The Wild East

"the smallest guy is obviously enjoying the whole thing, the little bastard"

There are 3 of thugs surrounding me in a triangle formation. My back is against the wall, so I’m not going anywhere in the near future.
The youngest, and smallest guy is about 18. The older skinheads are about 25. One of them is the same height, and build as me, the other is a well-built 6-footer, but the thin guy seems to be the leader.
They start talking to me aggresivly in Polish, which I don’t understand. Then they think I’m a student, and that I have books in my bag. I keep agreeing with them.
I attempt “ Jsem dvarse po Polska” – I don’t speak Polish, which makes them all laugh. I attempt to casually shuffle away, but the smallest guy who is obviously enjoying the whole thing, the little bastard, pushes me back against the wall.
there seems a significant chance of robbery, but I'll only hand over stuff if I'm forced to. The subway is completely deserted. I’m fairly concerned about having my passport, and cashcard stolen- I could end up trapped in Poland for weeks without any money.

For the moment, they are content to keep questioning and talking to me. The thinner thug keeps saying “You Beer? Just 2 zloty”. I think he wants me to go for a beer with them- I don’t want to!
I hand over some lose change- 3zl, about 45p, and tell them to get themselves a beer with it. Suddenly the big thug grabs both of my wrists, and invites me to go for a beer with them again. I refuse again. They start asking me for the time, even though they have watches.

Then they seem to get bored of the entertainment, and stand back, letting me go. They don’t seem to follow me, but I don’t wait around.
The second problem is that Katowice isn’t in the guidebook(I can see why!), and I have no map. It doesn’t look much of a tourist place. I wander down the street looking for somewhere to stay. Going into the station at 11 at night to get the Budapest train seems suicidal. After 40 mins of wandering the streets I’ve found nowhere.
Hotels, or any form of accomodation doesn't seem to exist. It doesn’t look the safest place either, with run-down peeling buidings coated in graffiti, and people hanging round threateningly on the streets. I need to find somewhere to stay within the next hour. I could imagine this place to be fairly wild at night.
I decide it would be a good idea to find a cafe and sit down and plan what to do next.

There are no cafes.
Not for the fist time I regret coming here.
I have to sit on the steet to have a look at the train times to see when the next train out of here is- soon hopefully! But before I've even opened it to the right page, people on the other side of the street stop to look at me. I need to get rid of my rucksack, as it announces to everyone that I’m a foreigner.
I walk into some kind of shop to ask if there are any hotels nearby. The man doesn't speak, just shrugs his shoulders and carries on reading the paper.
I walk into a sandwich shop, and buy a bottle of Coke costing me 2zl. When I ask the woman serving she laughs first of all and then says something about second on the left. After a few mins I find the hotel Polonia, 2-star. It's obviously still a state-run hotel. A 6-floor concrete block. It's 100zl (£16). I have 98zl since I bought the Coke, so have to find a cash-machine. After I return and pay, I'm givern a key 426.

The lift barely works. The room is tiny and completely bare, apart from a suspect bed. The tapwater is a dirty brown colour, unfit for animal- let alone human consumption!
Across the corridor, in the communal bathroom, the toilet doesn’t flush properly, and the shower is a floor with a hole in, and cold water pouring down from a rusty tap.
2-star seems a little generous, even for Poland.

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