A trip to Canada: Niagara Falls (Part 1)

--> I wonder what Canada looks like.


A chance to visit the country has come last year (May 2012), when I had to accompany Papa and Mama to Canada for a few days. 

We went in late spring when the weather was much warmer with such lovely 15-18 degC in the afternoon. Apparently, we missed the spring flowers. But, who knows what we would enjoy as a substitute for the spring views.

We entered Canada from Niagara Falls. 

It is a considerable big city with lots of amusement buildings and parks. I wasn’t interested with those any artificial adventures, since I thought the falls were the truly magnet. Niagara Falls has such a great attraction, as big as the waterfalls reputation in the world. The water comes from Lake Ontario. It looks amazing from Canada’s side.

 A day in Niagara Falls wouldn’t be adventurous without riding 'The Maid of the Mist Boat'. Two storey boats bring tourists to get closer to the falls and let them experience the mist from Horse Shoe Falls. I won’t call it mist, coz it feels like rain, unfortunately. We got wet easily without the light blue plastic raincoats provided by the company.

I wanted to stay downstair. Just want to feel safe and could capture the scenes without worrying water pouring from the mist. It didn’t feel very comfortable at first, trying to stand still on the moving boat, but later I was relaxed and ready to experience the boat riding. The falls were white and the wind blows hard from it. Bird smell was intense in some parts of the water. When the boat came closer to the falls, water poured to us more frequently. People screamed with joyful, while I was honestly scared to death. It supposed to be once in a lifetime experience for me, who consider myself is not very adventurous at all. But, it was good to be there.

We went to Skylon Tower to have lunch. 
This lunch was a grand, because we could enjoy the scenery from the top of the tower. It was a lot more beautiful up there. I could observe two big falls, i.e. Horse Shoe Falls and American Falls in detail. The Rainbow Bridge is truly an art that lying appropriately between USA and Canada. It is a really impressive scenery. I guessed it would be more beautiful when the weather is nicer, such as blue sky as a background. But, even in the cloudy day, the turquoise waterfalls still look stunning. A big compliment for eyes, heart and mind.

From Niagara Falls, we went to Toronto. 

It is a modern city with many skyscrapers. CN Tower is one of the famous early high buildings in the world. Since I consider myself as a devoted Civil Engineer academically, a visit to the top of the tower is a must. 

Will be continued next time.

Pekanbaru,

Travel

One thing I always remember from my previous lecturer, Dr Bell, is his advice about travel. He told me to ‘travel more’ in order to be more flexible with cultures, people and environments.

His advice was a great inspiration to me. I realize that travel really shapes and colors of my personality.

According to the avid travelers, a dynamic geographical movement among people make them more tolerate and learn to appreciate different opinions. People more familiarize to many differences, customs, prejudices, and lifestyles. It really changes their way of thinking and seeing then making decision about something. Frequent travelers are more relaxed on those differences and learn to understand the background. Since they are trying to learn more about the differences genuinely, they complain less. That is why they are more flexible in any situation.

I’ve seen some natives who cannot tolerate other ethnic, which I guessed a kind of symptom of lack interaction with certain groups of people. Whilst I think I am growing quite good on not easily judging a thing by its cover or people, now, I become more understanding and tolerant, so I can make friends easily with anyone. Recently, I discovered myself was in a comfortable situation when spending a transit time with a friendly Chinese girl. We even had our dinner together and a long chat like we’ve been friends for ages. I am quite certain that I am too bad in this business.

Travel is also a good way to enhance our communication skill. It was experienced that a language barrier between foreigners leads them to be a great communicator. They are forced to listen and try to understand other people without making prejudices. Imagine when we are in a situation where no one speak or poorly speak our language it must be a devastating situation. Trying to speak with body language or gestures could help, but to understand a poorly spoken English needs another hard work. I know people tend to avoid someone who cannot speak fluently in their language, because it involves a hard work and requires time. But, good travelers must survive in new environments, so they must learn to ask practical questions and listen attentively to other people to get information. Travel becomes a kind of practice to enhance communication skill.

There are many more advantages regarding to travel. But I think those two important characteristics are more influential to shape and color our personality to be a better person.

Pekanbaru,

INSPIRED by an essay in 3sixty: Travel helps you a better person (November 2012 issue)