Crimestoppin' in Budapest

The train ride from Prague was an overnight one. I actually was able to get some sleep for a change. Thanks to my first class eurailpass, I had a whole cabin to myself. Other than border crossing time, which often involves an inordinate number of people needing to look at my passport and train pass, I should have no interruptions.

The excitement of the trip started early thanks to a gang of gypsy thugs. They came on-board during one of its smaller stops on the way outside of Prague. They stormed through the train stealing whatever they could grab. Several people in my car were robbed. One thug ripped open my cabin door, while I was still half asleep. He looked at the shelves and saw only my large rolling duffel up there. My smaller day pack that had all my valuables was tucked underneath the seats, now all folded out so I can sleep. He didn't see anything else worth taking, so he ran off, and his thug buddies ran on behind him. I was lucky.

They hit the subsequent cars as well. Before we left the stop, a distraught Chinese girl came over and asked me if I had seen the thieves. I nodded. She went on to say that they took her suitcase, and reached into her purse and grabbed her wallet and passport. All while she was asleep. I told her she should tell the conductor so at the very least they can call the police and search the train. I wished I could have helped her more. She started crying and walked down the car. I noticed several police milling around the train, but they were too late, the thugs were gone. It turned out several people were robbed in a very short time. Luckily, this time, I wasn't one of them. The Chinese girl really had no idea what she was going to do next. I didn't see her again after the train left, but I don't think she got her stuff back. We made it to Budapest without any further train robbery attempts. But that didn't mean I was in the clear just yet.

I hadn't yet booked a place to stay in town, considering I made the choice to go there just the day before (it was a toss up between there and Ljubljana). So the first thing I wanted to do was book a room, go straight there and get situated. I was going to be in Budapest only about three to four days, so I wanted to make them count.

Once off the train, I saw a tourist bureau in the station that had internet. I figured I'd check on-line first to see if there was anything available last minute. I had checked on-line in Prague before leaving, but couldn't find anything good and cheap. There were only two terminals in this place, and both were taken, one by me.

Some people were standing behind us, presumably waiting for a terminal to free up. This one guy, who was a bit scrawny and wearing incredibly thick glasses, was standing a few feet behind me. Every time I looked to one side, I noticed he was a bit closer. My two bags were both on the floor by my chair. All I needed to do was look down and to my left to check them. Anyway, while I was surfing, I saw the guy behind me in my periphery. He was now crouched down on the floor, apparently looking for something in his backpack. I didn't think too much about it. But it bothered me that he was getting closer.

Right about the time I was going to look down at my bags again, the girl sitting at the terminal next to me yelled out to me that the guy behind me was holding my bag. I turned around, and he dropped my day-pack and started walking out of the room. I asked the girl to keep an eye on my bag, jumped out of my chair and ran after him. He was just stepping out the front door of the place when I yelled at him "Hey, stop right there!".

I was fully expecting for him to run, but he didn't. He took a few more steps, looked each way to see which way he should go if he did run, and then turned around to me. I was right up to him now, and I asked him "Did you just try to rob me?", hanging on to his arm so he wouldn't run. He was quite nervous and he offered up a wallet, and kept saying "no problem, no problem". I looked at the wallet, and assuming it was someone else's wallet that he had stolen, I asked around to the now rather growing crowd if this was anyone's wallet. He started to back away from me, and I firmly grabbed the lapel of his tattered leather jacket and told him he wasn't going anywhere.

He kept pointing at the wallet, saying "no problem, ok, no problem", which was confusing as hell. Because when I looked in the wallet, I saw it had his ID in it. He was trying to give me his own wallet. I asked him if he thought I was stupid, which I'm not sure he understood. Then I told him he was going to jail. I asked the girl at the counter to call the police, which she was already doing. The guy starting talking to me, acting mad and inconvenienced, but in Hungarian so I couldn't really understand him. He then asked for the wallet back. I told him I would give to the police when they arrived. At that point, he got very agitated, and took a swipe at my arm. I was just about to grab him with my other hand and pin him down to the floor. But before I could one of the guys from the tourist office walked up, grabbed him and pushed him about 5 steps back right into a wooden chair. The guy fell over the chair onto the floor. The guy who pushed him down told him in Hungarian to sit down and shut up until the police arrived. It was impressive.

The police showed up about 10 minutes or so, inexplicably long considering that they have a station right in the terminal. That's when the real fun began. None of the police can speak English. One of the tourist office guys translated my version of the story to them. The girl who had witnessed the whole thing was standing outside the office with her friend. I was originally under the assumption that she had left, but she was still there. So I walked up to her and asked her to tell the cops what she saw, as I was sure that they were going to want a witness. She obliged, and talked to the police. They then asked me if I wanted to make a report, and I said "Hell, yeah". I figured at the very least, the cops were going to have a record of him, and this was going to keep this guy from victimizing some other traveler for the foreseeable future. I sure as hell wasn't going to let him walk free.

So the police took us to their station office. They said the whole thing would take about 30 minutes. The girl who witnessed the whole thing, an Austrian girl named Chiara, was understandably apprehensive, but agreed to go. I gave her my appreciation and told her that we were doing his next potential victim a real favor.

We went to the station and gave them our details again. They appeared to be taking notes and working rather haphazardly through the whole thing. The guy who they said was their "translator", (we said we'd only go to their office, if someone there spoke English) had less than a preschool English vocabulary. For a translator, he was pretty pathetic. The cops were now getting frustrated, and said we all had to go to the main station house to finish up the report. I told them I would go, but that they should get whatever information they needed from the witness now and let her go. It was not fair for her to be held up any longer. They agreed and had me go with them in the same car as the thief, which appeared to be one of the cops' own personal vehicle. It was very bizarre.

We got to the station, and I'm asked to wait in this very dank, musty and uncomfortable waiting room. Only a couple of hard wood benches and little else. There were a few people in there waiting as well. Again at the station, there was really no one there who can speak English. They just sort of nudged me into this room and said "wait here". It was about 11:30 AM at that time. I waited, and waited. About an hour later, I realized that I was: a) thirsty; b) really hungry, I hadn't eaten anything since dinner in Prague the previous night; and c) getting tired. I looked for a water fountain or coke machine, or anything where I can at least get a drink. Nothing. I then asked the cop attending the front desk if there was a place I can get a drink. He just looked at me and shrugged that he didn't understand. I then mimicked me drinking something, asking if there was water anywhere. He just shrugged, I think conveniently this time. It was getting frustrating.

Another hour passes, and I started becoming really restless and miserable. I didn't understand why this was taking so long. Nobody said anything to me since the cop told me to wait in the damn waiting room. It was now lunchtime at the station house, and all the cops were rolling in with bags from McDonalds, Subway, and other fast food joints (I know, in Hungary?). And here I am starving to death. It was getting to be too much, and I was just going to walk out the door if someone didn't do or say something to me right now. All I wanted was some food, water and sleep. I didn't even care about the thief anymore.

I was back at the front desk again asking the cop if there was any water, almost begging. At the same time, one of the detectives from the train station walked in and saw me, and just waved his hand saying "ok, ok," but just walked away.

More than 2 hours passes since I got here. While I was waiting, I noticed a poster on the wall, talking about a tourist victims advocacy group called "The White Ring". In English, the poster discusses how they are available anytime to assist victims of crimes, particularly foreign tourists. I ripped the poster off the wall, went to the desk cop with the poster in my hand, and demanded that he call this agency for me. Right when I started talking, this lady walked in behind me, and said "Oh, you must be the American who stopped that thief at the train station".

I thanked every deity I can think of for her being there, if only because she can speak English. She explained that she was a translator for the police victims' unit, and she was going to help me make a report. I told her I was frustrated as I had been waiting in that very dank waiting room for 2+ hours. She said that they had only called her about 5 minutes ago to come in. As if that was supposed to make me feel better about waiting for so long. It didn't.

They walked me upstairs to an office, where she and her associate were typing into a computer. She asked me to start from the beginning and tell her what happened. I did that, it took me about 10 minutes to go through the whole story. They then started asking me questions about the accuracy of my story, as if I was lying or exaggerating about some parts. I don't know, maybe it was because I was so tired and frustrated. I did notice that they were both drinking nice cold sodas, and I had mentioned repeatedly that I was hungry and thirsty but neither offered me anything. I finally asked the lady for a glass of water, and she just looked at me as if she didn't hear me. I asked again, and she said very curtly, "no, sorry". It was pretty unbelievable.

So finally, when they thought that they had my story OK, they printed out an official affidavit in Hungarian, which the lady was supposed to read to me. She started reading off everything, and only on every other line there was a significant error. So then they had to correct all the errors, and print out a new copy.

Finally they were done, and I signed everything. They thanked me for my patience, and said I was free to go. I told them that I was told back at the train station that someone would bring me back after I was done. They looked at each other, not really knowing what to do. Then the guy picked up the phone. He muttered something, hung up, and said that if I can wait a few minutes, one of the officers would bring me back to the station once the car was back. I asked them what they meant by "the car". The translator explained that the whole station had only one car assigned to it. I couldn't believe it. That explained why the cops had to bring me and the thief back to the station house in a personal car. It just sounded so third world to me.

They walked me downstairs and said goodbye. The translator said I was lucky because 99% of the time when this happens in Budapest, the criminal gets away clean, so I should feel good about that. At the minimum, the thief will see 90 days in jail just because of my statement, and the witness' statement. Oh joy, I thought, but I really didn't care anymore. I just wanted out of there. Twenty minutes later, two officers walked out and told me to get in to the car parked right in front of me. They took me to the station, and finally the whole episode was over.

Back at the train station, I went to the tourist bureau again. I told them that I just wanted a room fast, and make it reasonable. The best they can do was one for 60 Euros close to the center. It was a deal. She told me where to get the shuttle bus that would take me there for no charge. Thirty minutes later, I was checked in at a hotel close to Blaha Lusja Square, a nice part of Budapest. Starving, I walked over to a BK on the corner, got a Chicken Whopper. I ate it in 20 seconds, and returned to the room. I slept for seven hours. My week in Budapest was off to a roaring start.