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2 Different Experiences at the Niagara Falls!

Approaching Horseshoe Falls Niagara Falls via Maid of the Mist Ferry

“Yay! The motel we are going to stay is super near the airport! We can walk there and save money!”

To our horror, we arrived at the “wrong” airport at Niagara Falls, NY! (I blame the auto-complete function on most websites these days). Our trips have usually been well-planned and without hiccups, but this time round, we got to experience the mistake possibly many travellers made when they choose to fly to visit Niagara Falls.

I knew Niagara Falls was in Buffalo…so when I had to select the flight from Las Vegas and did not know which airport to go, I typed in “Buffalo”, and the auto-complete function “told” me that I will land in Buffalo Airport. We arrived there and was looking forwards to the walk to our motel when we discovered that we are more than 70km away from it!!!

The nice old man at the information counter produced a map and gave us our bearings. We were supposed to fly into Niagara Falls International Airport, not Buffalo Airport!!! He then told us there was a bus that comes every 45mins and it would cost us about USD20 per ticket to get to Niagara Falls State Park. We panicked as we happened to miss the last bus (and it was already 4pm). So we did some calculations and we decided to rent a car instead.

But it wasn’t easy either. Tom had to go from counter to counter to check what were the available cars left for the day. Thank the Lord there was a economy car at Hertz going for USD50/day! It was the only small car left at the airport. Phew~

We quickly loaded our luggage and relied on the GPS to get to our accommodation for the night – Swiss Cottage Inns. We drove across this bridge…

before we arrived at our motel…

Swiss Cottage Inns enroute to Niagara Falls

The motel “boasted” of an outdoor swimming pool, a microwave in the room (that is how we heated up our leftover buffalo wings; see Original Buffalo Wings post), and provided pastries for breakfast.

Decent bed with microwave and fridge @ Swiss Cottage Inns

Outdoor Swimming pool @ Swiss Cottage Inns

The friendly owner told us about the fireworks on Fri/Sat nights during the summer months. As we arrived on a Friday and we rented a car, we were excited to catch the fireworks!

We parked at Seneca Casino, hoping to enjoy the buffet dinner but we were denied entry because we left our passports in the motel. Tom was totally devastated and we made our way to the State Park. We managed to grab a bite at the food court.

Seneca Casino @ Niagara Falls (USA side)

With a full stomach, we leisurely strolled down to the Falls. We could hear the loud roar and we enjoyed the cool breeze and mist as we approached it. The rapids looked amazing and mystical with the special lightings. Finally, we reached the Falls, and hurried to get a good spot for the fireworks. What a great way to end our first night at Niagara Falls! 🙂

Illuminated American Falls (Niagara Falls at Night)

Niagara Falls Lights Up with Fireworks!

Day 2 @ Niagara Falls

We were planning to take a ride on the Maid of the Mist, and as “kiasu” (scared of losing out) Singaporeans, we woke up early to ensure that we were the first few at the ticketing counter. The ticket costs USD13.50 for each adult ticket. We thoroughly enjoyed our ride even though it left us cold and wet. The Falls was truly majestic and we felt energized as we left the boat.

Maid of the Mist (USA side of Niagara Falls)

Tourists @ Maid of the Mist (Niagara Falls USA)

Awesome American Falls (Niagara Falls as seen from Maid of the Mist)

We then spend the morning lazing on the grass, having a small picnic (ice cream and chips!) and challenging each other in a round of word game that cannot be named. We even managed to catch a pretty rainbow! (where is my pot of gold? :P) Visiting the Niagara Falls in the day and in the night indeed allowed us to experience two unique and wonderful aspects of the majestic Niagara Falls!

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Pretty Rainbow across Niagara Falls

Updated on January 31, 2021August 26, 2011holiday Places of Interest Travel Travel Blog Travel Tips USA vacation Virginia Virginia Beach

Weekend Trip to Virgina Beach, Virginia USA

So Kate and I were given the chance to stay in the USA for a couple of months. Each week, we would travel around to different cities and create a little holiday of our own.

On this particular week, we went to the beach. Not just any beach, but Virginia Beach!

It was a hot summer’s day, temperatures were reaching about 38 degrees celcius. Kate and I drove our way there and we were circling around to find a parking lot.

On the beach front, there were shops, restaurants and bars all along the street. A few streets away from the beach, there were some private estates. Kate and I thought that maybe we’ll just park near the beach front and have a look around first. We then found a lot right along 12th Street and placed some coins enough to walk around for about a half hour.

We thoroughly enjoyed the walk along the boulevard. It is so different along our beach fronts here in Singapore. There were souvenir shops that sells things from magnets,shirts,caps to beach balls,floats and even sweat shirts! (who needs sweat shirts on a hot summer’s day?!)
There were also restaurants, pubs and fast foods along the streets.

On the beach front, there were many activities as well! There was a huge slide (cooled with water so that kids can also slide down easily), hot dog stands, and this…

The Cornhole Tournament @ Virginia Beach

This is where people have something like a sandbag the size of your palm. Their aim is to throw these sand bags into holes on a slanted platform like these…

It was the first time Kate and I saw such a sport and we were amazed that these competitors were really focused and some of them were really good! Being able to throw the sandbags into the holes from a distance!

There were also other beach activities like volleyball and of course just lazing at the beach…

After a short walk, Kate and I decided to head back to our car and perhaps relocate it. We asked a girl at the beachfront and she told us that she often park at the private estate a few streets from the beachfront. With that, we headed back to our car.

I had a funny feeling when we were walking back to our car. To our “horror” a police officer had already given us a ticket! We were like still on time! We asked if we were able to retract the ticket as probably the parking meter wasnt working. The officer told us that nothing could be done on her side, so she advised us to report the faulty meter. One thing we were impressed with, was that the parking ticket even had a photo of the car on it!

That sort of deterred us for the rest of the day as we circled around once more for the parking spaces. But we saw nothing but signs like these…

Instructive signs teaching people how to behave... — Instructive signs teaching people how to behave…

So saddened and not being able to find a lot, we left. However, we did make time back again on Independence Day (4th of July) to catch this!

4th July Independence Day Fireworks @ Virginia Beach

This was really cool because the fireworks was shot from a vessel out in the ocean while the beach goers enjoyed the fireworks from the beach front.

Overall, Virginia Beach is a cool place to hang out with many things to do. Virginia Beach is definitely a nice weekend getaway for the entire family. Enjoy the video!

P.S. After making a few phone calls, we were able to report the faulty meter and saved ourselves the fine of 20 bucks!

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Updated on November 28, 2020August 14, 2011Asia attractions Chingay Parade Festival Singapore Chingay Parade Street Festival Singapore Festival and Events holiday Places of Interest Singapore Attractions Singapore Travel Blog top 10 must do things in Singapore Travel Travel Blog Travel Tips vacation Visit Singapore Attractions

Chingay Parade and Festival Singapore – Street Parade Culmination and Melting Pot of Cultures, Street Performances and Displays

Kate and I were invited to the Chingay Parade and festival and it was our first time ever! We were of course excited and decided to be there early to join in the ra-ra (pre-show audience warm-up) before the show started. Before we go into the details, a little bit about the origin of Chingay…

The Chingay Parade had its roots as a street performance or masquerade started in the 1970s. Today, it has evolved and has become an international festival with audience from all over the world. Touted as the grandest streets and floats parade in Asia, the Chingay Parade boasts of dazzling displays of colours and multi-culturalism that Singapore offers.

The Chingay Parade has been held at the Pit-Building (the actual Pit building for formula one on the F1 calendar) for the past couple of years. It is primarily a street performance where audience are seated on both sides of a street as the performers and displays pass by. The performance would include street performers from all over the world. In addition, organisations in Singapore , both private and public companies or organisations, would also stage performanances that attracts the attention of the crowd. At the pit-building, more than 150,000 spectators can be seated.

As Kate and I begun to get seated at our Category 3 seats (costs about $25 dollars), we noticed 2 of Singapore’s most famous hosts – Gurmit Singh and Quan Yi Feng. It was exciting to see how they warmed up the crowd and entertained us, getting us all psyched up before the first performers arrived.

We were surprised by the first few acts whereby firecrackers (something banned in Singapore except at festivals such as this) and fireworks were used. Stilt walkers and performers from China held huge flags and balanced them superbly as they passed the audience. It was awesome!

The whole parade was filled with dazzling colours and wonderful floats. One of the 2 floats that caught our attention was the USS (Universal Studio Singapore) floats with all the characters such as Kung Fu Panda and the Madagascar Characters. The other float that caught our attention was the HDB (Housing and Development Board of Singapore – Provides public housing for all Singaporeans). This is because the float featured the latest public project that garnered design awards – Pinnacle@Duxton. Here are some of the highlights of the evening…

Of course, to round of the entire parade, what else but FIREWORKS!

Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (as you may have heard from the screams of our video) and we were pleasantly surprised by how great and awesome a street performance can be. We formerly typified floats as boring as we see them drive pass during the parade season.

However, having come close to the performance, it actually brings us to see how much work the performers have put in and how much attention to detail have been placed into all the costumes and float designs. Impressive!

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We hope you’ll enjoy the Chingay Parade in Singapore this year!