Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Thailand!

Hanoi & Chiang Mai, Day 64

Now as I think I have mentioned previously, I'm not really that keen on frequent transfer days as I don't like all the packing up, checking out, organising transport, getting pressurised to do a hotel review immediately, worrying if our bags are going to be overweight, going through security, immigration, waiting to board and unboard, then having to sort out the transfers at the other end and get through the whole check-in process again before you can settle down. Also, when changing countries, there is the added requirement for a new eSim, and if you have booked an apartment stay through Booking.com or Expedia (like we have), you are usually given instructions on how to access the apartment, as there is no person involved for the 'check-in' part.

Now, as if all that is not bad enough, imagine when you throw in a touch of food poisoning to the mix as well! Yes - dear readers, that f'n prawn dish last night, which had TWO decorative prawns on top of it, done me over good and proper! This has been my first experience of dodgy food during our whole trip. Generally, we are pretty careful, and I know prawns have a bad reputation, but we had eaten in this restaurant before (and we were fine), and there were a lot of people eating in it anytime we passed, so we thought it was ok. In hindsight, I think my biggest mistake was getting the prawns in the late evening, as they were probably sitting out all day before they got cooked and added to my dish.

I was up several times during the night and again in the morning as my body tried to get rid of and expel the offending microorganisms as quickly as possible. I felt pretty crap and so probably for the first time in my life, the Hotel breakfast buffet did not float my boat in the slightest, but I had a little toast and tea to try and settle my stomach (and to see if this stayed put).

So, you can imagine how I was feeling when the very nice Receptionist came over after we had checked out and we were waiting on our taxi to the airport and she asked if I could do a review for them whilst we were waiting on the taxi arriving....errr let me think....NO!

Hanoi airport is about an hour's drive from the Hanoi centre, so that trip was just filling me with joy as I worried if we'd make it to the airport without me spewing up. I had several plastic bags and wipes handy if the situation started to look like it was heading in that direction. I think what made me feel even worse was when the taxi arrived, it was absolutely pristine - I mean like this car was this taxi drivers absolute pride and joy and compared to some of the other taxis we have been in, it looked like you eat your dinner of any surface (though I wouldn't recommend you trying that). Nothing quite like, well, if you're going to throw up, make sure you pick a nice car to do it in....

During the whole journey, I was mentally motivating myself, I would not throw up. I mentally broke the journey down into 10-minute slots, i.e. "ok that's 10 minutes down - good job, just another 50 to go - you can do this girl" and "oh don't look out at the moving traffic too long if you think it is making you feel queasy". You get the picture. So whilst this felt like the longest journey of my life, in fact we arrived at the airport quicker than it took going the other way (although I think we hit peaktime traffic on a week day when we first arrived) and I was never so glad to get out that lovely clean taxi and into the airport, where I at least had some 'facilities'.

Given that I had not seen my morning tea and toast since breakfast, I assumed that I was over the worst of it and now I just needed to take things easy for a bit until my stomach and guts had calmed down again.

The flight was fine and took about an hour and a half, we got through immigration absolutely fine and our passports were given another 30 days. I had worried a little that we might have gotten questioned about our return to Thailand, so soon after our 60 day visa expired but I guess they are used to people doing 'visa runs', so we hadn't broken any rules or overstayed our previous visa.

Chiang Mai airport was lovely and so big, clean and spacious. We located the Grab pick up point easily and about 30mins later we were in our new apartment home for the next 9 days.

We are staying in a one bedroom apartment on the 11th floor at the Astra Condo complex in the south east section of Chiang Mai and it is ideal for us. It also has a little balcony (just off the bedroom) with a drier stand, a table and a chair and everything else that we need, so we should be able to chill and relax for the next little while without having to deal with the daily maid servicing etc.

After quickly sorting out our stuff, I was of the mind to just go to bed and sleep as I was knackered but his nibs was starving as he'd last eaten at the airport. So we popped out for a little bit to pick up a few bits and pieces and then it was back to the apartment for a shower and a sleep (and NO alarm being set this time!)

So now, you have the reasons why there was a bit of a backlog and delay with the daily posts. First was due to the Halong Bay trip and the second was due to us transferring between places and my intestines having a bit of an unplanned party! Hopefully, by the time I post this, I will have caught up again as it is so much harder to try and play catch up if I miss writing up our days as soon as I can.

Oh, and for anyone wondering how my darling husband was during my 'illness', he was very much - "och yer fine noo, it's oot your system" and "well it's your own fault, you know how dodgy prawns can be". Yes Mr Compassion and Sympathy indeed.

Hanoi, Vietnam & Chiang Mai, Thailand

22 January 2025