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....