My next report to this Blog will be to report my arrival in Phuket, Thailand. I depart from here two weeks today. I return to Ottawa on July 5, late in the evening. I expect to be on time as I am not travelling Air Canada.
Three weeks ago, I received a call from the TD Bank, to inform me that my Visa Credit Card had been skimmed and someone had attempted to buy gas down at Markham, Ontario. To those friends from outside Canada, Markham is about 500 kilometers from Ottawa. The bank refused the transaction, and cancelled the Credit Card. A new one was issued. My credit card had been in a safe since I returned from Asia last December 5. We believe that an employee at one of the hotels where I stayed during my trip to western Canada last August copied the card numbers and made illegal copies. I was further surprised when I called the Bank telephone number to activate the new card, the call was hacked..... by someone giving me a "free trip". I hung up and called again and got the bank that time. Since I used the redial to make the second call, I know it was not a dialing error. The bank were informed.
I have made some internal travel changes, and as a result, will only be spending five days in Bangkok. I will go immediately to the Island of Phuket, (a resort where I have never been), for two weeks, then go to northern Thailand, some areas where I have been before. There have been some instances of Malaria reported near where I will be, so I have consulted a Travel Medical Clinic, and received a prescription for anti-malaria pills. One takes these pills two days before entering a malaria area, and continue one a day until seven days after departing the area. I will need 30 and they come at a cost of five dollars each.
I will return to Bangkok July 1, for four nights, and return to Canada on July 5. That keeps me within the 40 days allowed for medical insurance protection.
I have a dental office in Bangkok where I get any dental needs attended to, and have an appointment for July 2. I will have two additional days if needed, and if not, will do the usual touristy things.
I am away from here on May 24, to attend my grandson's wedding on May 26 in Orillia Ontario, about 100 miles north of Toronto. I will be returning to Ottawa that evening, and have two days to finish any loose ends and head out for vacation.
To answer your first question; "Do you ever slow down?", the answer is No.!
I was wrong on the hits to this blog...they now stand at 7863.
I will next report in from the shores of the Andaman Sea, at Phuket, about June 2.
