Zagreb... A Papal Mass Lightning Storms and an epic sleep...

Caught the train to Zagreb from Budapest, and luckily this journey is only going to take about 6 or 7 hours - hopefully! By the time I eventually arrive I will have been travelling for nearly 40 hours in total, and to say that I am an emotional wreck is somewhat of an understatement. I'm exhausted, smell like a tramp's feet and just want to lie down in a darkened room without having to share it with other people for a change!

Fall asleep for the first couple of hours of the journey, and wake up when I am joined in my carriage by a Dutch couple, Reuben and Aisha, who are also interrailing. We spend the next few hours chatting and looking out the beautiful Croatian countryside, and with nowhere to stay that night, they decide to come with me to a hostel that I have an address for, in the hope that there is space for all of us.

After a ridiculous number of passport checks, we eventually arrive in Zagreb around 7pm. It's an absolutely beautiful setting; a very picturesque town with steep mountains in the background. One of the first things that is apparent to us is just how may police there are on the streets here. There a literally coach-loads of police everywhere we look....turns out there is a Papal Mass on in Zagreb at 7.30 that night and the city is packed with "pilgrims", police, and of course, ignorant people like myself who has no idea that the Pope is in town.

After a bit of wandering, we arrive at the Hobo Bear Hostel, which luckily has enough space to squeeze us all in. I've no Croatian money (the exchanges are all closed because of the papal mass) but the lady in reception is lovely and says I can pay her tomorrow when they reopen. This does sadly mean no beer tonight though. Small sacrifice.

I'm given a pokey little room, shared with a group of middle-aged male German bikers (dear god, what have I done to deserve this!), but am so tired and emotional that I really don't care. After a very long shower, I climb in to bed and watch an amazing sky-splitting lighting storm from the window. It looks incredible, and there is something particularly poignant/eerie about it, considering the mass has not long finished.

Unsurprisingly, I get to sleep pretty quick, and don't waken again until after midday. Epic sleep is just what I needed.

Hopefully my quest to exchange money here will be more fruitful today...

Showering with a baby-wipe, more gypsies and a return to Budapest...

After what seems like years on the sweaty and uncomfortable bus, we finally arrive in Cluj, in the north of Romania. It's around midnight, darkness has fallen pretty rapidly, and I have no idea where I am... Eventually find somehow who doesn't look as though they are going to rob/stab/rape me (no mean feat at midnight in a bus station in Romania!) and ask directions to the train station. Luckily it's a five minute walk - sweet relief!

Decide I could do with freshening up, so head to the bathrooms where I barter with attendant and she lets me off with the pee fee. After a "baby-wipe" shower (this really is a grotesque as it sounds) and a change of clothes, I head to the waiting room/canteen area of the station and perch myself precariously on a plastic seat for a couple of hours. It's possibly the dodgiest waiting room I've ever seen and is filled with tramps, gypsies and homeless people, but on the upside it's well-lit and there are a couple of security guards who wander past every so often. Only 3 hours to go till my train....

Decide to relocate to the platform when a crusty old gypsy tries to use my backpack as a pillow, and it's actually a fairly breezy and refreshing night. I am absolutely ravenous too, and my stomach feels as though it could be eating itself. I have not a single morsel left either, and believe me, I have checked. Water will have to suffice until Budapest.

The train eventually arrives, and chunters along at snails pace for most of the way. Because the carriages are pretty much full of gypsies and undesirables, the ticket inspector bumps me up to first class, where I get a private cabin. Bliss. Manage a nap for an hour or two, before he wakes me up and demotes me again...back to the pleb wagon it is. It's around 5 am and we've crossed the border in to Hungary - thank god!

Drift off again, and when I wake up, it's light outside and the train is packed with commuters...very surreal. There are a couple of ladies opposite me too, who are gossiping about me in Hungarian - perhaps because I haven't washed in 3 days, look like a vagrant and smell like feet. Living the dream!

Arrive at Keleti station and go for food straight away - as much unhealthy junk food as I can possibly stomach. Pizza, chocolate, croissants; the works. Heavenly. Then make a quick change to another station, where I decide to catch a connection to Zagreb straight away...I don't think I can take the embarrassment of going back to Tiger Tim's in Budapest right now. I'm tired, emotional and feel bruised.

I'm pretty sure the past few days are up there with some of the most challenging I've ever had. Here's hoping Zagreb will be a bit more successful than Romania....

Bucharest: The Devil's Ejaculate on Earth...

I barely manage to sleep at all - big surprise - so end up gazing out of the windows for most of the night/morning, taking in the Romanian countryside. Everything is very ramshackle; there is an abundance of dilapidated buildings and crumbling houses, all punctuated by endless lush countryside. It really is the epitome of graceful wasteland here.

As morning arrives, mist descends, and lingers over the villages that we pass; everything looks eerie and quite beautiful. It's rather fitting too, given that I am making my way through Transylvania.

Eventually the villages turn in to towns, and the frequency of countryside depletes. Buildings start to lose the romantic Romany gypsy style, and instead are replaced by post-modern concrete Communist monstrosities. This can mean only one thing: Bucharest is finally here.

After 17 hours on what has been the strangest train journey of my life, the train arrives in Bucharest. Although somewhat relieved, I am simultaneously daunted. I can't pinpoint why exactly right away, but there is something really foreboding about Bucharest, and for the first time since I've been away, I start to get a bit scared.

Decide that I don't fancy hanging around Bucharest at all, so will catch another train to Istanbul as soon as possible; it may be another 17 hour journey, but hygiene, sleep and food is something I am willing to sacrifice to get out of here. Soon being to realise that the train station is maybe one of the least safe places to be - there are fake currency exchanges, unlicensed taxi's and makeshift "information" offices all over the place....and no sign/mention of the scheduled train to Istanbul.

Leave the station to try and collect my thoughts, when I am approached by a guy who has used his incredible powers of deduction to figure out that I am most definitely not a local. He tells me to get out of town straight away (as you do). Entirely naively, I listen. Apparently the police are on strike, the trains are on strike (which explains lack of Istanbul train) and "if the gypsies see you, they will rob you and kill you." Excellent.

Panic sets in and out of nowhere, I burst out crying. Though after the night I've had, a really good cry is just what I need. The man is clearly bewildered, and aside from chastising me for even being in Bucharest in the first place, explains to me that I have 2 options. I can either stay in Bucharest for 5 days until the strikes are over, or go back to where I came from....

So, back to Budapest it is! With no trains running from Bucharest directly, I have to spend a small fortune to take a bus to the Northern Romanian town of Cluj, and then catch a connecting train back to Keleti. This should all take another 17 hours, and the thought of it is a total and utter nightmare, but I so desperately want out of Bucharest that I no longer care.

With enough money for a few litres of water, some coffee and a few cigarettes, I stock up appropriately for the journey. I now have absolutely no Romanian at all...should I need to buy food, or run out of water, I am screwed. And it's pretty likely that food and water are going to be necessary somewhere in the next 17 hours....

The heat is almost unbearable too, and made worse by the cramped bus. We make a toilet stop, and not only do they try and charge me to pee (a kind lady in front of me offers to pay - eternally grateful to her!), but I have to do so standing up. The toilet is a hole in the ground, inside a cubicle. How undignified!

Bus journey is "hairy" to say the least. Aside from a bus driver who is clearly mad, there is car accidents, thunderstorms, torrential rain, lightning, and rather ominous looking mountain carriageways that look as though they may crumble away at any minute....

Overcome with hunger (it's now been 24 hours since last food). I rummage at the bottom of my bag, in the hope that I find some forgotten-about goodies. To my sheer delight I strike gold - one piece of stale chewing gum and a chocolate-coated peanut. A feast fit for a king!

With dinner now sorted, all thoughts of where I am going to sleep tonight and what I'm going to do when I arrive back in Budapest are momentarily pushed to the back of my mind. Instead, as I figure out how to make the peanut last, I suddenly can't stop laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation.

Surely things can only get better from here...?!