12 Hungary, Slovakia

HUNGARY September 1999

After suffering the Slavic languages, Hungarian seemed to be even worse. However, after the deadpan Slavic people, the Hungarians seemed to react more spontaneously. The last Soviet troops had left Hungary in 1991 but the economy had been liberalised under socialism long before. From the border there were many advertisements and modern buildings.

Szepasszonyvolgy, which means “The valley of the beautiful women” lies outside the historic town of Eger, where wine cellars have been dug into the hills. We tasted some awful stuff in some of the caves. Eventually found the famous “Bull’s blood” (Egri Bikaver) worthy of it’s fame. Nearby we admired the beautiful thoroughbreds on the Lippizaner studfarm.

In Budapest we parked at Romai Camping with swimming pool and washing machines. It also had trashcans. Garbage disposal is a problem for the traveller. In undeveloped areas there aren’t any dustbins. In sophisticated towns you need a training course to learn what goes into which container.

It was nice to be able to talk to people again. We met two Americans who had cycled half the world and 4 British women in two campers. A French couple invited us for some port. They were in a new Peugeot panel van. The elegant yellow boudoir inside had a large ornate mirror flanked by long candlesticks.

We went into the city by riverboat and by train. Budapest straddles a curve of the Danube River. Buda is the hilly part with the castle and other medieval palaces and churches. Across the river is Pest with the magnificent parliament building, state opera and the commercial development. The Internet café we used had 35 brand new computers. The pedestrian areas pass many restaurants and souvenir shops with colourful embroidery and suede-like cloth made from mushrooms! We entered an attractive restaurant and ordered ghulash soup and paprika chicken; then we noticed the place was called “Fatal”! We survived to enjoy the evening. At night the spires and domes are illuminated and the bridges are garlands of lights reflected in the river.

At a museum there was a fascinating exhibition called: “Sound”. One could hear the sounds of Edison’s and Bell’s sound apparatus as you approached the display. One could, at the touch of a button, listen to the voices of actors and singers of the past, or hear extracts from historic speeches. In the evening we attended an excellent folk dancing concert where especially the boot-slapping men showed off their talent.

Szentendre, just north of Budapest was our last stop in Hungary. It is a quaint artists’ colony on the Danube Bend. The narrow streets with art galleries, handicraft shops and street cafes attract lots of visitors. We went to the most delightful Kovacs gallery of ceramic art. (We unfortunately missed the Hungarian Impressionist gallery and the marzipan museum).

GERMANY (again) Sep/Oct. 1999

We were in the eastern part of Germany, which used to be the DDR. (We remembered how we had once driven into East Berlin with our small Citroen. There were many security checks by armed Russian soldiers and we had been rather apprehensive then.) Now the Eastern part was catching up fast with Western Germany, but still has a long way to go to overcome the mind-set of two generations under Communist rule.

Before the “business only” phase, we went to Dresden, on the Elbe river.

It had been destroyed by Anglo-American air raids on 13 Feb. 1945. 700 000 bombs were dropped. 18 million cubic meters of rubble had to be removed. Over 100 000 people died in that one night. (More than in either Hiroshima or Nagasaki). It took 14 days to reduce the bodies to ash. Many of the Baroque buildings, like the splendid Zwinger pavilion, have been rebuilt.

The large Protestant church and castle are under reconstruction for the city’s 800^th birthday in 2006. In the Gruenes Gewoelbe we saw the most amazing collection of treasures gathered by the sovereigns of Saxony. There is a display of marvels worked by watchmakers, gold and silversmiths and especially jewellers. Many beautiful objects encrusted with pearls, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and made from quartz crystal, jasper, agate, ivory and fine porcelain. (We think it is even better than the Habsburg collection in Vienna’s Neuburg).

New axles

Jan had replaced 7 rear hub drive flanges, 10 rear and 3 front side shafts & swivel balls in 57 000 km. For future travel it was therefore essential that the axles be strengthened. At the Sahara club meeting in June, Jan had seen a Robur truck. So we headed for the factory in Zittau, 100km East of Dresden on the Polish border in the corner with Czech.

The design engineer listened to Dipli’s story and agreed that the axle conversion would be possible in principle. For two full days he and Jan studied drawings and measurements and considered possibilities. They eventually decided on a combination. The axles can carry 2400kg in front; (with a 2x safety factor;) and at the rear 3100kg, (with a 3x safety factor). The design load is thus exactly matched to Dipli’s gross mass of 5500kg; but with at least a double safety margin! It would mean changing 16” to 20” rims & tyres. Wheel radius 50mm bigger; so also the diff height. Front suspension would thus require modification but all spring positions will remain the same. Mounting points on axles would alter. The LR steering linkage will remain, but Robur track rod mountings would have to be modified to attach the drag link. The Robur brake system is a dual circuit, which brakes the front and rear independently. To retain the double controls (for Dipli to be both LHD & RHD), Jan has to make a mechanical interface between the two Landrover brake master cylinder hydraulic circuits and the Robur master cylinder/booster unit. The prop shafts would also be special interface units. The LR has 6 grease points; but will now have 18!

The Robur factory was making 10 000 trucks a year when Germany was unified. The West German auditors had commanded the closure of the factory (to favour Mercedes?) and the work force was reduced from 3 000 to 15. They now manufacture and assemble only spares for the many vehicles still on the road in Eastern Europe and Russia.

We had to tear ourselves away from the cotton wool to drive to the cold and windy unknown of Bremerhaven. Unusual for harbours, we could easily drive into the port area. Shipping agent offices were surrounded by millions of parked new cars arriving and going; by roll-on roll-off ferry. (The reason why we came here). We soon realised that there were many agents for few shipping lines. Yet there were rates to compare. In between there was major repacking in our motorhome to hide the valuable and irreplaceables from possible theft, to select the luggage for air travel, to identify and label each spare part and to start compiling the photo albums.

We had easy parking near the Internet café and Karstad department store. Twice a week there was a fresh produce street market on our doorstep. We searched for a ‘bargain basement’ flight to Johannesburg, which would synchronise with a constantly changing shipping schedule, once we had found a suitable ferry to Durban. Shipping rates varied greatly; the cheapest RoRo rate was 40% less than the highest container flat rack rate and a whole range in between.

We packed the most valuable items in secret compartments and Jan barricaded Dipli with sand ladders over the windows and between the cab and rear. The keys had to remain in the ignition when we handed the vehicle over on the quay.

Our friends came to fetch us from Bremerhaven and took us to Hannover airport the next day.

Our daughters welcomed us and soon laid on a braai. Wonderful reunion with friends soon after.

The ship took 30 days from Bremerhaven to Durban. The clearing agent was slow to start the paper work and we had to wait two days in Durban to get the vehicle. Only the spotlights were missing. Fortunately no problems with customs. The batteries were flat, as the starting instructions, which Jan had carefully posted on the dash board had been disregarded.

The grossly overloaded Dipli made it back to Randburg and was soon in the operating theatre for the double axle transplant operation.

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