):
never been to. Yeah, I'm also sweating because
I've had to turn the fan off andI'm in Brazil and it's very,
very hot. So I've rolled my sleeves up to
hear all about Budapest, mate. Let's go.
So Budapest, you've been there. You were very kind in sending me
some tips. You even forwarded some
information from a dear friend of yours who I think has not
only been there, but didn't theyused to guide there?
(07:17):
They used to guide teams of young sort of travellers.
Usually they're being found at student unions and persuaded by
a Rep to go on a trip, and my friend would take them there and
basically chaperone them as theywould drink themselves into a
Budapestian stupor. Yeah, well, there was absolutely
some some drinking going on, I guess steaming, taking, taking
(07:41):
on a second meaning there. But you, you will know this
because you're a man of the world.
I was reminded of this when I arrived in Budapest, that
actually the West side of the river is Buda and the east side
of the river is Peshed. I know a little portmanteau Buda
and Peshed coming together to make something not quite as good
as either Budapest. Now, what would you say Budapest
(08:06):
is famous for? Because when it comes to right,
just let me, let me talk you through this and you'll be able
to see where I'm going. I'm not really one to go to
every museum or every art gallery or every exhibition.
I just don't think that a city is defined by its museums, or
it's statues, or it's religious monuments actually.
What? Yeah, ever since we parted ways,
(08:31):
my trip's getting a little bit less religious.
No. But I do actually think that
this city is somewhat defined bythe thing that I'm I'm going to
talk about. Goulash, Turkey legs, the escape
from communism, the music of Solaris.
My dad will love that little reference.
(08:53):
And I don't know, I suppose justsort of brilliant Hungarian
spirit. Oh, baths, of course.
Steamy hot baths. Yeah, you could have also
mentioned Robert Kappa. Nope.
I know because I don't want to mention Robert Kappa, OK?
And if I'd wanted to, I would have, because I know who he is.
(09:15):
There's me trying to sound like I know a thing or two, even
though the other day I just wentto the museum for the first
time. I was like, oh, I don't know
anything about this guy, but. Who is he?
He's a sort of Hungarian American photojournalist who was
very famous for photographing the Spanish Civil War and then a
lot of conflicts after that. OK, well my own personal brand
(09:36):
of mental illness is that I'll spend all my researching him
now, so thank you very much. But no, you can you can go to
the museum in Budapest, which I would highly recommend.
I spent about 3 hours walking around the exhibition seeing a
lot of his work and some of the photos are absolutely
incredible. I probably will share them on
the Instagram at some point. Make sure you get Robert's
(09:58):
permission before you do. He died actually, I think in 67.
Was it 67 or 57? He stepped on a landmine in
Vietnam. All right, well don't worry
about it then. Just use this shit on our
Instagram. No problem.
Yeah, crikey. Anyway, you were right mate.
Of course it's the public baths.OK.
(10:20):
We we know. We know on this show, don't we,
that I'm partial to a public bath.
I mean, I absolutely love getting my kit off.
I love sitting in a steaming hotpool just watching the world go
by. Yeah, you go around in a
breakaway turtleneck. So just for speed, as soon as
you get to the bath, you just RIP it off and you're ready to
go. This is the last time I wear a
turtleneck ever. I think you look lovely in that
(10:43):
town now. OK, so I know a little bit about
about us. I know that there's one called
Sasheni, something like that. And it's like a real
effervescent, beautiful bath time experience.
Yeah, I think if you ask a Hungarian person with with, I
think if you ask them where thatwhere that bath house is using
the word you've just said, I think you get pretty close.
It is quite difficult to say. I think it's pronounced
(11:04):
something like. Go on, can you do a better job
I. Don't think so.
I asked so many people. If I had a dollar for every
person I asked, I mean, I'd be quite wealthy, but I think it's
something like Shay Chenyi or something.
Say Chenyi. Bath.
But it is important to mention this on the podcast because this
is a really strange situation. I was thinking about boycotting
(11:26):
those baths because they are 36 euros to get into.
OK. That's expensive.
Yeah. You sent me a message, didn't
you? Yeah, I sent you a message and I
said, mate, I know that you've told me that these are a good
thing to do. However, they are prohibitively
expensive. And you, you sent me a message
back that I really couldn't haveexpected, which was, I think you
should still go. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
(11:47):
I I asked you if you'd been and you went.
No, I fucking haven't. This is Euros.
And you don't even get naked. Yeah, yes.
So they're the big ones. And I didn't realize that there
were so many different bath houses, but you got but the big
ones that we've just mentioned, which let me just quickly
describes you. I mean, it's like a huge
pavilion almost, isn't it? With a number of outdoor pools.
(12:08):
And then they've got some indoorthermal pools as well.
There are multiple steam rooms, multiple saunas.
It is an absolutely ginormous complex where you can probably
fit a couple of 1000 people quite comfortably.
I actually think they do festivals and events there as
well where like a DJ will play sort of techno music while
everyone else takes a bath. Yeah, I am.
I love the sound of that. And and I did go there and I
(12:29):
thought it was fantastic. I'll tell one of the stories
later on. And then you've got Rudash,
which is the Turkish bath house.I mean, if you can only go to
one, I would say that has to be in the conversation.
Having said that, still quite expensive coming in about 25
euros, something along those lines, depending on the ticket
(12:49):
you buy. Because they've even got a
rooftop pool where you can have an amazing view over the whole
of Budapest. It's really, really quite
something. But they are architecturally
probably the most impressive because when you go down into
the Turkish bath area, it feels like you're going back in time.
There are sort of columns in this big Dome shaped roof with a
stained glass window. And I was in there from 9:00
(13:10):
till 11:00 in the morning, whichwas men only.
It really did feel like like going back in time.
How far back in time do you think it feels like you were
going? Do you think it feels like sort
of a few hours or more like a few centuries?
Oh, it feels like 6:00 AM in here.
If we if we ever reach a stage in society where we say things
(13:32):
like it feels like we're going back in time and we only mean a
few hours, that'll be quite funny.
No, I would say a good few 100 years at the least.
Wow, a few 100 years simply by the act of taking a bath?
Well, that's worth the money. Yeah, yeah, totally.
And then we've got Geller as well, which is another famous
one. Again, very expensive,
architecturally incredibly impressive on the inside.
It is very quite sort of opulentand decorative, very grand and
(13:57):
however I found don't shoot me but I found it was lacking in
soul and atmosphere. Lacking in soul and atmosphere.
That is a scathing review of Geller.
If I know, if I know the people at Geller, they will not be
happy about that. And they'll be on the emails.
They're they'll go to trilogypodcast.com, they'll find
the Hostel common room contact form and we'll be hearing from
(14:18):
them. Yeah.
And then you've got the other two baths, Lucas, which is
probably my favorite just because it's super cheap.
It's about €1012.00. And it feels like where the
locals go, right. It's sort of on the Buddha side,
a little bit further north. So it's a bit of a trek if you,
you know, the city itself is slightly further South than
those baths, but well worth a visit.
(14:38):
Yes, yes, it's outdated. Does it need renovation?
Absolutely. Is it a fucking labyrinth that
seems like it was designed backwards?
Yes. But I think just that element of
discovery. You walk through a door and
there's like another six pools that you didn't even know
existed. You think bloody hell, it's
absolutely amazing. So highly recommend that.
And there's another one called Dander which is lesser known, I
(15:01):
guess because it's so small, it's nowhere near as popular.
And I mean you're talking like 9or €10 for those.
So I did all 5. If you want to know more in
depth analysis and my sort of review of them and what you
should do and what you shouldn'tdo then send us an e-mail.
Get on the hostel common room contact form on the website
tropologypodcast.com. I would love to to tell you
(15:22):
about them in more detail. And if you were to describe a
way that one once in the bath you could achieve a deepened
sense of relaxation, what word might you use as a verb to
describe that? Meditation, perhaps?
Let's go on a brief 1. If you love the podcast as much
(15:43):
as we love you, please could youtake the time to rate the show
on your favorite podcasting platform.
Yeah, go and give it five stars.Everyone else has.
We're just waiting on you. Thanks for supporting us, it
means the world to us. Like a man slowly sinking into a
sulfuric bath in Budapest. Allow your conscious mind to
(16:03):
return into your brain. It's just we hear more.
Basically, Adam's in Budapest. We want to hear about it.
I I can't tell you how much I loved the city mate.
I do say this about a lot of places but Budapest is the
latest 1 and I do think I might live there one day and.
A number of times I hear that sentence out of your mouth now.
(16:24):
I think, you know, what was it that someone said to us once
when we were in India? Was it that we are a reflection
of the person we're speaking to?It was something along those
lines, wasn't it? Well, no.
What? What happened was a very, very
spiritual man said to you, you, you complimented him.
You said I think you're a lovelyguy.
And he said to you, we are only a reflection of the people we
(16:45):
are ourselves looking at us basically to what he meant was
that you are also lovely. So yeah, that's.
And I wonder if I wonder if I just enjoy a lot of places
because I'm in my element, as itwere.
And that is in no small part thanks to this one hostel and
(17:06):
the lovely owner and then a teamof people that had me extending
no less than three times. So I, I went there for three
days to Budapest initially and Iended up staying for about 8 or
9. And like I said in the previous
episode, mate, it's it's one of the first times that I've really
told myself to to leave a place that I actually wanted to stay
(17:26):
in. Why did you so?
It was almost the opposite tale of what I experienced in Brazil,
Paraguay, Uruguay. You wanted to stay but chose to
leave. Why?
I think because I had a number of cities sort of lined up and
I'd already been in Budapest forover a week.
I think from a tourist perspective and what I like to
(17:49):
get out of a location, it's justto maybe get a tiny little
window into what it might be like if I did live there, you
know, go to the local cafe, sit in a park for a couple of hours
and people watch, go to all of the bath houses.
Once I'd done that, and I also had a plan to get on and and
sort of see some other cities, Ithought you, you, you've
(18:10):
probably done about as much if you stay here any longer.
I guess that there's even more chance that that will just form
the end of my trip. And then when I move to New
Zealand, I'm just going to end up leaving from Budapest, which,
you know, would have been fine, but I was a little bit concerned
that the novelty would have wornoff.
And I also don't have a plan to live there at the moment.
(18:30):
So I was trying to sort of quit while I was ahead, as it were.
But let me just give a quick shout out to to this hostel.
It's called the Bubble and it's very central.
The location's absolutely fantastic.
It's actually more like a flat share, it's more like a
converted apartment and there was an amazing little crew of
us. I mean, Olga, the owner is from
(18:52):
the city. She is such a wealth of
knowledge and gave me some really good backpacking advice
because she's clearly a very well travelled person herself.
She said 11 tiny little thing that actually changed my trip
became the running theme of my trip.
She said, if you see an open door in Budapest, walk through
it. Wow.
And I love that because there's so many cute little gardens and
(19:13):
courtyards. And she said if anyone
approaches you and says, you know, what are you doing here,
just say you're an architecture student or something.
But there were so many, so many times throughout my trip there
that I, I took her up on that. And for that reason, I ended up
seeing some incredible graffiti,some really cute little
courtyards, beautiful architecture.
It's a really, really stunning city to look at and there are
(19:35):
loads of little nooks and crannies and cool little
alleyways and stuff. So get exploring if you do go
there. It really is quite, quite
something. Now with at risk, I'm going to
risk derailing the episode here a little bit, but last time I
was in Budapest, and I love Budapest.
It's one of my favorite Europeancities.
I met someone who I've not been able to get out of my head ever
since and she was a sort of, I mean she was begging for change,
(19:59):
but she was bent over what can only be described as a right
angle. She was the most 90° person I've
ever seen in my whole life. She had a cane and she came up
to me sort of. So you know, her head is at
waist height. But look at that.
I was sat down drinking coffee. So we were eye level.
She was bent. Over and she came up to me and
(20:20):
she simply looked at me and saidchange.
Right. Right.
At which point I said I don't have any change.
I was kind of doing a bit of a cashless thing, you know, card
only. So I said I don't have any
change. And she made a noise which to
this day, I mean, I struggled tobelieve it wasn't some sort of
(20:42):
curse. It was quite guttural.
It was the kind of noise you canonly make from having your torso
at 90° before. And she kind of went like like
this a little bit and then walked off and I've not felt
myself since. I didn't stumble across this
(21:04):
person. You never met her.
Because see, for me was like oneof the defining things about
Budapest. Have you read, Have you been on
Reddit forums where they've saidthey've also met this same
person? And yes.
I've found pictures of her online.
You are joking. Really.
That's yes, but it's risky with stuff like this because at the
risk of sounding like I'm makinglight of the homelessness
(21:27):
situation or even the specific community of, of people begging
in Budapest, I don't want to really want to put her online a
picture of her. But I mean, I've given you some
keywords to search and you can maybe go about researching her
for yourself. But she is a known figure in the
Budapest community. Fair enough.
Yeah, I can't say I came across this person that you met, but
I've got no doubt that it would have shaken me up a little bit
(21:49):
was it wasn't a sort of friendlyinteraction, obviously.
It just felt a lot like I'd beencursed.
I mean that that that kind of ties into the story I'm about to
tell me, because it does involveme losing something, something
very dear to me. Yep, that's her all right.
(22:11):
That's the kind of thing she does.
Incredible sentimental value andI felt like my luck had changed
the moment I lost it. And I know that that's probably
psychological. And so is this interaction that
you had with this lady. It's probably psychological.
But let's get back to the bath houses.
(22:33):
I was at the bath house that neither of us can pronounce with
a, with a good friend of mine, Ross.
Ross, if you're listening, mate,you're a diamond Scottish guy.
And we, we kind of hit it off immediately and we ended up
going to the bath together. Really expensive ones.
Now I should preface this story by saying that because of you,
Alan, I have started accessorizing in recent months
(22:55):
and I never wore necklaces and Inever wore rings.
However, I now sport a lovely little silver ring and also a
little chain that I actually have been carrying with me for
the last 10 years. Believe it or not, but I've only
just started wearing it a coupleof months ago.
Now the chain is. I think you look lovely in the
chain, Adam, but I have to say it's surprising you say you're
(23:16):
accessorizing is because of me because famously one of your
friends said that she found me unattractive because I wear to
rush jewelry. So it seems like given the
information you had, it seems like an odd choice that you
decide to follow in my footstepsand start wearing chains and
(23:36):
watches and. No, but I mean, you've told me
that you think I'd be good with a few accessories and I'm also
not in the market of trying to impress her so so.
Yeah, me neither. Class class.
But OK, So moving swiftly on I should say.
I should preface the next bit bysaying that I was in one buds
(23:59):
called dander that I've mentioned.
Very very local and small. If you don't go there, don't
kick yourself, but you know you're trying to take a load
off, might as well. However, I noticed about an hour
in that the colour of my silver ring and the colour of my silver
chain had changed. They'd gone from silver to kind
of an oxidized, weird bronzy, almost like a pearlescent type
thing. And because of the light, I
(24:20):
thought, well, maybe it's just the sort of warm yellow light
outside. And it was dark actually at that
point. Maybe my eyes hadn't adjusted.
And then when I ended up leaving, because I was there
until close, I got into the, the, the light that was in the
foyer, if you like the reception.
And I'd noticed that in actual fact, they had completely
changed colour. Oh dear.
Now that's just something to be aware of.
(24:41):
If you do have silver jewellery,maybe remove it, but mine seems
to have just naturally gone, gone back to the way it was.
You can also use toothpaste and baking soda I think.
But yeah, I mean there's. My chains actually destroy.
I'm not wearing my chain at the moment because the sea has done
the same thing to it. It got went completely brown.
Oh no, It's real silver though, isn't it supposed to be?
Yeah. Oh dear.
(25:02):
OK, well my chain was bought forme by 1 grand grandmother who
unfortunately passed away at theend of last year, and then my
other grandmother, my nan, my nanny, my dear nanny, she bought
me the Chris Saint Christopher pendant that I wear on the
chain. So I like to feel like I have
both of them with me when I'm travelling and they sort of keep
(25:24):
me safe if you like. Beautiful, sentimental St.
Christopher, of course, the patron St. of travellers.
There you go. And I, I do, for some reason,
even though I don't really believe in fate or destiny or
anything, anything like that, I do sometimes feel like they sort
of keep me safe. I've never had any problems and
I've also never lost anything. But I was quite upset that
(25:44):
they'd changed colour so didn't do anything immediately to try
and rectify that. But then when I went to these
baths, I'm now about to tell youabout the big ones.
So shame you forgive the pronunciation.
I thought there's no way I'm going to take these, keep these
on, I'll take them off, I'll putthem in my bag and then they
(26:05):
won't change colour or get even worse and then, you know,
obviously I'll just put them on when I get out.
So did that. Ross and I had an amazing time.
It was so funny, mate. You know exactly what to expect.
But you've got these big outdoorbaths and we spent I think 3
1/2, four hours in there. You know, we were getting our
money's worth. There is.
If you're interested guys, thereis one sauna called the Phoenix
(26:26):
Sauna and there's a little cold pool in there as well.
And that's where you can get naked.
But they all they require, all they require, all they require
is a towel. But then the the whole facility
apart from that, of course you have to be wearing like swimming
shorts or a bathing suit of somekind.
And there was what, one this isn't career anymore, but Ross
(26:49):
and I were in one of the outdoorpools and all of a sudden we
heard a lot of commotion and there was a lifeguard who was
whistling really loudly, shouting and pointing towards
the middle of the pool. He was going like Whip Foo.
Take the towel off, Ross. You've got to imagine, right,
that the pool was pretty full. I mean, hundreds and hundreds of
(27:11):
people, other people walking around.
And we kind of like looking to see what's going on.
And then another lifeguard comesaround the other side of the
pool and starts pointing to thisone guy in the middle.
The other lifeguard is still whistling her head off.
We're thinking, what on earth isgoing on here?
And then as we sort of time goeson, we realise that they're
talking to one man in the middleof the pool who's got a Red Hat
(27:31):
on and a yellow T-shirt. And we thought, oh, obviously
they're, they're obviously talking to him.
For some strange reason, you're not allowed to to wear T-shirts
in the pool, which we like. Didn't really question, but
because they were getting so irate and they continue to
whistle and sort of gesture get out the pool, you know, waving
their arms in the air. He kind of got the idea, put his
hands in the air and started walking towards the edge of the
(27:53):
pool. And as he got out, it was
revealed that he was wearing AT shirt but he was completely
naked. I like the methodology.
He was like actually obeying toomany rules if anything.
No, no, you said have to wear 2 garments of clothing.
That's it. And you can imagine the roar
(28:15):
from the crowd where we saw his bum cheeks and he's walking up
the steps really slowly, but he didn't even turn around and look
for like, you know, he wasn't like, waving to the crowd or
anything in appreciation. He just sort of walked out and
one of his friends sprinted overfrom the other side of the
complex and put a towel around him and whisked him.
Away. He's a good friend.
But it was, it was so, so funny.I mean, it was a real like
moment of community from the rest of us showing support for
(28:38):
him for getting naked in the pool.
And then, you know, the sort of day went on we end.
It ended up getting incredibly busy actually, because we went
there quite early and then we got out the pool, got all our
stuff ready and then dive back to the hostel, at which point I
tried to put my chain and ring on.
Successfully, I imagine because they're quite easy to put on a
(28:58):
chain and a ring. They are, but that's assuming
that you've still got them in your possession.
And I unfortunately realized that evening that I had in fact
lost them. So I was shit.
It was. And that hit me so hard, mate.
It hit me so hard actually that it completely removed all
enjoyment from my time in Budapest from there on.
(29:20):
And I remember sending you a message and it was such a quick
change in my mood that I wasn't even sure that I wanted to keep
travelling anymore. Not then, anyway, because, well,
I I felt like I'd let my grandparents down and that
something bad was going to happen to me as a result of me
losing what I thought was sort of keeping me safe.
Have you ever been through anything like that?
(29:40):
I often, well, I mean, you know that I lost my dearest Pashanka
and I sort of have all my sentimental things are sort of
travel things, right? Pashanka of course being the
long scarf. I travel and constantly
reincarnate by buying new scarves and then my bag lucky is
really sentimental. I do think if I lost my bag, it
would have a similar effect on me.
(30:01):
Yeah. So I'm not, yeah, I'm not above
being that sentimental at all. Yeah, everyone at the hostel was
so supportive. You know, they turned the hostel
upside down. People were looking in their
bags. They kept on sort of asking me
on a daily basis whether I'd found them.
And, you know, don't worry, maybe it'll turn up in a jacket
pocket or something. You know how this universe
transpires. Bless the owner of the hostel,
(30:23):
Olga. She even emailed and called the
bathhouse to see whether I'd left it there and if anyone had
picked it up and handed it in. And I, I was so appreciative of,
of people's concern, I guess, but you know, equally so angry
with myself that I'd let it happen.
It was just a a sort of slip in my focus I guess.
(30:43):
Tried to get through the next few days feeling pretty grim.
I obviously was travelling a lotso didn't really have much, you
know, I had quite a lot to distract me and I was just
trying not to think about it. But I was coming round to the
idea that I'd lost them forever.You're a man that's prone to
beating himself up as well, I think.
I think you're someone that thatgets pretty low if you think
(31:04):
you've fucked up. Yeah, especially when it's
something like that. Because now, unfortunately, both
my, my grandmothers, my grandmother and my nan have
passed away. And it's really the the way that
I stay connected to them. You know, my my grandma, oh,
bless her, the one that brought me the chain.
She said to me many times when Iwent away travelling.
No matter how far away you go, remember that when you look up
at the moon, it's the same moon I'm looking at.
(31:26):
So we, so we're never that far away.
So lovely. And I always loved that.
I always loved that message. I've told quite a few people
that over the years, but I, I was really down in the dumps and
trying to cheer myself up. And I thought, you know, for
some weird reason, I was checking my coat and my bag
again and again and again as if anything was going to change.
(31:49):
I even remember putting the chain and the ring together,
right. I put the, the chain sort of
opened the chain up and put the ring on it like another pendant
and then closed it up and put them both in my bag.
But you know, who knows, maybe it just dropped out when I was
getting my stuff out because I was kind of like rushed out the
changing room and then cut 2 like 10 days later.
(32:10):
I was going through the border, through border control between
Serbia and Macedonia. And I'd just been on what is
probably the worst bus journey of my entire life because of the
people that were on the bus, notbecause of the the distance or
the journey itself or the bus company.
(32:31):
But yeah, really not nice peopleon the bus.
I mean middle-aged racist men that just were.
Controlling boy, what's their age got to do with it?
Because if they've been young, controlling racists, would that
have been that have been worse, if anything?
I still would have mentioned their age.
All their iPads. I'm allowed to say middle-aged
(32:54):
now because I am 1, but. But yeah, it was just a horrible
atmosphere. And they were like, hogging
sections of the bus. And one man in particular, when
I got on the bus, I went to sit next to him and he covered the
seat and then gestured to get tothe back of the bus.
And, you know, I mean, all the seats were full.
I didn't have any other option. But I, I just didn't want to sit
(33:15):
anywhere near this guy. His energy was awful.
And then throughout the entire night, you know, they were
getting off the bus, smoking a couple of cigarettes, coming
back on, stinking of fags and being really sort of loud and
boisterous and drinking on the bus.
It was just, it was a night bus where I was hoping to get a few
hours sleep and it just didn't happen.
So I arrived, arrived at the border.
Of course, you know, there's kind of a no man's land section
(33:37):
where you exit 1 country. And then you got to, you know,
walk off the bus, show your passport a couple of times, get
back on the other side. And I was getting scrutinized.
I mean, I was on, I was getting questioned very heavily at about
7:00 in the morning at the border by the Macedonian border
agents. And bearing in mind I'm super
tired. I've had absolutely no sleep.
(33:58):
I'm like stewing because of how horrible the atmosphere is on
the bus. And these guys are now peppering
me with questions about what I'mdoing in Macedonia, why I'm
here, if I don't have any friends here or a girlfriend,
whether I've got a job, all these other questions.
And, and there was flicking through my passport, passing it
around about four different members of staff.
And because they were taking so long, I just started playing
(34:20):
with my jacket. And as as one is to do when
people are taking a long time. Well, I mean, I was, I was also
like quite sheepish and looking at the floor because I was like
worried that they were going to ask me something that I didn't
know the. Answer It was a sheepish
playing. You weren't doing it in
defiance. You were like, Oh well, if
you're going to take so long, I'm going to play with my
jacket. I hope you're happy.
(34:41):
Come on, Jacket I. Was I was so nervous, I was
thinking to myself, what do normal people do?
How do? How does one behave normally?
I think normal people just behave with their jacket, also
play with the jacket. So I.
Behave, Jacket. Well, it didn't behave, I'll
tell you. Slap slapping the security
agent, you idiot. Sorry, that was my jacket.
(35:08):
There I was. I was just fiddling with the end
of my jacket and I felt something that felt a little bit
hard, like it shouldn't be there.
Oh, Jacket. What have I told you?
I never knew you felt that way about me.
I've been thinking about you in this way for a long time, but I
never knew a reciprocated jacket.
You know how I feel about a man in uniform.
(35:31):
And, and I felt something that was like a coin or something at
the bottom of my jacket. So I looked down and lo and
behold me, lo and fucking behold, there it was in the in
the lining of my jacket. Ah, my ring and my chain had
fallen through a pocket. There was a tear in in my coat
and it'd fallen all the way through the inside of the jacket
(35:52):
and then basically ended up right in the very corner,
completely hidden away. And do you know what the saddest
thing about this was, mate? I didn't even crack a smile.
Because you knew the jacket had stolen them.
It was a betrayal from Jacket. Jacket, what is in your pocket,
(36:15):
you absolute pig. You nothing weren't sick.
I think I just took it in my stride because the whole time I
was telling people at the hostel, you know, like I'd said,
they're very concerned. I've said, but I just, I never
lose anything. I never lose any.
No, I can't get this across. I can't get this across.
I was, I was trying to say to them, you know, I, I just, I've
(36:37):
been travelling for so long and obviously been in so many
situations, but still always keep my possessions with me.
Doesn't matter how drunk I get, doesn't matter how sort of
disorganized things. Doesn't matter how treacherous
my apparel is. I I never lose anything.
And they were like, well, you know, there's a first time for
everything. It's, it's shit happens kind of
stuff. And then when I found it in my
(36:59):
jacket, I, I sort of had this sorts of thought to myself,
yeah, well, obviously you never fucking lose anything.
Yeah, you use it as an opportunity for a little bit of
self flagellation. Yeah, but, you know, and then,
of course, the day turned and the guards let me through with a
little smile. And it just, it's been getting
better and better ever since. But I, I think the take away
(37:20):
from that story is just how quickly your psychology can
change because, and it doesn't matter if you're travelling, who
you're with, what location you're in, you know, even like
your mood and your energy levels, something that was so
important to me vanished into thin air and I crumbled.
So what's the lesson though? You're going to what steps are
you going to take to prevent that from happening in the
(37:41):
future? Because I think that, you know,
I think it's your right to be sosentimental because it's a very
beautiful thing from your from your grandparents.
But then also sometimes with travel, like there's no place
for sentimentalism, is there? Unfortunately, because we live
such transitory lives that move around so much.
Yeah, yeah. You know, I was talking to the
hostel, the the other people in the hostel staff about this.
(38:02):
And one young girl, Jess from SA, she's an amazing person.
I hope you stay in touch. She must, because she's got a
shout out on the pod already. Oh.
No, she's awesome. She she did say one really
interesting question that she's been asking people is what is
something you've lost while travelling that you would like
to have back? My mind.
(38:25):
And it's quite an interesting question is that you are right,
you can't be too sentimental when you're travelling because
we do end up sort of losing things.
And it is probably a better way to travel, to only take things
that you don't mind losing. Because it happens.
Not if you're me, but I how am Igoing to tackle it in the
future? I suppose just the stuff that
really means a lot or is of serious importance, IE your
(38:48):
wallet with all your money in itand your IDs, your passport,
your phone and things like jewellery.
If they do hold sentimental value just with those things,
just show them a bit of extra care where if you're going to
put it away somewhere, actually think about what you're doing,
stop what you're doing and concentrate and just think about
where it is you've put them and how you're going to get them
back. It's good advice, Adam, because,
(39:10):
you know, if you just actively make a deal of it in your head,
OK, I'm placing the chain in my pocket, you're never going to
forget where the chain was. And that's pertinent now because
there's a section called the Lost and Found section.
We stick it at the back of an episode.
It's where we basically we lose that half of the show every week
and you have to pay a little bitof money on the old Patreon to
(39:32):
find it. Again, comes out 24 hours early.
We're going to head there now. patreon.com/tropology podcast,
you can write as a message, tropologypodcast.com, hostel
common room form. And we're on Instagram at
Tripology Podcast. But for now, we're going to
blast off and we'll see you all next week.
I'll see you there. Bye.
(39:56):
Can we show me what is true in my heart only?
What is true in my heart? Only what God?
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