Stolen

I learnt a big lesson a couple of days ago - no matter how safe you think a place is, it never hurts to be extra careful.

It's true Melbourne is relatively safer than KL. However, it is not crime-free. Two days ago, I fell victim to a pickpocket right smack in Chinatown. Someone unzipped the front pocket of my backpack and stole my wallet.

Back in KL, I would never carry my backpack on my back and put my wallet in the front pocket. But here, lulled into complacency and the assumption that no one would pick my wallet, I did just that - convenient for me to carry the bag and hold the kids' hands.

Now I know better. I should exercise the same precautions that I did back in KL.

Luckily, there wasn't much cash in the wallet and only 1 ATM and 1 credit card. Once I discovered the theft, I quickly called the banks concerned and had the cards barred. My driver's license and Medicare card were easily replaced. There wasn't a need to make a police report. My requests to replace my library cards and several retailer loyalty cards were efficiently and quickly granted too. At least there wasn't so much hassle here.

Well, the incident was certainly a wake-up call for us. People do abduct kids and do nasty things to them, although not quite as frequently as in Malaysia. Still, I'll certainly be more careful now whenever I'm out with the kids. I've on several occasions left the kids on a bench in the market while I quickly did my grocery shopping nearby. That is going to stop immediately. Too risky.

And Alex will have to stop leaving the kids to me to watch over while he goes browsing on his own. It's hard to watch over 2 kids when they want to go to different sections of the store. He'll have to do his share of kids watching now.

That was certainly a lesson worth learning.