May in Canada

 For my friend Sveta ...

As South East Asia experiences temperatures of mid 40's and high humidity, Canada is experiencing cooler May temperatures of 5 degrees in the morning and high teens in the afternoon. Hopefully it will warm up soon.

My U19 boys basketball team is improving but we still have trouble scoring 50 points. In order to win we have to keep the other team under 40 points. The good news is that we play excellent defence at times. The OBA's are in Ottawa this June so we are done with travel. We finished as Finalists in the IEM tournament 2 weekends ago. We went 4 wins and 1 loss in the Championship game. All in all, well done.

Thavorn, Jaidan and I went to the tournament early on the Friday and visited Niagara Falls which is something that Thavorn has wanted to do for a while. Afterall, it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. We had a beautiful sunny day. I had not been to Niagara Falls for about 20 years and it has changed and there is lots more to do than just view the Falls.

Jaidan is enjoying a good year academically in grade 4 but is looking forward to summer break. He has asked for no camps so I plan to teach him some programming with respect to a Raspberry Pi and microcontrollers.

I also want to spend time with Jaidan, playing frisbee, tossing nerf footballs, learning some more basketball skills, and playing with our fast RC cars.

Thavorn continues to work at the farm and enjoys her fan club consisting of young Mexican and Filipino men.  By the end of 2024 Thavorn should have 2 million baht in investments.

We will not visit Thailand in 2024 but we hope to spend 2 months there in the summer of 2025. 

TTYL

Sveta

 My good friend Sveta just texted me on Whatsapp and asked for a post because my last post was over a month away. So here goes.

My latest basketball team is not doing so well because we have too many guppies on the team. It is hard to turn a guppy into a shark but I am trying :-)

I met with my kidney surgeon on February 26 and he said everything looked good and he would see me in a year. Unfortunately I met him in the hospital and came down with a very bad cough the next day. I refused to let it hamper my routines so it lasted about 2 weeks and I ended up blowing a hole (hernia) in my adombinal wall. Apparently it takes a year for the muscles to heal after an operation and my surgeon neglected to mention that. It is what is called an incisional hernia.

I called the surgeon's office for a consult and it would be a year wait before he could operated so I was told it would be better to see my gp and get a referral to a general surgeon as the wait would be shorter. My gp seemed to think that the wait would still be close to a year. Wait times in Ontario suck!!!!

I have discovered there is a hospital in Toronto that specializes in hernias. Apparently they have a walkin clinic that takes the easier hernias in the same day. The one catch is that you can't be fat and I am still carrying about 5 extra kilograms from covid and my recovery from the kidney surgery.

So it is time to get serious and hide the chocolate bars, cheese and cashews and start a diet. I hope to succeed in a month and off to the clinic I go. Apparently they use the latest technique that does not require a mesh that needs to be inserted which appeals to me.

I found out about the clinic as one of my ex student from the early 80's just had his hernia fixed in that clinic and is very happy with the results.

Thavorn and Jaidan caught a bad cold with a fever, very sore throat, and no taste. Sounds like one of the new variants of covid that is making the rounds. Maybe if I catch it I will lose weight faster :-)

Jaidan is still doing well in school and Thavorn is still working although this may be her last year as her income means some of my credits are getting clawed back and my pension sharing disappears. Did I mention taxation in Canada is out of control! The current prime minister is a moron.

John and Fon are enjoying their 5 months in Thailand and should be back around June 1st for Fon to join Thavorn at work and John to join his buddy Kevin for copious rounds of golf.

I am starting to play around with microcontollers and Raspberry Pi's again to keep my brain active and learning.

TTYL

Back to the Routine

 We arrived back in Canada on February 1st. As usual, the flight was long (24 hours) and we flew Bangkok to Narita (Tokyo), Toronto, then Ottawa. My sister Elaine picked us up and we were in bed about 11pm. Jetlag shut us down for the next 2 days which meant Jaidan missed 2 days of school which was fine by him :-)

The next week I made a list of things that needed doing which included applying for a new PR (Permanent Resident) card for Thavorn and buying out our car from the end of its lease. Jaidan's CDN passport also needs to be renewed. I also renewed our apartment lease for another 2 years which will see Jaidan finish grade 6 which brings new decisions.

This will probably be Thavorn's last year of work as it is affecting my pension sharing and causes clawbacks on my OAS and Child benefits. It will also be nice to stop driving 2 hours a day and it will be nice to have someone home with me during the day as I get quite bored home alone.

We were expecting to see my Russian friends in Bangkok while we were there in January but they did not show. Maybe they went to Phuket or Pattaya where most Russians tend to visit. There are so many Russian in Pattaya and Phuket that they are starting to wear out their welcome. They are starting up businesses that cater to Russians and that is not permitted for non Thais. I tend to believe they are there fleeing the war with Ukraine back home.

We have been talking about what we will do when Jaidan finishes grade 6. At that time he switches schools so it would be a good time to move back to Thailand full time. We have enough savings to buy or build a house and Jaidan would go to an international school which are expensive at $24K CDN a year, but I can afford it. Living in Thailand costs half of what it does living in Canada. We would probably live in Phuket which is close to Phang Nga which is where her sister lives.

Thavorn is tired of the flight so we will probably not visit Thailand this coming January but will wait until the summer months and go for 2 months. We would probably stay in Pattaya, at least Jaidan and I, but Thavorn will visit her kids in Phuket and Phang Nga.

I met with  my surgeon on February the 26th to discuss my surgery. He said it went very well and he did not expect the cancer to reoccur. He will follow me for the next 2 years to make sure. Other than that, I remain healthy though I did gain about 3 kilos eating fast food with Jaidan in Bangkok in January.

Spring arrives on March 21st and the weather will be quite nice for the next week, sunny and highs in the teens. This week is March Break for Jaidan so I will have to find something to occupy his time, besides his Meta Quest 3 VR and his Roboblox addiction on his mini PC.

My business is doing well and seems to expand a little each year. It keeps me busy at times but I miss my walks on the wild side in Thailand, as does Thavorn :-)

TTYL

Same Same but Different

What a let down. We noticed a Tim Hortons close by so we stopped off this morning for a double double. First off no double double as there was no cream or sugar to be seen. There were no pots on brew, regular or dark roast. They did have menu choices of americano, latte, capuccino, etc. just like Starbucks.

I thought the americano would be close but it was much stronger and was placed into a familiar Timmy's cup, black. I asked where the cream and sugar were and she picked up a syrup bottle and went into a fridge for a milk carton that was unopened.  I said 2 of each and the coffee was still too strong, but I was able to drink it.

They did have timbits and donuts which seemed to be what people were ordering.

They also had some food items, but nothing I recognized from the Great White North.

This is what out abode looks like.

Moving on ...

 Our stay at the Marriott Empire Place was fantastic as always. Definetly 5 star with all the comforts of home. Thavorn loved it because of the street food and the food at the Pat Pong night market. We also enjoyed the Pat Pong gogo bars :-)

Here are some pics from the Marriott room and the pool area.

We went shopping today and Thavorn bought a couple of new outfits. A dark green hoodie on sale plus a great blazer and shorts to wear with it.

Our new hotel is the Adelphi 49 and it is awesome and in a great area for exploring sois. I managed to book it on sale through Expedia for about 60% off. We are there for 3 nights and then we head home at 8 am on January 31st which would be 8 pm on January 30th in Canada. 

TTYL

Silom Area

 Thavorn has arrived back from Phang Nga and we have left the Davis Hotel and the Sukhumvit area to move to the Marriott at Empire Place in the Silom district which is more of a hiso business area. However, it is home to Pat Pong, the original red light district that used to cater to Vietnam GI Joues on leave in Thailand. They actually have a Pat Pong museum which is reportedly excellent.

The Mariott is actually a city resort with a one bedroom, full kitchen and a great pool. I enjoy swimming in the pool at night as it is well lit and the skyline is beautiful. I will post some night pics of it later.

Thavorn upgraded her gold necklace and she looks great with it on a black top. 

There are lots of Thai street restaurants near the hotel which will keep Thavorn happy, and believe it or not, there is a Tim Hortons 3 minutes away. I have yet to check it out but I will do so today :-)

Now that we have a full kitchen for a week it is time to break Jaidan of his KFC and McDonald's addiction. That will not be easy, however breakfast is already accomplished. Banana, yogurt, and cashews :-)

TTYL

Another Day in Paradise

 We finally located the Domino Pizzaria that used to be in the Holiday Inn building at the corner of Soi 22 and Sukhumvit. It is now half way down Soi 22 on the right hand of the street.  While walking there we passed a group of motocycle taxi drivers who got all excited  for some reason. It turns out they all remebered Jaidan from when he was 3 and 4 years age. We stopped and said hello and had a small conversation.

The pizzeria still had their ultimate pepperoni and we ordered a large one and devoured it. It was excellent!

Then it was off to the Shake and Burger Shack for a milk shake. 

Jaidan skips and dances most everywhere he walks which bring smiles to the people walking by. I figure he must be a happy child.

Some pics:

TYYL