USA: Chapter 8 - Some Rest, on the 8th Day

I didn't wake up early today, but still in time for breakfast. Wanderfalls isn't really run like a typical hostel, more so like a guest house. So there wasn't any official check out time I had to adhere to. Besides, the weekend being over, I think there wasn't anyone checking into the hostel, so Amanda wasn't very stressed out either.

I took my time with breakfast slowly, trying to figure out the best way to Buffalo. Recall yesterday I had mentioned the cheap public bus that departed from somewhere near the Greyhound Bus Terminus?

In fact, this bus (bus #40) starts its journey just a few blocks from Wanderfalls. Which means that I didn't have to make the long trip down to the Greyhound Bus Stop. Its amazing how sometimes these things fall into place.

However, not everything fell into place that well. By the time I checked out, and got this information (from Amanda), I had JUST missed the bus. She, however, allowed me to just hang out in the living room while I waited for the next bus, rather than go to the bus terminus and wait. Where there would be no WiFi.

About 10min before the bus was scheduled to depart, I finally left the hostel and walked the 3 blocks to the bus terminus; and boarded the bus. 45 min and $1.75 later, I was in Buffalo Main Bus Terminal. Where, tomorrow, I would be boarding the Greyhound back to NYC.

While there, I stopped by the Greyhound counter to pick up my tickets. Since I was there. Shun Bian.

So now we start off with Buffalo proper.

While sitting and stoning in Wanderfalls I had come up with this master plan - check into the hostel, or at least leave the bags there, walk around buffalo, and then go for the 5.15 sunset mass at the nearby church. A few things damaged this well thought out master plan.

1. The hostel desk has opening hours (5.30pm - 10.30pm for evenings). And the time I was there, 2pm, was not considered opening hours. So that left me stranded with my relatively large bag outside the hostel.
2. Buffalo is a dead town on Saturday afternoons.

So I sat outside under the shade of a tram station while thinking of my next move. Fortunately my tummy had the answers - wait it out at a makan-place!

Although 90% of Buffalo (at least the region around which I was staying at) was closed, there was one place which was still open, T.G.I.Fridays. Seeking refuge from the heat I went in. And I decided to just fill my stomach there with their lunch special - a free flow of soft drink, breadsticks, soup and salad. I mean, considering I had lots of time to kill before 5.30, it was the ideal way to while away the time.


In the end I only asked for refills on my cola. Mainly because I was already quite full and its easy to get sick of clam chowder, Caesar's salad, and breadsticks. Even if they taste nice. So I just whiled away the time in the air-conditioned comfort of the restaurant while waiting for 5pm.

After a while I realised that I could actually still attend mass at 5.15pm; just that perhaps I'd have to lug my luggage along with me for mass. It turned out not to be such a big deal, because, as with general American churches in non-hispanic populated regions, the main demographic of the church goers had white hair. And there weren't too many of them at that. The strange thing was there was one lady with dark hair; and I kept thinking she was out of place.

Lucky I was sitting at the back so not many people would have seen this (i.e. me) out of place person sitting with his luggage and black hair.

After mass I crossed the road and walked into my hostel. The hostel is literally opposite the road from the church. Convenient.

After checking in I didn't leave the hostel. Mainly because I was tired, but also because Buffalo was a dead town on Saturday afternoons. Little did I know its worse on Sundays.

Though, in hindsight, perhaps it should have been quite obvious.