After my third day walking around New York I went to the bus station for a 10:45pm bus. I had decided not to waste a day travelling and also to save money by not paying a night's accommodation by spending the night on a bus. The bus left on time and was full - which means some people who turned up last didn't make it on. I love that Greyhound policy because it means I can turn up on the day of departure and get on a bus and not worry about booking it days or weeks in advance. However I need to be there early to avoid being left behind if it's full.

The bus made a few stops in New York state - Syracuse, Rochester (where some US border patrol guards inspected everybody's passport) and Buffalo, at which point a Canadian driver took over, checked that everybody had the necessary passport and visa and then drove us to the border checkpoint with Canada.

It was easy getting through. We all filed off the bus, collected our suitcases and went through immigration just like at an airport. I answered basic questions about where I was from, where I was going and how long I would be there. And that was it. It was a breeze compared to US immigration. I think the guy might even have smiled!

From there it was 25 minutes to Niagara Falls, Ontario where I disembarked. Downtown Niagara is a dump and about two miles from the falls so as soon as I stowed my backpack in a locker I hopped a bus down there. The Canadian side was a mix between Las Vegas and Blackpool. There are casinos and attractions, the likes of which you would see along a seafront promenade. Passing all that by I got to the falls and, wow, they were impressive. I could see chunks of ice going over the edge with the water, some about a metre across.

The guide book was right - the Canadian side is the side to be. It's one thing to see the Horseshoe Falls from a viewing platform on the American side, it's another to walk down the road on the Canadian side and feel the spray on your face as it rises up higher than the top of the falls and keeps a stretch of the road permanently wet.

I did the Journey Behind the Falls that got me to a viewing platform nine metres from the river and afforded a view below and to the side of the lip of the waterfall. There were also two portals blasted through behind the waterfall itself from which I could see the water as it fell. I resisted the temptation to stick my arm out to see how fast it was going. Actually with the railings two metres back from the edge there was no temptation to do that.

When I first saw the falls it was 9am and there were only a handful of people around. By the time I left at 12:30pm there were throngs of people. Actually, it was less than that - probably just a half a throng of people.

In the afternoon I caught a bus out of there to Toronto, which will be the subject of my next blog. I'm here for a couple more days before I return to the southern side of the border. Next stop Buffalo, New York for some spicy chicken wings. Yum!