Sunday, August 31, 2008

Nothing Short of a Backbreaking Ride

If the "Journey to the West - <西游记>" was an epic of a story, then I suppose our Greyhound bus trip from Boston to the Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada on 24 August could qualify as a proportionately painful story too! 

We made so many stops along the way as we danced our way through New York State enroute to Canada that it would have automatically qualified us for a world record for enduring motion sickness... but seriously, it was the first time we had spent 11 hours on a bus so forgive us for feeling like the sea-tossed pilgrims crossing the Atlantic who finally made it to the New World!


The ancient Israelites were known to keep a tight tradition of keeping historical records so that generations after them would remember the journey of their forefathers. Well, this priceless photo of the checkpoint at the Canadian border would be a reminder to Doris and I as well... we made it!!!

And made it we did... leaving home sweet home in downtown Boston around 6am that morning, we finally 'landed' at Niagara Falls, Ontario, about 9pm that night. But the sight of the Falls that greeted us, even at night, made the backbreaking journey immediately worthwhile. 

The Niagara Falls was a 15 minute walk from our B&B, and from afar we'd already noticed the colorful wonder of the world beckoning us into her embrace...




So here's a series of photo shots of the beautiful Falls going through a symphony of colors to satisfy our lusty glances... :p ... Perhaps the accompaniment of music not unlike our Musical Fountains at Sentosa would have been neat, but seriously, what could match the majesty of this sight? Anyway, we've learnt that the amount of water coming down the Falls today is but a fraction of its original volume, and the amount is further reduced at night, so remember this scene, and take a look at our photos the next day :)

After a day's weary ride, followed by a soothing tour of the Niagara Falls by night, we finally called the day in the comfort of our B&B... this building is, as we understanding it, the first masonry structure to be built at the Falls more than a century ago... and by the very masons and engineers who built the first hydroelectric systems to tap the power of the Falls. Cool bit of history eh?

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