Day 153 - Hanoi to Chiang Mai

After our lovely night on the sleeper bus, we arrived in Hanoi a little after 5 am.  The hotel that we were paying $10/night for to house our bags was close enough, so we decided to walk rather than take a taxi.  Although the hotel doors were closed and locked (it's a small family hotel), thankfully one of the staff was sleeping in the lobby (on the couch) and was able to let us in.

We all got into our pajamas quickly and went to sleep, everyone on one big bed, which is all our room contained.

After a nice breakfast served at the hotel (yes, in Vietnam you can get a $10/night hotel with hot breakfast included!) we packed our bags up and headed into Hanoi one last time to walk around the lake for a bit and have lunch at one of our favorite spots, Rolling BBQ.  Having eaten there so many times the past few weeks, we had filled up our rewards card and were able to treat ourselves to a mostly free lunch!  We said our goodbyes to Hanoi and headed to the airport shortly after noon.

At the airport, our children were once again photographed by random strangers, including a big group of guys that were traveling together.  It was fun and the kids were in a good enough mood to entertain the crowd! :) 

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Our journey to Chiang Mai, Thailand included a 3 hour flight to Bangkok, a layover of 3 hours, followed by a 1 hour flight to Chiang Mai.  

Because our first flight was quite short, the kids were fairly entertained with toys, iPads, and the Nintendo DS.  On the 1 hour flight they were both getting quite sleepy, and before they knew it we were off the plane. 

We arrived in Chiang Mai around 10 PM and had to call the hotel for the airport shuttle, which was complimentary.  The wait was probably a bit longer than we liked, since it was late and we had been traveling for a good part of the day, but the ride to the hotel was nice and quick and free.  

Once at the hotel and all checked in, we all headed to bed for a much much needed night of sleep in proper beds. 

We are so excited to see Miss B, our old au pair, tomorrow! 

Good night Chiang Mai!