Building on the Work-Save-Travel model

This year I travelled to two new countries: Mexico and Ecuador. Besides that, I got a full time job, a house and things like that. That made it difficult to take time off work, but I will make it happen anyway since travelling is the best way to spend money, don’t you agree?

Mexico

I backpacked in Mexico at the beginning of the year, checking out Mexico city and several surrounding areas to the north, west and southern parts of central highlands. Then I travelled to Yucatan to see some spectacular Mayan ruins, returning back with a tan to a snowy Toronto.

Northern Ontario

It was late spring in Toronto but still snow season in the North. I took a bus trip to North Bay, continuing to Timmins, about 700 km away from Toronto. Later in the summer, I also visited Iron Bridge, a little community between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie on the shores of Lake Huron.

Ecuador

In autumn, I travelled to Ecuador for about a month, spending majority of my time in the mountains and hiking to my heart’s content. I was quite surprised by how geographically diverse the country was and the number of activities one could indulge in.

Life events in Toronto and travel to surrounding areas

This year I bought a house, it’s a 130-year old Victorian house, with ghosts and stuff in the attic. As you can imagine, now I am not only firmly grounded in Toronto but also fully ‘settled down’ with a partner, mortgage, job and things like that. So I was quite busy this summer putting everything together.

Besides lots of cycling to places in Toronto, I also visited Guelph area and made an annual pilgrimage-like trip to Niagara falls / Buffalo, NY.

Detroit, USA

The year ends as I spend christmas holidays with my in-laws in Detroit. Detroit is a nice city but plagued by complex problems which I solely blame on the evil auto industry…haha! Nevertheless, I had a great time walking in the downtown core.

Travel blogging and social media

Besides writing a journal about my travels, I also ventured into social media this year by signing up for Twitter and Facebook and socialising with travel bloggers in general. Since travelling is not my fulltime activity (unfortunately) or a source of income, there is only so much time I could dedicate to social media.

But I’m glad that my twitter network has grown to 965 followers and facebook community has grown to 180. At the same time, I published 91 blog posts this year and my alexa rank has improved from 864k to 240k today. I think I am at equilibrium now, haha!

Oh yes, and I moved my travel blog to a new domain name: finaltransit.com, so please update your bookmarks!

So that’s the summary of my travels this year. How was 2011 for you?

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↑ Maid of the mist, checking out the falls from up close

Being so close to Toronto, I have been to Niagara falls about half a dozen times, including thrice on my bicycle. It’s a great sight, especially from the Canadian side. The walk upstream the Niagara river starting from the Rainbow bridge (which is a bridge to USA) to the Horseshoe falls (also known as Canadian falls) is about 1.5km long and quite popular. All along the promenade, you can see the American and Canadian falls and also get sprayed with mist from the great falls.

The layout of this area is quite interesting. On the eastern bank of Niagara river is USA, American falls, and just a random building or two. On the western (Canadian) side of the bank is the busy walking trail hugging a densely packed, loud and bright commercial zone.

↑ Loud, noisy and bright entertainment zone

A large number of restaurants flourish in this area, serving all kinds of international foods. Entertainment parks with attractions such as ferris wheel, roller coasters, magic shows, amusement themed stores etc. coexisting with a battery of dessert and icecream places. Niagara is also a popular gambling destination and I thought that it was a good opportunity to spend 50 bucks on blackjack and slots. Guess, I was a little lucky and brought home a couple of hundred dollars. Besides that, there are a number of party halls, bars and clubs spilling with people on a summer weekend. Overall it seems like there are lots of fun things to do, if you are into that kind of thing.

↑ Inside a casino

But since (as you guessed) I am not the noisy tourist, I prefer to hang out on the bike trails in the niagara region and confine to relatively secluded places to sleep. The food in most of the restaurants in the commercial zone (I have eaten at many places) is mediocre, even by liberal standards, and I am definitely not an all-night party person. However I did generally tend to make some money in gambling.

Just be prepared for this, is all I’m saying.

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The Welland Canal is a navigational canal 43.5 km long, crossing the Niagara Peninsula of southwestern Ontario from Port Weller on Lake Ontario to Port Colborne on Lake Erie. It overcomes a height difference of 99.4 m between the 2 lakes and bypasses the turbulent Niagara River and [tag]Niagara Falls[/tag].

The [tag]ships[/tag] pass thru a series of ‘locks’ or gates that slowly raise their height. I was at lock 3, which has the St. Catharines Museum and plenty of space to watch the action:


View of QEW from Lock 3:


Queen Elizabeth Way. (Freeway that connect Buffalo, New York, USA and the Niagara Peninsula with Toronto and its western suburbs):


As the ship approaches, a bridge over a local road opens:


Gates open to let the ship enter:


Ship enters the lock:


Water is pumped into the lock to “lift” the ship up:


CSL Assiniboine. Its a beautiful ship. (notice the level):


Finally, the ship is elevated:

Children were screaming and cheering the rising ship while the crew members happily waved back at them. I have heard that sometimes crew members from foreign ships toss a few foreign currency coins at children, its worth the fun.
This large ship was going upstream, but we also saw two small sailboats going downstream.
Finally, if you are still clueless about how the whole thing works, see the little animation (source)

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Some more pictures:
[tag]Queen Victoria Park[/tag] at Niagara Falls is called the ‘heart’ of Niagara parks. During peak seasons, it has thousands of daffodils, rock garden and some beautiful trails.

A tree in Queen Victoria Park

[tag]Rainbow Bridge[/tag] across the Niagara river connects US and Canada. The deep blue something Niagara river downstream of the falls looks ferocious. This bridge was constructed in 1941 and is about 290m long.

Rainbow bridge

Its was a long, albeit extremely pleasurable walk from Casino Niagara (where one can park for free) to the point close to the falls. Walking along this path next to the river was awesome. At one point, we were surprised – it suddenly started raining – but soon enough it was dry. Then we realized that it was not the rain, but tiny droplets of water getting sprayed from the Niagara falls. The sound (noise!) of the falls starts rising as we approach and it’s impossible to hear without shouting.

View of Canadian Niagara falls and the road along the river

Another view of Niagara Falls (Canadian side)

Niagara falls, Canada

The Niagara falls are divided into two parts. One part is a straight line and the other is a horseshoe. The straight part is in US territory, while the curved one is Canadian. It is generally accepted that view of the whole area is many times better from the Canadian side than the US. Many people pop across the border just to take a look

Niagara falls, US

The falls are illuminated at night, and they look colorful and pretty!

Niagara falls, US

The [tag]city of Niagara Falls[/tag] glitters at night. There are a number of casinos, hotels, restaurants and bars. In the picture you can see a ray of white light that illuminates the falls. The two pictures of US falls shown above are the result of the same beam.

Niagara falls town at night

Finally, there are lots of things to do after you have had enough of the falls

Experimental shot. Artistic, no?

Wonder who plays that Guitar!

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