The Sh*tstorm

Two months ago, after a relaxing weekend in Chiang Mai, Jim and I were ready to crash for the evening when a literal sh*tstorm blew into our apartment.  I will never forget the sentence that started it all "Jenna, is it normal for our toilet to be bubbling"?

The answer is no.  Two minutes later, sewage started pouring into our apartment due to a main pipe burst (lucky us, it was right behind our wall).  Every time someone would use water in the units above us, it would flow directly into our unit.

Naturally, the buildings 24 hour maintenance was on vacation and in true Singapore fashion - there was no back-up.  A few mental breakdowns at the guard house later, we managed to get an amateur (emphasis on amateur) plumbing crew in the apartment to try and stop the flood before it spread into the apartment.

 When the crew's first move was to cut a hole in our ceiling, Jim handed me a suitcase and said - pack the bedrooms NOW.  Within 30 minutes, both bedrooms were haphazardly packed just in time as the sewage started going in them. We quickly threw the rest of the belongings in our apartment in garbage bags as we knew once morning came, our apartment would flood from the shower usage of the 45 floors above us.

If you can look past Jim's elephant shirt, there is a man in our ceiling

Plumbers making all the wrong moves

Surely enough, 6am came and no progress was made.  When water started pouring in, the plumbers dropped their tools and ran to help throw our bags into the hallway.  They opened our patio doors to allow the water to cascade off our balconies (much to our downstairs neighbors' dismay).  For 2 days, sewage cascaded down the building like a cool water feature. just lovely.

Unfortunately for Jim and I, we were left in a hallway with about 30 bags (most of them garbage bags) and no where to go at 6am.   I ran around Robertson Quay at dawn trying to find a hotel, but unfortunately for us, no one had a room. After returning back to Rivergate without any options, Jim and I looked online and found one that previously told me they were full (totally judging me on my dishoveled appearance and pajamas).  After packing a train of Uber X's to the brim, we headed to the hotel.  They were shocked to see me again -  this time with 30 garbage bags in tow, but when I started crying hysterically in the lobby, they quickly ushered us and our "luggage" to the pool.  We slept on lawn chairs (no towels) for 5 hours until a room was ready for us.  You can imagine how we looked.

We were the modern day Von Trapp's (replace the singing with swearing)

After showering and sleeping in a proper bed, we awoke to find an ant infestion in our room. Once ant-gate was sorted out, we settled in a new room for a few nights, before rotating through serviced apartments for 2 months.  Finally, on the 2 month mark (also the date you can break a lease in Singapore), we got back into our apartment.  The leak was fixed and the furniture, floors, wardrobes, decks and cabinets were replaced, walls were painted, and a chemical clean was done.  Sigh - it was clean and we were able to stop living like nomads!

Trying to fit 30 suitcases in a small hotel room. Real Life Tetris.

We can look back now and laugh at how we moved everything we have 4 times over the past 2 months, but we almost called it quits a few times.  If our toilet ever starts "bubbling" again, I will be on the first plane to Chicago!

Celebrating the end of nomadic living

Cheers to the end of the sh*tstorm!
Jenna and Jim