The flood began to subside, it’s time to plan my exit to the train station.

We were very pleased to see the floodwater slowing receding three inches every few hours. After twenty hours, the water level has gone down by ten inches. There was hope that the dirt road would be accessible in five days. At least we should be able to walk on the ground floor in our rubber boots in two days’ time. I was glad to wake up to see that the area around the staircase was free of flood. Liberation was sweet and joyful.

I took the small cat to see the drying floor. Kwan became so wild and decided to walk around on muddy ground. She started exploring the back garden where puddles of water still remained. She didn’t mind walking on muddy earth and disappeared for two hours. I started to do some cleaning straightaway without having any breakfast. The feeling of being liberated at last from restraining myself in the house needed a practical expression. I used the hose and a brush to swipe the mud away from the floor.

It took me two hours to get rid of the sticky mud on the ground floor. Then Kwan turned up with muddy paws and muddy stomach. She needed to enjoy her sense of liberation by walking on muddy earth. I had to clean her paws and body with running water which she didn’t enjoy much. She went up to tell her brother of what she’s done. Joan was very excited and went down to the back garden to get his paw in the mud. I had to let them having their exercises after staying inside the house for six days.

The front garden was still flooded and the dirt road was still impassable. It would take two or three days for water to completely disappeared. At least we could walk around the ground floor of the house. My gardener turned up to set up a fish net in the front garden. The water was still waist high. In the afternoon, she collected almost ten fish from the net. She would ask her friend to help with cleaning up the mud. I had two more days left before my train journey back to the city. But I knew I couldn’t access the dirt road. So, my brain started thinking about my escape route.

I thought about the local rescue team with their long boat. So, I phoned them up to request a pickup with their boat. They were willing to help me out and we made an appointment for the next day. The train would depart very early in the morning so I had to find a room to stay for one night. I phoned up the nearest hotel by the river. I explained to the manager about my plight being in flooded house and my urgent need to catch the train in early morning. The manager was very nice and let me reserve a room for one night. She told me there would be someone to take me to the railway station in the morning. Later on, I realised that the resort was actually closed but she made the exception to let ne stay for one night. I did have a super cheap rate for my stay too.

The following day, the water level at the dirt road had receded by one meter. I was wondering whether the long boat could come through waist high water. I continued to do my packing and tidy the house all day. I waited for the boat to turn up at 4 pm. But it didn’t appear by 5 pm. I was in a panic mode, I called up the rescue team. The chief told me they had tried to launch the long boat and take it across to my side of the river. But it failed as the water was full of sticky mud and silt; the boat couldn’t move. I wouldn’t be able to catch my train in the morning!

I asked the chief to find a small rowing boat for me. He came back with the information that he had talked to the manager of the local hotel. It seemed the hotel manager would try to get me out of the flooded house. I called my gardener to let her know that the long boat wouldn’t work as it’s too big and heavy. She told me that her neighbour had a small rising boat anchoring near the dirt road. It took fifteen minutes to get someone to fetch the owner of the small rowing boat. I had to try to juggle between phone calls with the hotel manager and the rescue team. I hoped a solution could popped up from one of these possibilities.

The rescue chief told me that he couldn’t find anyone with specially high truck to come through the flooded dirt road. So, my hope was dashed, I couldn’t get out of the house by the flooded dirt road. Then, I phoned the hotel manager to see if she could find a nice solution for me. She told me the special truck at the hotel was out of action as it went through high flood the day before. Then, I got a call from my gardener that the owner of the small rowing boat couldn’t row the boat through the sticky and muddy water on the dirt road. The water level had come down too fast and stranded me inside the house.

It was getting dark so I had to get out of the house within an hour. The floodwater would take several days to disappear and the road would take at least a week to dry up. The mud wound be too thick for any car to come through; the wheels would get stuck in ten inches of sticky mud. So, I decided that I had to climb the fence at the back of the house and walked on soggy soil for about one kilometer to get to the dry road.

So, I told my gardener to ask her friend to come to the fence to help with my luggage and bags. The hotel manger phoned back to tell me that her car couldn’t come closer to the road at the back area of my house, two spots were still flooded. But she would come to pick me up when I could get to dry road. So, I was ready for the second adventure. I could see a motorbike with two ladies on the far side of the land. They walked towards the wired fence to help me carrying my bags.

I had to climb through the wired fence. The owner of this large plot of land had it filled up with mountain soil up to one meter high last year. That’s why it wasn’t flooded. They wanted to sell this land but I was glad they didn’t manage to sell it at a good price. The prospect of being to walk on soggy and muddy land cheered me up tremendously. I would be free to move around at last. The walk was very time consuming and difficult as my boots sank quite deep into the soggy earth. Clumps of mud covered my boots making them very heavy. The local villagers were quite used to this condition and could walk quite fast with my luggage on her shoulder! The younger lady had my bags of backup food for my journey while I had a rug sack on my back. I took some photos of this soggy field we had to pass before reaching out destination.

I encountered the two spots of knee height flooding. That gave me a chance to clean my boots of sticky mud. Some people by the road noticed the three ‘refugees’ emerging from the soggy fields. I couldn’t believe that finally I could get to dry road before sunset. We had to pass the office of the rescue team where some staff were about to have their evening meal and cold beer. I tried not to attract any attention, but the sight of three people carrying belongings as if they were escaping from flooding zone did raise some attention. I had to tell them I was the person requesting for the long boat earlier.

It was so nice to see children fishing and having fun together in the evening. There were tents set up for distributing cooked food and water to people who had to pitch their tents along the road at night. Many villagers had to leave their houses and sleep in tents along the road. I phoned the hotel manager to let her know I was on dry road so she could come to pick me up. The staff of the rescue team told the chief that o had escaped from the flood. He came to see us by the road, I had chance to than him and his team for their good work and tremendous effort in rescuing people from flooding houses. Several staff offered to take me to the hotel. But the hotel manager arrived in her small car to take me to the hotel. I thanked the two ladies who came to help me out.

We arrived at the hotel around sunset. The whole place was dark and very quiet. Then I found out that it was closed because of flooding for a few days. The manager allowed me to stay the night as I was affected by the flood too. The room was very nice and comfortable. The theme of this ‘Hat Kham Resort’ was the northern Thai style of architecture and interior design. I had my backup food, so I could enjoy my cooked dinner. I took a short walk around the ground, the river had flooded the riverside area of the restaurant. The moon was shining brightly in the sky though the atmosphere was rather subdue and introspective.

I had cycled pass this resort several times over the years. I never thought I would be spending the night there because of flooding situation. Fortunately, the manager was very kind and nice to me. I got up very early to walk around the resort and take some photos. The manager came to pick me up at 6.30 am for the railway station. She drove around showing me the places where the flood had reached. She would have to get all her staff for a big cleaning day of the surrounding area. The flood level was about two meters higher than the riverbank. That’s why there’s so much mud and silt everywhere.

Later on I phoned to report my journey to my gardener who didn’t the full moon night in meditation session at the local temple. She told me the house was accessible by the back garden only. This muddy journey was very exhausting for her as her boots would be covered by thick mud. I asked he to check out the fish pond and orange cats. All the fish were gone, the floodwater had pushed them away from the pond. The two orange cats seemed to have enjoyed themselves walking in muddy garden and left their paw marks on the tiles. My gardener had to clean these muddy paw marks everyday. So, I was very glad and grateful that things slowly got back to routine and normal pace of simple life once again.

The neighbours had asked for villagers to help with the cleanup. Floodwater had left a thick layer of brownish mud everywhere. Luckily we had a partial cleanup during the first day of receding floodwater. I told my gardener to leave the trees alone for one week, the soil needed to be nicely dry before we could see the total damage of dead trees. It’s disheartening to see full grown trees dying in prolong flood. This would give me food for thoughts on what kinds of trees and plants would be more suitable to low lying areas. Luckily, two friends has offered to buy us some new plants, so we’ll definitely have lots of work to do next month. It would be nice to make the garden lively and green again.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.