Fall Break 2007 (Part 1 -- From Niagara Falls)

[Note: Part 1 of this post has been edited on Monday, October 15, 2007 at 2am after I reached back home from Niagara with a tiny portion of the pictures. Will do a more complete posting of my photos later on Monday or Tuesday.]

Hey guys, greetings from the other side of the border, from one of the natural wonders of the world, the Niagara Falls! Decided to drive up here via Detroit, through to Ontario to the Niagara Falls which is also the US-Canadian border.

Nice sunset driving into Canada

It was a pretty long and tiring drive out here last night; took me approximately 5 hours of driving to get us here at around 11pm last night (12 October 2007). Stopped over in a city on the way for a quick dinner at Taco Bell. We arrived at our "backpacker's inn" and it was this really antiquated place which was run by an old lady. It was a nice quaint place, except that our room had only a TINY bed and basically nothing else. Even the "PC" with internet access at the frontdesk was running (gasp) Windows 98!

Check out the room man, I wasn't exagerrating

Anyways, after freezing our butts off yesterday night, we checked out early this morning and moved to a more established place down the road. I'm now blogging at the frontdesk of Water's Edge Inn on my laptop. Nice place (definitely a ton better with a WORKING RADIATOR).

I haven't transferred my photos onto my comp yet, will probably do that later tonight and upload them into this post at a later date. I took so many photos today, with tons of them being duplicate ones. We headed over to the Canadian Falls (the Horseshoe Falls) on the Canadian side of the border first. Words just can't describe how majestic the falls were. It was simply amazing. It's impossible to see the base of the falls because of the tremendous amount of spray which is thrown up by the waterfalls at the plunge pool. From this side of the border, we could also see the American Falls in full sight. While walking along the sides of the gorge, we constantly got showered with spray from the falls. Glad I decided to put on my water-proof Coulombia jacket when I headed out.

Before setting off from the Niagara parking lot

Overlooking the Ledge of the Horseshoe Falls

Spray hitting me from the Horseshoe Falls

First rainbow sighting of the day (look closely at the picture to spot it!)

The American Falls and Rainbow Bridge (linking Canada and US)

Horseshoe Falls

Maid of the Mist boat heading out from the falls

Maid of the Mist

Double Rainbow!

Me and the rainbow

Another shot, I swear this is not photoshopped!

We went for a quick lunch of burgers at Canadian Falls before heading downstream, towards the Maid of the Mist boat ride. The boat ride took us close to the falls, where we got well and totally drenched despite the ponchos which we put on prior to embarking on the trip. It was fabulous to head so close to the falls and also to be inside the mist, where we could see multiple rainbows at some points in time.

The American Falls and Rainbow Bridge

American Falls

The "Act Cool" shot. Haha...

Rainbow Bridge (before boarding the Maid of the Mist boat ride)

View from the boat; at the bottom of the "gorge"

A rainbow which can only be seen from the boat. Full arch!

The rainbow again

As close as it gets

After weathering the "storm"

Rainbow Bridge from a different angle

Drove over to the American side and went for the "Cave of the Winds" walk, which cut really close to the Bridal Veil Falls. I was able to see a fall arched rainbow there and come within a couple of meters from one! Haha, and hence it shall be declared that there is no pot of gold at the bottom of a rainbow. I walked up onto this Hurricane Deck, which was really just next to the cascading Bridal Veil Falls and got nicely drenched.

Horseshoe Falls from the US side

Rainbow Bridge and the Canadian "resort" in the background

Rainbow again! Really close up this time. I was psyched!

Bridal Veil Falls

The American Falls

The bottom of the American Falls

A full rainbow within meters!

Freedom!!!

A "slice" of rainbow

A "slice" of the rainbow with me

We crossed over to the Canadian side and went to the small town in Niagara for dinner. That town was almost totally a ghost town, with majority of the banks, shops and eateries empty or closed down.

Crossing the US / Canadian border [Marker on Rainbow Bridge]

With our trusty Lonely Planet guide, we went to this place called Simon's Restaurant. That place is AMAZING. It was so run down and stacked full of papers and random stuff. I was pretty apprehensive heading in but WOW. There were license plates nailed to the serving area from people who have passed by. I spotted license plates as far back as 1918! We signed in on this "guest book", which was essentially a file with greeting and compliments from backpackers and visitors from all around the world. That was definitely one of the most amazing places we've seen today. There was an ancient coke/soft drinks dispensing machine, super old newspaper articles, Disney mugs dating back to 1918, countless decorations for the restaurant owner, Coca Cola bottles dating back to 1983, and the list goes on. I swear I was totally awed by the place. It beats any museum here FLAT. We ate our really classic "breakfast" dinners quietly, taking in the sights and feel of being in such a place. Jeff asked this old man who was there whether he was Simon and guess when the place was started? 1884!!! One freaking century before I was born! HOW COOL IS THAT!

Oldest restaurant in Niagara Falls (check out the vehicle plates!)

Ancient Coke dispenser

Hidden treasures

Breakfast for dinner! Yummy!

A beautiful sight greeted us when we stepped out of the restaurant

Came into our "new" hotel after that and kinda lazed around, watched *ahem* KENTUCKY BEAT LSU in 3 freaking overtimes! Number 1 LSU is down! (By the way, Michigan beat Purdue by a decent margin but shit... Mike Hart is injured, we're so screwed. That dude deserves the Heinsman Trophy.) As I was saying, LSU is down and CALIFORNIA JUST LOST TO OREGON STATE! What the hell? That means Ohio State is damned number 1 in the country once again! Ah!!! No!!!

Okay, looking back, this is a ridiculously long post and after I add in pictures to the post, this is going to look totally absurb. Too bad dude. My blog, I do what I want with it. Take care guys and good night from the starry night here in Niagara.

Best regards,
Wilson Tan
13 October 2007, Saturday
Niagara Falls - Water's Edge Inn Front Lobby

The Restful Sunday

After a few days spent outside with prolonged birthday celebrations and all, spent majority of Sunday at home. The weather is getting really unbearably hot. Grr... temperatures are supposed to take a dive this Wednesday. Oh well, better enjoy the heat while it lasts.

Did something really stupid this evening when I misinterpreted not one, but two emails from my group mates. Somehow misread it as a proposal to have a meeting tonight at 8:30pm when they meant 8:30am on Tuesday morning. I must have sounded really nuts when I called them up to ask them where they were. Haha...

Anyways, after contemplating on getting an mp3 player (with Apple already going into their 6th generation of ipods), I'm still procrastinating on spending that big sum of money on the little gadget. Kinda can't bring myself to spend US$249 on that thing even though I would probably use it all the time, everyday. Argh... besides, I still hate Apple. Lol, will probably get one soon I guess. Any suggestions for the free 22 character free laser engraving on the back surface? Help me out here!

In the meanwhile, some photos from the Apple store ipod classic gallery...





Would have preferred a white ipod but the sixth generation of ipods come only in black and silver, with the silver being more grey than silver/white. Black looks way better. One fine day when I am impulsive (or drunk enough), maybe I'll spend that ton of money on Apple.

Until then, peace.

Football Saturdays Return

Once again, it's home game day again. Today, we successfully killed the (supposedly easy to slaughter) Eastern Michigan University Eagles. With our defensive woes and special team screw ups all day, we managed to squeeze out a decent win coutesy of none other than Mike Hart's stunning runs. Words can't describe what that guy does; he's just so darn amazing. He definitely deserves the Heinsman Trohphy more than anyone else in college football.

Before the game

Michigan Wolverines out from the tunnel

Cheer Team, Dance Team and Marching Band Flags

Poor performance by the team aside, at least it was a nice, sunny day out, though it became scorching hot at some point. I'm pretty burnt up right now and quite tired.

Caught Ratatouille with John, Lenny and Aaron at Dollar Movie in Briarwood Mall. It's a nice show, another good creation by Pixar studios. Followed that up with dinner at Great Lakes with the guys and came home. Ming went to pick Anny and Ariel up from their home and came in with a surprise belated birthday cake. Thanks you all. =)

Actually, just waiting and trying to stay awake since... oh well, whatever, I guess I'll head to bed soon. Tired. -shrugs- Night.

24th Birthday

Hello.. Just turned 24 yesterday and had a pretty good birthday. Once again, since I'm in the US, I had the privilege of having kind of a 36 hour birthday, with 12 hours time difference between Michigan and Singapore.

Beginning at noon Wednesday (3 Oct 2007 Michigan time), started getting birthday greetings from friends in Singapore and some pals here in the US. Thanks guys for the well-wishes! Had a really great time chatting with some friends who mean lots to me. =) Special special thanks to mom and dad for dropping me messages and calling me to convey their birthday wishes. Made my day!

A long and packed school day as usual on Thursday. Dashed home between my 2nd and 3rd class to get changed out of my presentation attire and got to chat with Sharnon for abit. Nice lunch break. Hehe. As most of my pals here had exams and projects due the following day, I went for dinner only with Alvin and Jeff (my roomie). We had a good meal at Chili's and thanks guys for the birthday treat! Speaking of birthday treats, I got my free ice-cream treat at Stucchis and free bubble tea from Bubble Island! Hehe, would have continued my rampage at Ben and Jerrys and a variety of other shops, if not for the fact that I was already on a sugar high. Also, a bunch of buddies, Aaron, John, Lennard and Adhi came over to give me a birthday present. Thanks for taking the time off to grab this guys! Love the shirt!

Present from John, Adhi, Lenny and Aaron

Perry Ellis shirt!


Stayed up for quite awhile talking to friends and drinking some white wine. Would have very much preferred red any day. But still, it's the company that matters. (Somehow, people don't believe the above statement but I really do mean it.)

Friday morning, woke up and had a nice chat through to late afternoon when someone got soooo tired and fell asleep. By the way, got a really really really nice present via mail today. Thanks so much!!!　Made my day! =)

I tried to take a nap in the afternoon but kinda gave up cos of the scorching hot weather. Met up with a group of friends for dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill down on Eisenhower. An awesome time! Haha, note the lack of girls in the group except for Lucy 姐 and Jack (her bf now! congrats guys!) Pictures speak for themselves so, enjoy!

Us at Macaroni Grill (By the way, that's the Perry Ellis shirt. Really like it!)

All Guys!

Check out the free chocolate cakes covered with hot fudge. Super yummy!

Present from Lucy, Jack and Ming. =)

Inside the Von Maur Bag...

Von Maur Tie! Love it!


On top of the dinner treat, Lucy, Jack and Ming got me a really nice tie! Totally love it! Thanks so much guys! 还真的不好意思，让大家破费了！ 改天再请你们吃饭！ =)

All in all, a very very big thank you to everyone who has made my 24th birthday a special and memorable one. The well wishes from Singapore, classmates and friends who have left me birthday well-wishes on Facebook, friends who took time off from their busy schedule to help celebrate my birthday for me and all the little thoughts that have gone a long way to make my birthday a special one.

Looking back, this is the first real birthday I've actually celebrated since 2005. Feels a little odd, definitely different but nice in it's own way. Thanks for making it special.

Again

Managed to find the other video which I downloaded sometime ago. As always, FF8 is awesome and this was a pretty decently created video. I like the song as much as the FF8 video in the previous post. Come to think of it, it's been a year since I saw these videos.



A pretty draining day in school. It was supposed to be my "free" day with only one class in the morning but somehow, meetings packed the day and had to deal with some rather unpleasant moments along the way. Throw in a couple of random "Murphy events" to join the fray and it makes for a perfect helluva day. An easy way out to end the day would be just to heck it all and just go to bed, hoping that I will forget everything tomorrow; except for the fact that my mind will always be able to call my bluff, so what's the point?

This moment feels pretty deja vu-ish. Simplicity, eludes. Again.

If Everyone Cared -- Nickelback

Where do you actually draw the line in caring and not? Looking at some stuff, I'm a little glad that I'm heading back to Singapore. Might not be the wisest of career moves, though not a terrible one, but at least, it'll be good to just be around home to keep and eye on things. Don't like this feeling inside. Sucks.

A Motivational Speech

It's pretty surprising what going to corporate presentations can let you learn. I attended the Credit Suisse presentation on 18 Sep 2007, not to recruit (obviously) but just there to meet new people and say hi to the people there.

The speaker, one of the big-shot directors from the NY office, made a long speech. But most importantly, he decided to read out this speech by Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and Pixar, one of the biggest entrepreneurs in this world. It was a commencement speech held at Stanford University in 2005. The three lessons which he spoke of, should set you thinking. Do check it out. Definitely one of the best speeches I've seen. (Don't get me wrong, I still detest Apple. Haha...) Anyways, here it is. Hope you guys will take away something from it too.

Steve Jobs Commencement Address - Stanford 2005