"Chilli Capital," Kalocsa, Hungary

Kalocsa Town:
You can smell the stuff when you pull into town. The plants are ripe for picking, and a pungent aroma from the processing factories fills the air. It’s such an important cash crop that the locals even call it "Red Gold."

It was 3 hours train ride from Budapest. However, there is 2 hours wait at Kiskoros town, because there is not much direct train from Budapest to Kalocsa direct on Saturday. So what the Heeee.....I started drinking Hugarian Rose Wine. About half way down the bottle, I started to talk to the locals at the Kiskoros train station. There is one woman had such a good time with me, she started giving me juicy plums for our trips. Another man was so happy that I shared my drinks with him, he stated offering me the local lñiquor (70% alc), strong stuff. So I am pretty much drunk, by the time the train arrives. I didn have memory of Kalocsa train station, but only the smell of Pepperika and their Gulasch. Boy-oh-Boy so much food in HUGE pots, so many different kind of peppers and the next thing I know, I was drinking with the police chief and his family at the fair and I have Paprika Ristras around my neck.

Apparently, I was also talking to Anna, who is a local reporter for the fair. She invited us to her house, fed us Pizza in the evening, continue drinking and headed out to the pub for more drinks. At that time I was done drinking (around 10pm). I couldn't take anymore, so I stopped and did not touch the Vodka and RedWine that they had. We also meet up with some of our Hostels-buddies from Budapest at the fair. So here we are one big drunken group in the Kalosca Town.

Had a very good time, tried out their mini potatoes, fish soup, different kind of Gulasch dishes, local dance, music and busy talking with locals in the fair. I noticed, Hungarian will put up a strong face at first, but then later on when you started talking to them they will start inviting you to their house for more food and more drinks.

I love Hungary, the people and its culture! One of my favourite country and also to revisit again in the future.