I'm back in Chiang Mai right now with Mel. Just sunbathing by the pool right this very moment! The weather is much better here now than it was in august, we've only been here two days now and it's sunny all day but cooler at night which is good.
We flew from Vietnam to Bangkok on Monday night; me, Mel, danielle and Leanne. Dani and Leanne had actually booked their flight for Sunday morning but mistook the departure time for the arrival time! They only double checked the time when we woke on Sunday morning and realised they missed the flight!!!! So they had to rebook, didn't get their money back, but got on our flight! It was only 2 hours but it was a longhaul flight to Doha (UAE) with a stopover in Bangkok so we were on a nice big plane, we even got a meal and there was loads of movies to choose from! We all watched that Irish movie The Guard, it was really funny! We stayed at a really cheap guesthouse on khaosan road in Bangkok when we got in at 2am and saw no flooding in the city, just lots of sandbags and little walls in front of all the shop doors.
We got our bus to Chiang mai the next evening and the girls got their bus to the islands. The bus journey was so long, we left at 6 and passed by all the flooded suburbs north of Bangkok. It was so flooded, we were on the highway which goes over the suburbs, cars were parked at the side of the highway cos the floods were up to the 2nd or 3rd floor of buildings. Everyone seemed to be leaving the outskirts, the buildings looked deserted in the dark and the road was gridlocked for miles. We saw trucks with whole families and all their belongings in the back, fridges and little boats and all. We were stuck in the same spot for 20 mins at a time and didn't get out of the greater Bangkok area for about 4 hours. It's unbelievable how badly flooded the suburbs are and they've managed to keep the city bone dry.
We're staying at a nice cheap guesthouse with a pool here in CM! Mel is staying til next week when her year and a half long trip ends and she flies home to England! It'll be a big goodbye after travelling together for about 3 months on and off!
I'm on the job hunt and I'm going to go back to Crossfit Chiang Mai next week cos the trainer knows the principal of the international school, so fingers crossed that contact will lead to a bit of subbing. Otherwise its back to teaching English.