600th Post

Today's song is: Celebration .. Kool and the Gang

Wow, 600 posts and counting.

Yesterday we went for a walk in the Governor General's park. It was -17 but there was no wind so Thavorn and Jaidan were okay with the cold. We were out for about an hour.

What is more fun than a large mirror for selfies

Today is our last day in my sister Ann's condo on Stanley Avenue. Tomorrow, March 1st we move to an airBnB for the next 6 months. It will be fun, making the airBnB ours for the next 6 months. Not that their is much to do as it is fully equipped and furnished. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Canada has a dearth of short term rental properties and airBnB has filled a niche. What I appreciate is I pay one month fee that covers everything such as phone, internet, heat, hydro, cable, etc. All we have to pay for is transportation and food.

What is also important is I don't have to enter into any yearly contracts for internet, phone, and cable.

Thavorn got a kick out of the Service Ontario employee who referred to her as my daughter until I corrected her. It is now a standard daily joke for the next little while :-)

We  have covered most of the administrivia stuff but still need to apply for a bank account for Thavorn in order to get a statement sent to our address as OHIP requires that before enrolloing her.  We also need to buy a printer in order to printout a PDF to apply for the child tax credit for Jaidan. I need the printer for work anyways. A cheap black and white laser is only $139 dollars.

The temperature is going up to 1 degree this afternoon so we will be out for another walk and some more pics.

TTYL

Walk in the Rain

Today's song is: Bus Stop ... Hollies .. 60's

Thavorn was anxious to go out  for a walk and I suggested to her that it had rained overnight and my sister Elaine had informed me the sidewalks were icy. Not to be deterred, Thavorn decided an adventure was in order.

We decided to walk to the Metro grocery store and Thavorn quickly learned about ice. It was funny to watch her but she did not fall. Jaidan almost made it all the way but stepped on a curb which are always icy and banged a knee. He was holding my hand at the time so it was not too bad.

We spent a fair amount of time in the grocery store, exploring and getting warm. The walk back home was uneventful but both Jaidan and Thavorn huddled around the fireplace to get warm.

A walk in the rain ...

Today, my sister Elaine is picking us up at 1 pm and taking us to Service Ontario to register for OHIP and for me to renew my driver's licence.  I hope all that goes well.

Thavorn is finding most of what she needs to eat and cook so that concern has passed. The internet makes staying in contact with family and friends easy and Thavorn is video chatting many times throughout the day.

TTYL

Canada Goose

Today's song is: Dylan with The Band  ..

Canada Goose, the Canadian Winter Clothing company has done a remarkable job on marketing.  They have a unique patch on the left shoulder that screams, 'I have arrived and I am wearing an expensive, stylish jacket!' They have taken a page out of 'Apple's' marketing book and has gone one step better by actually delivering a superior product  :-)

Cool, if I had a spare $1,000  :-)

I, myself am walking around in a 'coach's' shell on top of a Queen's hoodie my daughter bought for me about 15 years ago. Stylish, I am not  :-)

Today is our last full day in our resort condo in the Sheraton Wall Centre. It has turned out to be a great place to recover form jet lag and our cough and colds. It is a beautiful sunny morning and we will go for a walk later today to explore Vancouver.

Thavorn asked for a Timmy's breakfast sausage sandwich and a medium double, double dark roast this morning so it would appear Timmy's has another convert!

TTYL

4Th Day in Canada

Today's song is: Want to Dance with Somebody  .. Whitney

Sunday, our arrival day and subsequently Monday and Tuesday were gobbled up by jet lag and my Asian cold I brought with me. Unfortunately I felt we had to cancel our get together with the Cotton family as I just did not feel up to it and I had no wish to infect another family with the cough and cold.

The good news is, the sun came out today and I am coughing much less today. We hopped a taxi down to Granville Island to hit the market as Thavorn wanted to see some of the fresh fruit I always bragged about, especially the strawberries. Despite being off season, Thavorn was not disappointed.

Jaidan and Thavorn had never seen sea gulls

We caught the Hornby boat ferry and walked back to the hotel.

Beautiful sunny Vancouver day!

Time for a nap :-)

TTYL

Arrival

Today's song is: Survivor  .. Destiny's Child

Thavorn found the flight long and taxing. We arrives after 20 hours of travel and ended up in immigration to affect Thavorn's Permanent Resident Visa. I was not overly impressed by immigration but Thavorn ended up getting a young girl who seemed the best of the bunch.  You would think part of their training course would be to talk at a reduced pace to ESL immigrants but that seems to be missing.

Luckily Jaidan and I joined her in the interview queue even though the pre-clearance bozo told us we should not. Seriously, they should get some social skills training! Training in Tinglish would go a long way!

Most of the people arriving were not immigrants, but students coming to Canada to study and I could see how they could drive the immigration officers to distraction. They were pretty clueless. They had too much cash (over 10,000) and were not declaring it, and also had not prearranged a place to live.  Obviously rich Asian kids. When I lived in downtown Vancouver, there were many living in my $3,000 CDN condo a month. Studying in Canada seems to be the thing to do for their gap years :-)

Jaidan slept for 15 hours straight and is wide awake now. Thavorn is sleeping again after we went out today and bought her some Roots boots on a 50% sale, toque, and gloves.  Jaidan was good to go with a Roots toque and some woollen gloves.  I am making do with a Coach wind breaker, and a Queen's Hoodie that Jamie gave me many years ago.

We ate our first meal at the down IGA food court and brought some groceries back to the resort room.

Tomorrow we further recover from jet lag and visit the Cottons at their condo for meet and greet and some pizza at 4:30.

So far so good. Jaidan and Thavorn are liking Canada so far, especially Thavorn is is finally warm outside.

Jaidan eating popcorn

The jet lag duo

View from the resort

TTYL

1 Sleep and we are gone ..

Today's song is: Leaving on a Jet Plane  .. Goodbye Again  .. John Denver

Well, Thavorn enjoyed our 3 night stay in downtown Bangkok and I used the time to rest by back and get over an evil cold. We also got our flu shots.

We are back at Big Tree and we are trying to lighten our bags somewhat. We are also scrambling for a ride to the airport as it turns out Thavorn's friend did not have sufficient funds to come see us off. I have asked the front desk to arrange a van taxi for us at 5:45 tomorrow morning and I asked her to call me and confirm she was successful. So far no answer. I have a feeling we will be left to GRAB Taxi's mercy at 5 am in the morning. Worst case scenario is we take two taxis.

Tavorn has still not subscribed to my theory, 'If something can go wrong, it will!'

My back is still tender but I have my happy pills for the flight to Canada.

Now that we are close it is becoming real. It has been a two year journey and almost $10,000 to get my family to Canada. We should have just flown to the US and walked across the border. When I arrive, I have to wait 3 months to get OHIP despite paying provincial and federal taxes while I was gone. It must be nice for Ontario to collect provincial taxes and not have to provide any services. Something wrong there. I can see waiting 3 months if you have not been paying taxes but that is not my case.

All my income is Canadian based and taxed at source.

Meanwhile, I have been following the news and anyone that thinks Trudope did f..k up on the Quebec company (sorry, can't be bothered to learn the spelling) is an idiot. Kudos to the indigenous lady who brought it all to our attention. The only thing Trudope seems to be good at is photo bombing people.  Thank you all who elected that idiot. Duh,you thought you would have looked at his resume!

So politics and weather aside, I am looking forward to being back in Canada with friends and family.

My next post will be from Vancouver Canada  :-)

TTYL

2 Sleeps and 1 day and we are in the air.

Today's song is: Stronger  .. Clean Bandit

Thavorn had a great time out with her friends last night.  Tonight was to be my final night out in Bangkok but back pain prevents it happening.  In like a lion and out like a wimp  :-)

The good news is the cold is in its 6 day and just about done.

Tonight is our last night at The Hyatt Place and tomorrow we head back to Big Tree for a night.  Some of Thavorn's friends will drop by to say goodbye, have a few beers and drives us to the airport on Sunday Morning.

The view from the hotel window.

TTYL

3 sleeps and 2 Days to Canada

Today's song is: Angie  .. Stones

This will be a quick post as my back is till sore.

We went to the clinic today and had our flu shots. Jaidan was not amused, especially when he saw how long the needle was. About an inch and a quarter in my estimate.

While at the clinic I cot some codeine for the flight in case my back was still sore. I am also on a painkiller and muscle relaxant.

They both fell asleep and Thavorn asked why does my arm hurt? I replied, welcome to flu shots.

Thavorn is out with Fon tonight and they usually end up dancing at Hillary 2.

That's it for today.

TTYL

3 Days to Canada

Today's song is: I Can't Get No Satisfaction  .. Stones

My final 3 nights in Bangkok are not going so well.

I am still sick with a bad cough and cold. My local pharmacist gave me something that turned out to be steroids and it seems to be clearing up my cough. The pollution today in Bangkok is certainly not helping.

I also managed to pull something in my lower back while weighing myself, plus holding each of our 50 pound suitcase.

Not a happy camper today.

Tomorrow we are booked for flu shots and then we will probably just chill out in our hotel room at The Hyatt Place.

TTYL

5 Days to Canada

Today's song is: House of the Rising Son  .. Animals and Eric

I am kind of attached to this song as I heard it performed live in Ottawa circa 1966.

After today, we have 5 days and we fly out. Jaidan and I still have our colds and fevers but we hope they will be gone by Thursday when we get our flu shots at the clinic.

Some friends (5) of Thavorn are dropping by to Big Tree on February 16th to say goodbye to Thavorn and drive us to the airport for our 8:30 Flight to Taipai. They are driving up from Rayong, about a 2 hour drive and will drive back after seeing us off.  I thought it was a mighty fine gesture.

Other than that, I am watching NetFlix and trying to get healthy. Tomorrow night is our last night on our lease and we will go to MegaMall as I want to pick up some USB cables which are much cheaper here than in Canada.

That's it,

TTYL

6 Days to Canada

Today's song is: Universal Soldier  .. Buffy

Not sure why I like this song so much  .. The movement against the ultra rich needs something similar .. 26 people own more wealth than 50% of the world's population.

Thavorn and I spent today double and triple checking everything and caught one mistake. I inadvertently set Jaidan's birth date equal to  July 3rd 2014 instead of July 31st 2014. I have eMailed the health insurance provider to send us a new policy with the correct date.

We also discovered that I had booked the Hyatt/Regency on Soi 24, not Soi 15 so we will arrive at the correct Hyatt on February 13th for 3 nights.

Jaidan and I have both come down with a bad cold, fever, cough and congestion. Here is hoping, it is not the flu as we are booked into the health clinic at 10 am on February the 14th for our flu shots. We are most worried about Jaidan coming down with the flue in Canada and have purchase 3 months worth of health coverage at $300 CDN.  Thavorn and I will just tough out any sickness in the first 3 months.  I have been without health insurance in Thailand for over 5 years now :-(

So, we are pretty low key this weekend with the sniffles and feeling sorry for ourselves. As usual, Thavorn seems immune to colds.

TTYL

1 Week to Canada

Today's song is: Take it Easy  .. Eagles

Getting real now. Today I bought some health insurance for Jaidan for $300 CDN for 104 days until OHIP kicks in for him. Thavorn and I will just wait it out and hope we don't get sick for the 3 month wait. We will play it safe and take the flu vaccination here in Thailand as I hear the flu is bad this year in Canada and the flu vaccination is 70% effective.

We bought the health insurance through:

Mainly because they had the most effective website that made sense and buying straight forward. 

I spent an hour shredding old documents (by hand) with the help of Thavorn. Thavorn is packaging up her change getting ready to take it to 7/11 to exchange it for bills. As I have mentioned before, you can do just about anything at 7/11.

Despite today being Saturday, we have no plans to get out and have some fun as we are staying downtown on the 13, 14th, and 15th and will party at that time.

I managed to find some nice gold earring for a Valentine's gift for Thavorn.  I like buying gold in Thailand as it can be converted to cash very quickly. Better than money in the bank as you get to wear (flaunt) it as well.

TTYL

8 Days to Canada

Today's song is: I'm Gonna Be  ..Proclaimers

Definitely not PC but I find very funny  :-) Does that make me a misogynist?

Next couple of days we are just putting in time. Perhaps go to the gym, think about what we are forgetting, etc. Jaidan has a cold and I think I am catching it as well.

TTYL

9 Days to Canada

Today's song is: Old Man  .. Neil Young

Wow, single digits. I just put together an online calendar for the rest of February mapping out where, what, and when. Things get a little scary when you start realizing you have run out of time to do something you have forgotten or neglected to do, such as translations and certified copies, etc.

As you can probably guess, I am not a big fan of Google. They know way too much about us as it is, without giving them my calendar.

We are hoping for a dinner at Paul's Vancouver condo on either the 18th or 19th. The whole extended Cotton family just happens to be in Vancouver at those dates.  :-)

We are showered and getting ready to walk to market Village to get some nuggets for Jaidan and a hamburger for me. They have a Thai food court upstairs and Thavorn is likely to eat there.

We celebrated Fon's 41st birthday at John's condo last night and John's mom was lamenting that she had not seen a potato since she arrived in Thailand.  The things you miss from your culture  :-)  Thavorn is in for a bit of a shock with regards to food in Canada. Here's hoping she adapts.

TTYL

10 Days to Canada

Today's song is: Funny How Time Slips Away  .. Willie

It is getting real now  .. 10 days!  Thavorn and Jaidan bought their bus tickets from the village to Bangkok and depart at 8:45.

Tonight is John's wife's birthday and Thavorn and Fon are heading out for some music and dance at Hillary 2 on Nana tonight. That means Thavorn will sleep most of tomorrow. Thavorn does not subscribe to my, 'If you hoot with the owls at night you must fly with the Eagles in the morning' belief.

I am still going through drawers and moving things around, trying to decide , keep, move, or chuck. Last night I bought one more bin so we will leave 2 bins of apartment supplies at Big Tree for our arrival on September 1st 2019.

Luggage almost fully packed

Big Tree has been good for us. If you need a place to stay out near the airport that is not too pricey (1200 Baht) it is highly recommended. I like the plant art.

I just received an eMail from my friend Paul Cotton and it turns out Paul, Cathy, Cecilia, and Allison are all in Vancouver at the same time. Paul and Cathy will host all at their Condo for a welcome party. Does not get any better! Cecilia and Allison both played basketball on my teams and Paul helped coach for a while.  However, hopefully the snow melts off Paul's balcony before we arrive.

TTYL

11 Days to Canada

Today's song is: Concert with Willy and Bobby  .. 96 mins  .. kick back and enjoy

One thing I will miss when I am in Canada is the Bangkok Iced Coffee. Starbucks sells their version for 155 baht whereas the street vendors make it for 20 baht and the taste is pretty well identical.

Bangkok Iced Coffee

Red line encloses 2 ngan of land area

Thavorn has been looking at one ngan of property in her village available for 300,000 baht or about 12,000 CDN. A ngan is just big enough to build a 2,000 square foot bungalow with room for a driveway out front.  Maybe  :-)

We have managed to save this amount over the past 6 months.

Our departure is rapidly approaching and I am prepping for it. Tonight I will go to MegBangna Mall and buy 2 plastic bins to store some items, mostly kitchen stuff, while we are in Canada. We are coming back to Big Tree on September 1 and they have agreed to store our stuff for the 6 months we are gone.

I have finished prepping our new server for our business and it is ready to go when I get to Canada. Unlike our previous servers, this one is hosted in AWS's Canadian data centre in Montreal.

Time marches on  .. scary  .. I asked Thavorn if she was scared to leave Thailand and she said yes. She was surprised when I told her I was anxious as I was responsible for making sure everything went OK for both herself and Jaidan.

TTYL

12 Days to Canada

Today's song is: Mr. Tambourine Man  .. Dylan

At some moment in time we need to purchase some land and build a basic house near Thavorn's village, or in the village. The reason why is because we are spending more money on condos and apartments than we would buying the land and building the house. I figure 5 years of rental costs would build the house. It kind of makes sense and would give us (Primarily Jaidan and Thavorn) a base in Thailand to call home.  To put things in perspective, the total cost would be about $40,000 CDN, about the price many Canadians spend on a vehicle.

The other thing about building a house is that it would give me something to do. I am quite handy with plumbing, electrical, and carpentry work.  The benefits of a Science and Tech 5 year high school program in Canada.

We have a lead on a .25 rai (ngan) of land that the owner wants 300,000 baht for. It already have water an electricity on the property which is level and clean, and lo and behold, is very close to my running track in the village.

However, never rush into something. My dad used to say, 'Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry, and never buy a car when you need one'.  I would add another from personal experience, 'Never look for a girl friend when you don't have one or two already'. Of course that would be my Thai experience.

Jaidan is having a riot in the village with his siblings and village friends.

I went to the gym today for a workout.

As Thavorn is want to say, 'Not bad for an old man'  :-)

TTYL

13 Days to Canada

Today's song is: We're Not Going to Take It  .. Twisted Sister

Have you ever looked into the mirror and wondered who that old person looking back at you is? Disconcerting at best  .. downright demoralizing  .. but yet a reason to embrace life  :-)

Thavorn and Jaidan are arriving back in Bangkok in 3 days on February the 6th. Thavorn is goind out that night with John's wife Fon to celebrate her birthday. Jaidan and I will be batching it that night. On Tuesday I will go buy the final large suitcase and start packing up my clothes as well as Jaidaan's that we do not plan on wearing before departing Thailand.

Our last night at our apartment is February the 12th and then we move downtown for 3 nights and will be staying at the Hyatt/Regency for 3 nights to enjoy what downtown Bangkok has to offer. Also a good time to say goodbye to friends.

I have been chatting with family back home and they are excited to see us.  Ditto for us.

After our 3 nights at the Hyatt we move back to Big Tree Residence for our last night as it is close to the airport and we fly out early.  The journey begins soon!

I have been busy configuring servers while the family is in the village. I discovered I had inadvertently created very expensive storage for our new server when the AWS bill arrived. I manged to waste $300 US. Ouch. I had to delete that server and create a new one which takes about 3 days. Day one is done and if I am lucky I may get done in 10 more hours.

Sometimes you just don't like computers  :-)

TTYL

14 Days to Canada

Today's song is: Girls Like You  .. Maroon 5  .. for not bowing out of half time show

Wow, 2 weeks and counting  .. excited for us!  It is cold in Vancouver for our arrival:

but not as cold as Ottawa will be  ..

We will definitely have to buy some winter clothing for Thavorn and Jaidan. I have winter clothing at my younger sister's house.  Apparently there is no shortage of snow in Ottawa which should make Jaidan happy.

Thavorns clothing fit into one large and half a median. One more large should do us especially when we have 3 carryon for odds and ends.

Jaidan and I

Thavorn's clothes  ...

Thavorn's empty closet

As I mentioned in a previous post. Counting down is like wishing you life away.  You should try to take advantage of everyday, learn something, do something, live something.

Especially, the older you get:

As the poet Dylan Thomas famously wrote, “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

TTYL

16 Days to Canada

Today's song is: 60 Mins of Top Hits  .. great tunes to listen to with my new buds  :-)

I broke down and against my minimalist approach to life, I bought something.  For quite some time I have been thinking about some ear buds. I have been using the pair that came with my smart phone, but they don't fit well and fall out all the time. My sister Ann had lent me a very expensive pair of Bose over the ear that were needed to be charged all the time which I find very inconvenient. I was looking for something that plugged in, had a microphone for Skype use, and most importantly made me smile.  Gamers like cool stuff  .. great sound  .. best of all 540 baht .. about $20  :-)

Last night I headed to downtown Bangkok to get a new faster backup drive for my work.  I headed off to the IT Mall, where you can find anything and everything and ended up buying a Samsung SSD, USB 3.1, type C, and it is very fast and will be faster with my new laptop when I arrive in Canada.. Does not count towards minimalism as I need it for work  :-)  Highly recommended  .. 4,400 baht

It was hot so after I made the purchase I headed off to Carls for some chicken tenders and a coke and then Country Road for a pitcher of Singha. I left after 90 mins for Nana for a Vodka and Red Bull and then off to the Bier Garden in search of someone who was good at pool, was female, funny, and good looking.  After securing the lady we headed off to Gulliver's to play pool for a couple of hours and then I decided bar hopping in Cowboy was in order and I decided to take my pool companion with me as she was good at making me laugh. About 10:30 pm I decided to hop on the BTS and go home.

All in all a good day and I was happy to get out because the apartment is boring without Thavorn and Jaidan.

TTL