Riots in Budapest

So I last left you as I was about to embark on a night out on the town in Belgrade. I met up with Danica, my Serbian friend, and a few of her classmates and went to some fun pubs. Serbians really love their house/techno music because it was blaring through the speakers anywhere we went. We were ready for some dancing so we crossed town to a disco and were waiting in line when suddenly 5 guys came out of nowhere and wanted to fight Danica's boyfriend. I turned my head away for only a moment, and when I turned back I saw these guys chasing my friend down the street and shoving him down. Of course the girls and I got out of line to check on him while avoiding the thugs who looked as though they wanted to fight more. The strange thing is that one of the thugs was the main security guy from the disco. What started off as a great night turned sour as no one was in the mood to party any more. I think Danica was embarassed that something like this had happened in front of me and everyone was extremely upset that the police had done nothing. Actually, the police did make an appearance. While we were in a nearby park regrouping and making sure everyone was alright, two armed police officers came over and demanded to see everyone's identification. I was worried because they did not seem to like my California drivers license and I had left my passport at the hostel. After calling into the authorities, they returned my ID and moved on. Danica later explained that the disco owner had paid the cops to ignore the fight earlier, and then find us in order to write down our addresses so we would be worried of retaliating. Crazy night. Danica took me site-seeing the next day and we ate the most delicious Serbian pizza with salad on top.

I am seriously starting to wonder if violence in following me because yesterday I spent eight hours on the train from Belgrade to Budapest and upon my arrival learned that the city transport was shut down due to demonstrations. I hiked 30 minutes from the train station to my hostel and saw lots of protesters and police. Check out the link below for exactly what happened:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/24/world/europe/24hungary.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

After dropping off my things, a few people from the hostel wanted to grab a bite to eat and see what was happening outside. We were just walking to a street filled with restaurants and turned a corner when all of a sudden we heard explosions and noticed our eyes were collectively starting to water. It was surreal because prior to turning that corner everything was silent which is why we thought we were in a safe part of town. We stumbled upon the front line where the police were using tear gas, guns (with rubber bullets) and a massive water cannon/tank. A tear gas canister was launched and rolled right up within a meter of our feet. With teary eyes, it took a second to register what it was, and then animal instinct, adrenaline and the whole lot took over and we ran to get the hell out of there. Ended up back at the hostel and watched the proceeding riots on the television. I'm curious to walk around the city today and see how much things are damaged.

After a couple action-packed days, I think it is appropriate to go lounch in a Hungarian bath for a few hours. I might even treat myself to a massage.