It’s going to be a long day today. Our first flight isn’t until after 2pm, and we don’t arrive into Hanoi until around 8:30, if we are on time, so we are preparing for a lot of airport time. We have a little reprieve here, we don’t have to check out until noon, which is helpful in terms of comfort. We’re all packed and ready to go, so that isn’t an issue, just the boredom of waiting around to start the journey. At least we have all the comforts of home for a while.
Originally we had planned to go the airport, have lunch and hang out. But the Chiang Mai airport is really small, with few traditional “restaurant” food options, so, since we don’t have to leave the condo until noon, we decide to hit the cheap noodle bowl place for lunch. We stroll down Peaks lane around 11 and walk the 2 minutes to the noodle bowl shop, finding it virtually empty. As we are sitting there waiting to order, I take a harder look around the place, and it’s really quite cute. They have kept a lot of the neat design elements from the wine shop – the wall covering and column surrounds made from sides of wine crates – ad added some additional touches, like wrought iron separators and this cool mural.
We know we want the noodle bowl (boat), so it’s easy to order – or so we think! The waitress, who clearly doesn’t speak much English, gives us a translated menu with numbers on it to order. There are 2 noodle boats – the regular and the special. Not understanding the difference, we both order the regular boat, with a side of the meatballs that Ed likes. Unfortunately, the “regular” portion means the small noodle bowl! Bummer – we were both expecting the big one – but, it’s still really good and chock full of noodles and broth and more meatballs.
In the end, it is quite enough to eat and we walk away with our hunger sated. Oh, and our wallets still brimming with Baht, because the whole lunch, including the bottle of water ended up costing 50 Baht, or $1.50 USD. Seriously cheap!
It’s finally time to say goodbye to Chiang Mai. We call our Uber, and wave a fond farewell to our friendly guards and lovely little condo at the back of the lane. While we don’t have any definite plans to be back…we always somehow migrate here throughout our travels – so we won’t say never this time around!
At the airport, we check in at the kiosk and stand in a long line, only to find we are at the wrong end of the terminal. We thought the Uber driver dropped us off at the wrong terminal, but it’s hard to tell because of some construction going on. Fortunately the cute little “trainees” that are all over the place helped us out and directed us to the International side of the terminal. A short walk later, and we were in the right place, with no lines, no waiting. We checked our bags all the way through, showed our Vietnam visa letter and were on our way…..to wait another 2 hours for the flight!
We set about wandering, looking for some place to sit and have a beer and wine, but, as I mentioned, it’s a small airport with limited selections for food and drink. We settled at one of the little cafes that offer everything from coffee to sandwiches to beer. Two Changs later, and we left to hike back to the International side to go through security and passport control.
Then more waiting at the gate, where only a handful of us sat. It’s hard to explain how this all works, but basically we will be getting on a plane filled with domestic travelers. We have to go through all the International security screening and wait in the international terminal, but then, since our first flight is to Bangkok, we are escorted out of the gate area, and put on the bus to the plane with all the others who are only flying within Thailand. It’s odd – but it works somehow.
The flight is quick and easy, and goes off without a hitch. We have our little sandwiches again, and arrive at Bangkok DMK right on time. Since we now have 3 hours until our next flight, we head to one of the “pay” lounges where we can hang out, eat and drink, recharge our phones and use the wifi. The lounge is one of the nicer ones we’ve used over the course of our travels. They have a full course of food out – real food, like stir fry and little hors d’oeuvres that are plated in these great little spoons and dishes that just beautiful. Oh, and you can also get a 15 minute head and neck massage – for free! Very nice. While we didn’t partake in the massage, we did partake in the food and beverages, and spent a lovely hour and a half there, just hanging out. Unfortunately though, our flight to Hanoi was late (as it always is – we’ve been tracking it for weeks and it is never, ever on time). And while we knew it from FlightAware, the airport system didn’t show it as delayed. We told the girls at the lounge, and they said we could go check the flight and then come back if it was indeed delayed. Long story short, we were back in the lounge for another 45 minutes until we finally were able to board the Hanoi flight.
Once we’re in the air, the flight is quick and painless, but still deposits us into Hanoi over half an hour late, making our arrival at the Hotel E Central closer to 11pm rather than 10pm which was late enough! Fortunately the Visa on arrival worked seamlessly – we had the visas done and ready before I even finished getting cash from the ATM. Then the long line at immigration, and finally out to get our bags. Then came the fun of finding our driver in and amongst hundreds and hundreds of people waiting for arriving passengers at the airport. It was craziness. We’ve never seen the place that busy, but then again, we’re only 1 week away from Tet – and apparently everyone was coming home for the holiday.
We managed to find our driver outside the main terminal waiting area and were quickly ensconced in the back of the van making the 30 minute drive into the city. Once at the hotel, we are warmly welcomed and given our welcome drink and snacks (none of which we’re really into as we’ve eaten and drank all day long), then escorted up to our room – which is the 2 bedroom penthouse suite with the huge balcony at the top of the hotel. This is the first time we have stayed at the E Central. Our traditional hotel, the Elite, was sold to another management group and when we went to make reservations there, they told us we could certainly stay there, but if we wanted to stay with the Elegance management group, they could offer us rooms at the E Central. Needless to say, we stayed with Elegance, whose personnel are an amazing group of folks who have been fabulous every time we’ve stayed with them. When looking at all the rooms available, we decided to go ahead and splurge (in relative terms) on this big room with a view over Old Hanoi. And it was well worth the splurge!
The rooms are fantastic. A large master bedroom with great tile and glass bath, a lovely little sitting area plus a wet bar/kitchen area (with free, unlimited mini-bar), the 2nd full bath and the 2nd bedroom with twin beds. We are greeted with the sweet little note you see below, along with a welcome bottle of wine.
And of course, the view! The patio is enormous, and we are hoping for good weather so we can make the most of it during our days and nights here.
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