This morning it was an early wake up because we had to be at the Chinatown meeting point by 8am. The hotel concierge told us to leave at around 7. But it only took 15-20mins to get there so we were really early. Sat in a nearby park and watched the Asian locals do their exercises and tai chi. Reminds me of an Eastwood park in the morning.
Our tour group is made up of a lot of Chinese people, some Indian and a mother and daughter from Ireland. But the bus is full with 54 people.
The tour does a few pickups and the last one was in New Jersey. When we got there, we were informed the bus mirror was broken and we had to wait for another bus to come for us. So our trip was delayed by more than an hour.
We had ample time to get some food and use the restrooms so Michelle and I went on a bit of an adventure. The guide was telling people to use the restrooms in the grocery store but when we got in there they were flooded and were about 5cm deep in water. We then had to find another restroom at the back of a laundromat in the same area. It was an experience and a half as the toilet was absolutely disgusting.
After finally getting going with a new bus and new bus driver named Jason, we made it to our first destination which was the Secret caverns or Howe caverns.
Our driver told us a story about how long ago, some cows wandered away from their owners. They must have fallen down into underground caverns. When their owners went searching for them they could hear them and discovered the underground caverns too.
One cavern has been turned into a tourist attraction. Stairs have been cut down so you can go to the bottom to the big cavern that has a 100ft (about 30.5meters). It is quite cold underground in the caverns and there are running streams of water that are also icy cold. Some rock formations have been named after things they resemble like "elephant feet". We finally got down to the bottom to see the waterfall. It made me think it was like something out of Indiana Jones. Thankfully there were no skulls, bats or spiders in these caverns. 
After the caverns we travelled north to Niagara Falls.
There is a shopping center across from the falls with a really expensive food court.
Our guide had organized for us to see a cultural show. I didn't really think it was good but I will give the performers some points for trying...
The performers showed is dances of American Indian origin. One of them was about a fight between the thunder god and another bad god that resulted in the creation of the horseshoe falls. One performer played the flute to Indian dancing. Another person performed a hoop dance where he was able to spin hoops around himself to look like a butterfly or bird.
All in all though the performance was one I would have been happy to skip in hindsight and just have more time at the falls.
After the performance we walked over to see Niagara Falls and the sun was just setting so it was really beautiful. They really do look amazing. One of the world's natural wonders.
There were a lot of tourists around.
From the vantage point on the US side, you can also see the Canadian side which is heavily built up with casinos and highrises.
We then went to our hotel in Buffalo near Niagara airport.
No comments:
Post a Comment