ARC poster exhibition in Budapest
At the moment the ARC exhibition is taking place in Budapest on Ötvenhatosok square which is near the hero square. The task was to create a poster for the topic “What is happiness” which turned out to deliver some very very good results. Some funny as hell, some really serious but all of them super creative. The exhibition will run till 22nd of September and who cannot watch it due to the distance you can watch the pictures in gallerie which you find here. So make sure to check back after September 22nd.
No as I said some pictures were just hilarious for example this one:
It took me a moment to get it but I think thats just simple and good. There were tons of good posters so if you have the chance to see it go for it. It is for free, you can get drinks there and it is open till late if not all night. For all of you Hungarian speakers check the website.
This article was written in Budapest News, Music & ArtsKeresőmarketing Nap 2009
Today I received an email that the day after tomorrow the Keresőmarketing Nap 2009 (Search Engine Day) is taking place again in Budapest. I have been I think 3 times to this conference since I am living in Budapest on the one hand for business on the other hand because of private interest in this topic. I would have gone this year again but if I get an email, which for sure several others got as well, 2 days before the actual conference starts I just have to say that this is simply unprofessional. Any working person has for sure planned his worklife 2 days in advance and simply cannot come.
I have been to several SEO or other internet marketing related conferences if it was SES, SMX or the BAC this year and for every conference I was going I knew at least one month before that I will be there for the 2 days (Keresőmarketing Nap is as usual just one day). OK most of these conferences were much more expensive for regular visitors than here in Hungary but nevertheless you cannot announce a conference 2 days before it actually starts to the paying crowd.
Now for all of you who plan on going there what can you expect? Just another Keynote by Erica Schmidt from iProspect, another pannel on Etarget vs. Adwords again some skin deep Analytics session. Nothing new, same old speakers, same old exhibitors and yet another pen from Google. Wow. But for all of you who begin with SEO these days go there, have a look and listen. You will hear that you need SEO in your company and why but you probably won’t hear what you can do to improve your SEO inhouse, where to start as an affiliate doing SEO nor do professionals get any deeper discussion except from the things they know and you won’t hear any super insights like for example Dave Naylor talked about on the Budapest Affiliate Conference this year.
Enough critics, I really like that a conference like that is taking place in Budapest but they way it is announced and built up is something I don’t really like. As I said if you don’t have deep knowledge or want to network go there, it is something like 25.000 HUF for that day including a warm meal and coffee.
This article was written in InternetAC/DC concert in Budapest impressions
I haven’t been to the AC/DC concert yesterday in Budapest Sportarena but I heart from several people that it waas a blast. Well the only proof I could find so far is on Youtube, so check out this video of the concert yesterday.
Looks pretty awesome. Cheers
This article was written in Budapest NewsThe friendly garbage collector
Today morning at around 7.30, I was already awake but still in bed, it rang on the front door so I had to get up and check who is it and what he wants. Well friday morning it is time to collect the litter bin which we put outside the property on thursday night already. As we moved in that house not long ago there was still some other gargabe on the property like parquet, old, ugly lamps, boxes and all kind of shit which doesn’t really fit in the normal garbage… usually.
Well today the garbage collector rang the bell and asked me if we need to get rid of that stuff. I answered “yes, sure”. From now on he called me “főnök úr” as he saw his business coming. So he asked me if I would pay 1000 HUF to take all the remaining garbage as well in this round. So I gave him the 1000 HUF and let them take it. Usually I would have put it step by step every thursday night in the litter bin until it is gone but come on for 4 Euro he took all the stuff. He and his 2 colleagues can have a nice beer in the pub tonight and I don’t have to care about the garbage anymore. Fine with me.
Thats how Budapest and Hungary is working. A bit of money and he just took the garbage. It is a one time thing, he is happy I am happy that’s it. You find these businesses everywhere, no matter if in the taxi, with the water installation guy or in the hair dresser. That is the daily life of Budapest.
This article was written in Daily Life, OddBudapestagent on Facebook
Today morning I had a little time and thought about creating a page on Facebook for Budapestagent.com. Well the Result you can find here. Of course still I am learning about the creation of pages, all the applications that can be added and so on. Its not as easy as I thought cause it is mixing up with my normal Facebook Account and all of a sudden I have Twitter Tweets, Rss Feeds and so on on my normal Facebook profile even though I want them to be on the Facebook page.
Well anyways I think it is a nice way to see if and how popular Budapestagent.com is and if the information is really helpful. In my mails I have daily critics, feedback, hate and love mails but transferring that to a more or less open platform is a nice possibility. So if you are on Facebook please “Become a fan of Budapestagent.com on Facebook” I would be more than happy.
As I am really into Social Media at the moment you can also follow me on Twitter.
This article was written in Budapest NewsRossz, rosszabb, Rossmann
First of all excuse the partly Hungarian title of this post but it couldn’t fit better. “Rossz” is Hungarian and means bad, “rosszabb” is worse but the superaltive is not Rossmann of course, it would be “a legrosszabb”. It is not time for Hungarian lessons today so lets get to the point. Rossmann is a quite large German drug store company with several stores in Hungary as well.
Now why is Rossmann the superlative of bad? Well yesterday a friend of mine went to a Rossmann store to buy 3 articles. Now standing at the cash point the lady scanned all 3 of these articles and let my friend pay the bill but did not give a receipt. Well in 99,9% of the cases you don’t give a shit because you don’t need it anyways bit in this case she would have needed it. So when going to the exit the nice security alarm started to ring and the security guy (in nearly every store in Budapest you find a security guy) asked her to open the bag. She did, showed the three paid items but couldn’t show the receipt since she didn’t get it. They couldn’t even find it in the litter bin or anywhere.
My friend said that they should check the video camera to proof that everything was paid. The answer was a simple “we don’t have a monitor for it”. Second try was to check the system what was on the last bill. Next answer was “We can only do this after 24 hours”. Wow.
So result was that they called the police because of a shampoo which wasn’t paid. By the way it was the cheapest Shampoo and the wallet was full of money. The police had to write a report and asked my friend to sign it in which it basically said that she is a thief. If she would have signed it she would be. So she asked the policemen to let her write her story on this report which they allowed her to do after a long discussion (unbelievable that they want you to sign this report even though you have the right not to do so and exlain the story from your point of view).
End of the story is that Rossmann checked the system yesterday and found out that my friend paid all items which she took. Today the head of Rossmann called her to apologize. She will of course get the Shampoo (she paid it but didn’t get it) and some compensation which most probably will be a rubbish 5000 HUF shopping coupon or something like that.
Well, for having so unfriendly and incompetent employees and security guards I recommend to you to either go to Schlecker, DM or buy your stuff in one of the big stores like Tesco, Auchan or Cora.
This article was written in Daily LifeBudapest March 15th riots
No March 15th national holiday in Budapest without riots. Of course yesterday (luckily I haven’t been in Budapest) there were some demonstrations by the far right again as nearly every year. Since 2006 I am writing about it but since these are no big news anymore I will just post old links where you will find videos, pictures and articles by famous news sources such as the New York Times, CNN or the BBC.
25.10.2006 – incl. videos
24.10.2006 – with BBC pictures
03.10.2006 – 2 videos
19.09.2006 – CNN news
For more posts about riots in Budapest try the search in this blog or check out Google News about yesterdays riots. Cheers and live in Peace.
This article was written in Budapest NewsGyurcsány resigned
That was a big news over the weekend. Ferenc Gyurcsany, primeminister of Hungary, offered his resignation. He will leave his place to somebody new if his party, MSZP, finds another candidate for the Primeminster position. Problem is that the opposition votes against any social spendings which makes the work harder than it should be. Fidesz now has the MSZP where they want them to be. Gyurcsány offered to step back from his position if that is necessary to lead the country out of the current crisis.
Till April 14th Gyurcsány will remain as Primeminister, till than a new candidate should be found to avoid completely new elections which the main opposition party Fidesz is calling for. Nevertheless Gyurcsány was reelected as the partys president with 85% of the votes.
With that news the Forint started to be weaker again and jumped up above the 300 mark. At the moment around 302 Forint per Euro which is most likely to go up the next days. So if you are planning to change some Euros into Forint I would wait 2 or 3 days.
As I am not the political monster and just sum up what I read in other sources I recommend to you to read the following stories about Gyurcsány and his resignation:
This article was written in Budapest NewsIt changed
I needed a blog design change on this blog so I changed it to a more travel, Budapest related and added the Agent in the top left. Of course this design is not the perfect one and still there are some things to do but for now that should be it. The old one was simply to boring.
As I said on Twitter yesterday (hint: Follow me) I try a new blog design (in Twitter it says “profile” which is wrong) thats done now and I am taking into consideration to move the entire project from the CMS I am using now to WordPress. Why? Simply because WordPress is so awesome, easy to use and offers tons of Plugins and Extensions which take a long time to get for the CMS I use now.
The problem is that by now Budapestagent.com is so large already that it will not be easy to move alle the pages to WordPress so easy as well as the entire structure of it. As I am in big stress at the moment with moving, work and another soon to be anounced issue it is not an easy task to get all this done within a couple of days plus I need somebody who knows all about databases where I am an absolute looser in.
So now you have a little overview about what is going on, what is planned and where the way should go. Cheers..
This article was written in BudapestagentIts been a while
Sorry for not wiriting anything for such a long time but at the moment I am a bit stressed due to moving within the city. The apartment I lived in is now completly empty and the house which I bought is packed with all that stuff but nothing is in the right place, not all walls are painted, not all floors tiled and so on. So there is a lot of stuff to do. Additionally the company I work for has problems moving my internet access from one place to the other and so on.
But in the last days I have been working a bit on Budapestagent.com added some new concerts, restaurants and did some other feauture like the related articles and so on. But I am busy with other projects as well some dealig with Budapest some not. In near future I want to work over some of the existing pages and add new such as a entire section for students in Budapest with a lot of information for the student life here in Budapest.
Thats it with the news, the moving really costs a lot of time, power and patience but it is about to end soon than you will hear more from me again including probably very soon a new, better, nicer blog design. Cheers.
This article was written in BudapestagentNew Metro trains arrived in Budapest
The new Metro / subway trains arrived in Budapest. Brand new, white and for sure more secure than the old ones the Metro wagos arrived by bus late last month. I don’t know if these trains are only for the new build, soon to be ready (couple more years?) Metro 4 or for all Budapest Metro lines. Check out the Video:
Looks nice and shiny. The question is when these trains will make their first ride in Europes second oldest metro system.
This article was written in Budapest NewsCAP Budapest 2009
As I read on gambling911 plans for this summers CAP Euro (Casino Affiliate Programs) is most likely to will be held in Budapest in summer 2009. CAP is the leading organizer for casino affiliate conferences which are the leading conferences for exhibitors, gambling merchants and gambling affiliates. Still there is no schedule or and fixed date but it is live on the CAP homepage that the event will take place in Budapest.
For me this is great news since I am in affiliate marketing since many many years, even though not too much into gambling or poker affiliate. But anyways it is good to have a affiliate conference in Budapest once in a while since this topic, which I am actually spending my working days on, is not too big in Hungary yet and it could bring a boost for Hungarian webmasters. Not only in gambling, since online poker and Co are illeagal in Hungary, but also the entire affiliate industry could improve from such an event.
But not only the industry news and panels will be interesting for affiliates but also the networking parties around the conference seem to be loads of fun (Check out the pictures of CAP Euro Barcelona). So if you are up to affiliate marketing and especially gambling affiliate check out the website and register as soon as you can.
This article was written in InternetForint hits the 300
Well it happened already yesterday or a day before. 1 Euro is worth more than 300 Forint which makes your holiday in Hungary cheaper than ever. Also buying a house would be “cheaper” than ever.
BudapestSun.com about to close
Wow, what a piece of news I read in the Budapest Times today morning. One of the biggest English News sources about Budapest and Hungary is about to shut down, the Budapest Sun. According to the Times the decision was made due to the financial crises. The owners of the Sun is a large regional publisher from the UK called Northcliffe Media which is covering the UK as well as Central and Eastern Europe.
The Budapest Sun exists since 16 years and is/was one of the leading news sources in Hungary in English language. Just a couple of weeks ago they change their design to a rather magazine style than newspaper style and where publishing every fortnight. It is sad that the financial crisis reaches such good papers as the Budapest Sun definetly is. We will see when it will happen and how.
This article was written in InternetNo parking in the city
Today and tomorrow will be a quite large meeting about the Nabucco gas pipeline which brings a lot of high ranked people to Budapest. Why this meeting is held is another story, I want to focus on the traffic situation in Budapest which is horrible, even worse than usual. The thing is that almost in the entire city the parking is not allowed for these 2 days of the gas summit so people working in the city can park nearly nowhere. This of course would not be a problem if people would use Budapests public transportation instead of coming into the city by car but the majority doesn’t.
While searching for free and legal parking spots the traffic will get stuck which will make it’s way anywhere into the city. I took a different way to work today because I saw already trouble on the Pest side of Budapest so I went on Buda side today because recently the Buda Rakpart, the fast road right next to the Danube, is almost completly open again.
I don’t know what the traffic is really like right in the city so I would be happy to hear somebodys view on that. Been in the city? Leave a comment!
This article was written in Daily LifeWorlds largest bladder stone removed
Kind of sick news but I let you know. In the last days in some hospital in Budapest the worlds biggest bladder stone was removed from a 48 year old man. The stone was as large as a honeymelon with a weight of 1.125 kilogramms. I have no idea how big they are usual but that size and weight is simply incredible.
The bladder stone was found only in a routine checkup so that means the man didn’t feel anything. I mean these are really hard things and having that in the size of a watermelon somewhere in your body must hurt or at least you must feel it.
This article was written in OddDog show in Budapest
Well it is a differnt type of dog show which you might think of. In the Hungarian first devision a dog ran on the pitch and wouldn’t get off anymore. Even the clever security couldn’t force him to leave but in the end the dog himself left the pitch. Check it out:
This article was written in OddHistory of game controllers
Well thats not related to Budapest or travel at all but I recently found this picture demonstrating the history of game controllers. I think it is awesome, thats why I would like to share it with you. Basically it goes from a simple joystick with one button to Wii Mode and XBox 360 controllers with tons of buttons and functions.
Click to enlarge
Nice illustration, no? So where does the way go?
This article was written in OddAirport strikes again
As I wrote a bit more than a month ago I had the feeling that the Budapest Airport strikes 4 times a year. Well there we have the first strike of 2009 just approximately 35 days after the last strike. At least it is not holiday time and not right before christmas now but anyways it seems like a big farse to me. As Caboodle wrote the reason is that “The unions are demanding changes to their collective agreement, freezing layoffs and paying benefits retroactively.” Anywas Malév, the Hungarian airlines ensures that all flights will take off even though it will come to delays and passengers should be at the airport about 2 – 2,5 hours before the flight just like last month.
This article was written in Budapest News6 Festivals you shouldn’t miss 2009
The year has just started and already plans are going on about all kinds of festivals in Budapest. Even though some festivals and their offers tend to be quite similar each and every event is a nice opportunity to see something really Hungarian and get a feeling for Hungarian food, drinks and mentality. Therefore I collected some festivals in 2009 which you shouldn’t miss in Budapest no matter if you are an expat living here or a tourist visiting for a week. If you have the chance to visit one of the festivals I highly recommend to do so.
1. Mangalica Festival
Most of you might ask yourselves what Mangalica is. Mangalica is a typical Hungarian type of pig which somehow reminds me of a sheep as well. The festival is all about this type of pigs, no matter if it is in shape of a sausage, living or in arts. Honestly this type of meat tastes absolutly amazing and has its price in the shops but it is worth to try it.
The festival offers a “pörkölt cooking competition”, pigs to see, information about the pigs and why they are Mangalicas as well as a lot to eat and drink as usual in Hungary. For further information on the Mangalica pig check out Wikipedia and for more information on the festival (unfortunaltey just in Hungarian) and its programme click here.
The festival takes place at Városligeti Vajdahunyad Vára between February 6th and 8th.
2. Budapest Spring Festival
The Budapest spring festival is taking place since years and years by now and is one of the most visited festivals in Budapest. It is mainly about concerts ranging from folk over opera to cross over concerts for 2 weeks. I assume that during these 2 weeks you are able to see more than 100 performances of all types of music. Also available are performances for children and some special which is this year Japanese performances.
It would be useless to start to tell you about the performers so I refer to the official website wich is the programme in the same time. For more information click here.
3. Summer on Chain Bridge
You might have seen it that during the entire summer the chain bridge in Budapest is closed for cars and busses because on saturdays and sundays the chain bridge is full of little shops selling arts, gifts, food and drinks as usual in Hungary. What you will find here is a nice walk across the chain bridge without disturbing traffic watching hand made arts and gifts while having a beer and a sausage or something similar traditional Hungarian.
The summer on chain bridge is not a spectecualar festival as it is not concentrated on one weekend per year but on the entire summer but for a nice sunday walk it is absolutly recommendable. I didn’t know but on research I found out that the festival has a website. Check it out here. It takes place from June 21st till August 17th.
4. Budapest Pálinka Festival
Probably the festival most people would like to go to because they can have a taste of Hungarys favourite shot, the Pálinka. Pálinka is like a fruit spirit in all kinds of flavours with honey (mézes) or without including fruits (ágyas) or not and so on. It is a really nice festival near Déak Ferenc Tér with Pálinka manufacturers from all over Hungary.
What I don’t really like at the Pálinka festival is the control which the exhibitors have from the organisators. Every visitor has to pay entrance which is justified with a useless Pálinka glas and you need value tickets for everything you want to buy if it is Pálinka, a juice or sausage. Also the Pálinka producers are bound to the prices the organizers give so that every exhibitor has to give a Pálinka away for a minimum of 200 HUF no matter if it is a really bad one or a high quality Pálinka.
Nevertheless it is a nice opportunity to try some different Pálinkas and maybe take a bottle home. Unfortunately there is no website for the year 2009 yet and no exact date but check out the website for more information.
5. Wine Festival Budapest
Another popular festival in Budapest which is quite much alike with the Pálinka festival as it has the same organizers I guess. What you find here is a large variety of wines from all over Hungary, from Villany to Tokaj you will get every wine and nearly every large winemaker of Hungary is present there. Of course you will get all types of other things as well like beer and food as usual in Hungary but it is all about the wine.
Same issue as with the Pálinka festival I don’t like the fact of control over the producers by dictating the price and asking money from the visitors but this is what we have to live with. Still there is no exact date for the wine festival in Budapest but it will be in the castle disctrict as every year.
6. Sziget Festival
Of course the Sziget Festival in Budapest has to be on this list as THE biggest festival among the listed and even in Europe according to the number of visitors. One week music on several stages on the “Óbudai-Sziget” which is the island in the north of Budapest. Still there is no lineup for this years Sziget but it will be a blast like every year. People from all over Europe coming for bands like Iron Maiden, Alanis Morisette, Jamiroquai, Sex Pistols, R.E.M. (all 2008), Manu Chao, Chemical Brothers, Pink, Sinéad O’Connor, Faithless (all 2007), Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Radiohead, The Rasmus, Placebo or Prodigy (all in 2006). You see I could go on and the names on the list don’t get worse but what I can guarantee you is that this festival is just blowing your mind. I mean you get anything from good music to sex, from food to drinks as usual in Hungary on Sziget festival. There is no way around not going there if you are from Budapest or here in this time.
The Sziget will take place between August 12th and 17th on Óbudai Sziget in Budapest and the ticket prices for the entire festival range from 100 to 150€ while the daily ticket will be again around 10.000 to 12.000 HUF (40-50€). Get more information, ticket information, videos and pictures here.
This article was written in Budapest News, Daily Life
