November 5th was a milestone in many ways. Xpatloop.com turned 9, and founder Steve Linfitt turned, well...we'll leave it at that. The night also marked the now annual charity gala organised by Xpatloop.com for the Smiling Hospital Foundation, on what just happened to be Guy Fawks Night. The Smiling Hospital Foundation sends artists and musicians to visit all nine children's hospitals (or wards in general hospitals) in Budapest. Hospitals in 12 of the 19 counties of Hungary also receive regular visits. The event has a number of corporate sponsors, including Treehugger Dan's, which gave 500g of its gold medal-winning organic Fair Trade coffee to the raffle, and a copy of the new Go Green Map for Budapest produced by local environmental NGO Messzelato. This English language map and booklet includes listings for organic and Fair Trade shops, flea markets, bike and bike rental shops, veggie and organic restaurants, open markets, NGOs, and seond-hand clothing stores in Budapest (available at both Treehugger shops).

This year's event took place at the Intercontinental Hotel, with a nice view of the Danube, a great spread of food, and Scottish beers sponsored by the Caledonia bar. Typically, the night was full of good music, including local female a capella  group The Sirens; good food; good networking; and good conversation. The after-party moved on to Captain Cookes on the corner of lazar u. and Bajcsy Zs. Ut, which in the summer features one of the best downtown patios. I finally rolled home around 2am. The hangover was all for a good cause, and the event raised 600,000 Huf.