Back in Chiangmai — And It's Flooded

I land at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, October 4th. Tell the airport taxi guys I want to go to Changklan road. They say “That’s ground zero; there’s no way we can go.”

I place my hand on a driver’s shoulder and say, “Get me as close as you can.”

I’m dropped about 2 km from my condo, right off the highway — ankle-deep water. I have a backpack and my 20kg suitcase. I pick it up and start sloshing through the water. Ahead of me, I see a small boat and immediately start moving toward it while yelling and holding up 500 baht (USD 13). Without speaking the same language, we negotiate a deal — he’ll take me as far as the end of the street. In goes the suitcase and backpack, and we’re on our way. The water at some points was waste deep.

We reach the end of the road, and he says, “This is as far as I go” — or what I assumed he said, he was speaking Thai.

I thank him, pay him the money, pick up my suitcase and backpack, and start walking to my condo, about 800 meters or so. It’s heavy, I’m sweating, and the water is smelly and up past my knees, but the condo is in sight.

I finally make it. Friends in CM had told me there were floods, but I didn’t realize it was so bad. Food can’t be delivered, and my buddy told me the 7-11 close to the condo looks like something after Katrina hit in Louisiana — empty shelves and barren supplies for those brave enough to venture on over.

The water looks like it is receding today, which is good, but it was a helluva trip back from the airport yesterday.