By now you know that as soon as Hungarians
notice your foreign accent, the price of the
thing you want to buy, goes up. Why don't you go
to the market where the Easterners sell? They
speak Hungarian as strangely as you do. More of,
they sell everything at half, even less, the
price you can get in the shops. The only thing
expensive here is fast-food. Better eat before
going there. Maybe you should wake by 10 in the
morning, for the market is not so abundant in the
afternoon.
Go to Jozsef Varosi market! You
just get onto the 28 tram at Blaha Luiza, and you
get off at the 5th stop. Right after Orczi ter
stop.
If you missed it, don't worry, go
15 minutes more and there is another cheap
market, Kobanya Bazar. This you can't miss it,
for most of the people get off there. Also you'll
recognize the place by the huge bags people carry
around, and if you have a small idea of how
Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, sounds like,
you'll feel at home among the words flying around
your ear.
The East Europeans sellers look
tired, because they travel all night from the
neighboring countries to get in Budapest at 5 am,
when the market opens. They look exhausted, for
they agitate a lot to smuggle their huge bags
through the customs.
When they open the bags at the
market, an avalanche of goods invades the
counters. From cups to Stalinist medals, from
toys to tea, or tea pots, from pots, plates,
hammers, to clocks, wrist |
Russian watches, carpets, covers, ropes,
strainers, candles, furs, pens and pencils,
Eastern condoms and scales, to matches and hooks,
socks and knives Everything. Here the average
Hungarian affords shopping It also humors them up
Everything is so cheap! Plus you can argue the
price, and it's fun to get a hygienic paper at 10
forints.
The Chinese and Vietnamese offer
silk shirts at 1000 fts., those silk coats with
fur trimmed hoods. are 4,000 fts. Do you want
T-shirts? Brand new? Cotton? 100 fts. You want
10? It's cheaper- 90 fts a piece. A lighter? 20.
An umbrella with wood handle? 300. Flip-flops?
200. If you buy 7 pairs, you get them at 900.
Canvass summer shoes? From 200 to 450 fts. Quartz
watches? 650 to 900. A Seiko automatic? Less than
3,000. Jeans? 1,500. Flannel shirts? 450, if one,
350 if many. Tights? 200 one, 150 many.
A Kinder chocolate egg? 50. A
chocolate? 20.
In fact the real gain for you
will be to see how people can get along when they
have something to work out together.
The place functions like a small
Eastern European Community.You can hear busy
Hungarians asking Romanians or Russians "How
much?" in Romanian or Russian. Or Russians
using Polish, Hungarian. Or Romanians speaking
Hungarian or Russian. Everybody tries to
communicate effectively, forgetting about their
reciprocal nationalistic prejudices. The
Budapest Sun, March 24-30, 1994
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