Based on the timestamps on my photographs, it took me forty-five minutes(!) to get back to the train station, although it didn't seem that long at the time. Going back, I decided to avoid the treacherous terrain by walking along the edge of the road, and I have to say that I’m really impressed with the attitude of Canadian drivers. Every single one of them went out of their way to give me a wide berth, some of them even putting their vehicles well into the oncoming lane. If this had been Singapore, I would instead have been honked at, and possibly even splashed in mud or run over.
Adding to the list of stupid things I did today, there was one point at which I saw a pickup truck coming in my direction, and I decided to play safe and step onto the kerb. Why I did that I don’t know, seeing as how the driver was more than willing to keep a good distance from me, and the kerb was covered in more than one foot of melting snow. Needless to say the moment I stepped on it, my entire leg sank right in. So there I stood like a fool with one foot on the road and one leg deep inside melting snow while the pickup drove past. I hope the driver didn’t think I was too big a retard.
Finally I got back to the train station, which is next to the bus terminal. This was the scene just outside the train station which had greeted me this morning. It was like an abandoned town from a Western film with boarded up windows and the lot. There wasn’t a soul in sight other than in the bus terminal and the train station.
Alas, just as I was reaching the bus stop, I saw the bus go past. I don’t know about other days, but on Sundays the bus comes once every half an hour. What follows next is the stupidest and most embarrassing series of events ever to occur in my life, and I’m only ever going to tell it this once and never again will I ever talk about.
I’d done some research on places to have lunch, and there was this restaurant – Betty’s – that lots of people recommended. It was supposed to be famous for really good fish and chips. I’d looked at the menu online, and it looked pretty affordable. The alternative would have been to eat at some crappy fast food joint or an expensive and crappy tourist trap, neither of which particularly appealed to me.
Now I didn’t fancy waiting half an hour for the bus, seeing as how I’d already wasted so much time walking around the Whirlpool, plus I had a train to catch at 5.45 pm. So I saw a taxi waiting nearby and decided what the heck, I’ll just spend a bit more and save some time. After all, the restaurant didn’t look that far away on the map. But the moment the driver started his taxi, I got the fright of my life as the meter sprang to life and started running at a phenomenal rate. There’s also the bit about the driver risking life and limb to shave measly seconds off the ride time but that wasn’t really my concern at the time. It just hadn’t occurred to me that taxi rides in Niagara Falls cost so much! Also the taxi that I’d simply gotten into without thinking was one of those MPV things. I don’t know if that made it more expensive, but I just hadn’t thought of that possibility before I got in! When we arrived, the cost was around Cad$27!!! For a short ride of just a few minutes!
[After doing some research, I’ve ascertained that that was the normal rate, because it costs about Cad$10-$15 to go from the train station to the main tourist area at the Falls, and that was approximately the figure that was shown on the meter as we went past the Falls.]
So then I thought never mind, because at least I’d be having good food for lunch. I stepped into the restaurant, and it was like I’d just gone back to the 1970s. The place was teeming with baby boomers, from the waitresses to the clientele, and it was as if they hadn’t stepped out of the place in forty years. As I walked past one elderly gentleman whom I swear would have fit perfectly into a street scene from the 70s, he said to me, “Best food in Niagara Falls!”
Now don’t get me wrong, I actually thought the place was quite charming. The guy in the previous paragraph wasn’t crazy or anything, he just being a nice elderly gentleman. I thought it was pretty cool for me, this young solitary Chinese guy, to be eating amongst this group of elderly people who had managed to preserve their culture from years gone by in this little time bubble. It felt like I was in a movie scene. The only thing missing was a red and white chequered tablecloth. And everybody was really nice too, including my waitress, which makes me feel bad for having to say that the food wasn’t good at all.
Some salad thing that preceded the main course.
The really famous fish and chips (I’m serious, go search online). I tried to make it look as flattering as possible, but there wasn’t that much I could do given the way it was presented.
So the food just wasn’t good at all. Nothing much I can add to that. The fish was tasteless and everything (the fries, the sauce, the salad) just felt really cheap and prepackaged. The service was good though, friendly and sincere.
Betty’s, a hit with the locals. I wouldn’t recommend it to tourists though. You’re probably better off just eating at McDonald’s.
So then I walked to the bus stop, passing some local houses on the way. They look like little HDB flats, just that because this isn’t land scarce Singapore, they’re not stacked on top of one another.
Adding to my list of screw-ups today, I then proceeded to miss my stop and because there isn’t another bus going the opposite way that you can take, I had to remain on the same bus while it slowly wound its way around the City of Niagara Falls passing absolutely nothing of interest on the way, until it came back to the main tourist area.
