What do people know about Hungary in Southeast Asia? – the top 5 most flabbergasting stories

Despite popular opinion, they do not know PM Viktor Orbán, who is reported to be the most generally known Hungarian, in the East. However, they all know about the famous Hungarian football player Ferenc Puskás.

A Hungarian couple, Anna and Zoli decided to travel around the world starting in the East, and finishing their trip in the West. They write a blog about their experiences, and they collected in two posts (HERE and HERE) the most flabbergasting stories they heard in Southeast Asia about Hungary.

5. The phone brand which is not even Hungarian

According to them, every tuk-tuk driver thought that Nokia phones are Hungarian because, according to their backing, they were made there. In fact, more knew about the Finnish phone brand than Barbara Palvin, one of the most well-known Hungarian models in the world.

“I have been using a Nokia for 6 years. It is a good company. Made in Hungary” – said one of the tuk-tuk drivers.

Actually, they had a factory in Hungary, but it closed 5 years ago.

4. Chimney cake

Asia is full of entrepreneurs who thought that it was a good idea to produce the traditional Hungarian cake, but they were not too successful. However, in Penang, Malaysia, Rollney is still open and very popular. As we reported before, they offer all sorts of fillings and toppings, from Nutella to Oreos and Kit Kats. A fascinating tidbit is that to stop the filling from spilling out at the bottom, they put Cornflakes there, to soak up the delicious inside.

An additional benefit of the Malaysian shops is that they prepare everything to be halal, meaning that they absolutely comply with the dietary guidelines of the Muslim religion. Considering Muslim is the state religion, and 61% of the population subscribe to it, this decision makes the delicious Hungarian dessert accessible to more people.

What makes the popularity of the Malaysian chimney cake shop more significant is that they do not sell them very cheap, yet people are still willing to buy them. The ‘bland’ chimney cakes with no filling are about 2.20 EUR, but the full-scale chimney cake with an ice cream filling and Oreos, for example, is about 4 EUR.