All was set for the big trip. The car was rented (kindly done so by Ben), the routes were planned (Kindly done so by Dirong with the help of Mapquest), signatures were signed. The timing was perfect, a weekend escape (literally, but I shall not say why here) to Canada to meet Michael (and his friends) before school fully launch into full swing.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning. After some delays in getting the car and stuff, we set off on our 5 hour drive to the Niagara Falls.

In the US and Canada, you pretty much have to drive quite far to get from place to place. Roads are wider and cars are relatively cheaper. Oil prices however, are increasing fast. Expect to see a lot of barren land, and then meet a town or two, and on the freeways again, which are nothing more than roads linking the towns up. Space is so abundant. We took turns at driving, even I also drove for a while, trying to get used to the right hand drive of the Americans and wondering why Americans always try to be different (like they still don't wanna follow the SI units. sigh).

As we drove into Niagara, we were initially shocked by the number of Chinese we see. I'm sure they don't make up the majority of the population here, so somehow they must have gathered together for some reason. Maybe Tiananmen II or something is happening and we're about to witness another great epoch of mankind.

As Mao Zedong proudly proclaimed,

"I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it
is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever."

Uh huh. Right. I had better get back on track. I don't think I look like a communist.

On more careful observation after parking the car, we realised (from the banners) that Premier Hu Jing-tao is coming for a visit in Canada on his North American tour! What perfect timing. Dancers filled up the grass area, more Chinese can be seen lingering around and Fa Lun Gong supporters everywhere protesting the treatment of practioners in China. It was a great sight. Soon after, a row of 10 limousines came cruising down the road, all having the small China flag sticking out from the front of the vehicle with tinted glass. China flags waved in the air and dancers start do their rehearsed steps in their red costumes (so predictable huh).

With all that hoo-ha out of the way, lets get back to the main attractions - The Niagara Falls.

The spray of the Falls can be felt from across the roads, as we felt the mist of water droplets fall onto us from the majestic Falls.

The Falls is georgeous.

I could just stare at it forever, hear its roars and touched by its spray. The perpectual rainbow against the tapestry of white foamy waters. The power of the waters as they hit the rocks below.

And as part of the adventure, we went abroad the Maid of the Mist, a boat that goes to the Horseshoe Falls and back, so that we can see the Falls around us. Although we look pretty ridiculous in our blue plastic raincoat, it kept us relatively dry, save for the bottom of our jeans. Dirong was almost gloating that he's short enough for the raincoat to cover his entire body totally!

Michael and co. has intelligently gone over to the US side to visit the Cave of the Winds, which he claimed to be amazing. We stayed on the Canadian side and continued to explore the little place filled with fun museums and other attractions. We also visited the casino there, and it's yet another huge casion where the smallest chips are like $5. You can be sure we didn't play anything.

We met Michael and the lot for dinner at Hooters, and it is the first time I've met Michael since he flew! We also met his traveling companians then and decided to see the Falls at night.
The Falls at night is pretty amazing, lit up by the strong flood lights from one of the buildings. Red and yellow and green and blue. Purple and orange and white. At random timings. Ben taught us a thing or two about photography and suddenlyI learnt more about my camera than I ever did! And Dirong and I got hooked. Snapping pictures of the Falls in different lighting at different exposures. In the cold. And due to the exposure effect, we even made it look like it's snowing! (you got to check out the photos here)

We left the Falls and headed for the Motel. Which was a challenge, because the motel is booked for 2 people and I don't know whay they're so strict about it! I hid carefully in the car and waited for them to check in. But somehow I still got spotted and we paid extra for me. And we start to wonder how Michael and co. will manage to pull their bluff with 6 people!

~~~~~
On Sunday, we left the motel and headed for Niagara-on-the-lakes. It's a small beautiful place that seemed able to pop up in movies that showcase the perfect neighbour (like Stepford wives or something). The streets were lined with Victorian-liked buildings, colourful flowers and greenery paraded the sidewalk.

Michael was at his irritating best when he wanted to take a photo of eveything with himself inside. Even with his Havana cigar (see my photo site for more details). We walked up and down the streets, visited the beautiful Lake Ontario and saw the famous Shaw Festival Theatre. Time wasn't on our side, so we couldn't catch a show.

After the visit, we went to Jackson-Twigg's Vineyard for a tour of a vineyard, and some wine of course. We had a good explanatory tour around the vineyard and its workings and a taste of 3 wines. The ice-wine is fantastic, so sweet that I can still savour the taste even till now! And we took plenty of individual photos of the vineyard, plus silly photos of us eating the grapes we pluck from the trees! XT was exclaiming ho good Dirong looks on the photos because he has such a nice and natural smile. And I agree! haha.

And with a sudden stike of inspiration (read: impulse), Dirong suggest we go Toronto. Out of nowhere. We have no maps (except a very general one printed by me in Singapore, since I did plan to go Toronto) and no directions. But Dirong would like to go ahead and take advantage of the chance we have no as he is probably not going to go there anytime soon. And our new adventure was set, we said our goodbyes to Michael, he did look sad at the short get-together, and maybe homesickness has sank in for him, especially since he'll be in Canada for a year braving the cold winter and all.

Take care Mike. Thanks for co-organising the trip (he made me announce this). All the best bro!

So the drive into yet another unknown begins! I gave Han Hua (my good primary friend, went to RI too, now at University of Toronto) a call too, totally caught him by surprise, and asked if he wanna have dinner with us as we drive into Toronto, and also to ask for some general directions and how to escape the freeway with the toll. We got a bit lost, and somehow got back onto the correct track into Toronto, and greeted by the CN tower we know we're approaching Toronto.

And this point of time, Dirong's camera and mine too were running out of batteries and space. Embarrassing, but we found ourselves conserving energy and deleting silly photos just to make some space to take pictures of Toronto!

After meeting up with Han Hua, he recommended a cool place in Chinatown (which is really huge in Toronto) for dinner where we had a really fantastic meal. So good that Ben bought a whole roast duck back to Ann Arbor! We visited University of Toronto after that in the dark, and it was really beautiful, because it's such an old University, and the buildings all around a round field. Standing in the middle of the field and looking at the old buildings did evoke some sense of awe, like how you fee when you see the castle in Harry Potter.

And then we had to part. A short shocking meeting with Han Hua, a good dinner and a crash course of Toronto. I suspect I'll be back her some day, though Michael calls it a dysfuntional Singapore, which is kinda true, because there isn't much attractions, but yet I have not experience the city life.

Off we go, for our 5 hr drive back to Ann Arbor along the dark freeways, expecting to reach home about 4am.

This is crazy.