30-11-08 Arjan tired, but home at last

Saying goodbye to Ingrid and leaving her at Bangkok was indeed very sad, but I did not have much choice.
The bus ride to Chiang Mai was - though luxury - very boring. Only highways and every few hours a short stop for drinks, toilet and some longer stops for lunch and dinner. Arrival at Chiang Mai Airport at 21:30 local time, where I had to wait for checking in until 23:00. My flight was bound for take off at 02:30. The situation at the airport was not what I expected at all. It was very quiet and relaxed, in the contrary to the rumours of thousands of passengers waiting for flights to get out of Thailand. Only one special counter for passengers on standby, which had a queue of about 50 mtrs.
Checking and then the waiting began. Boarding started at 03:00 and actual take off at 04:30 (still local time). The 2 hours delay were caused by problems of getting the fuel into the plane. Chiang Mai Airport is definitely not used to handle large planes. I was so tired that I already almost slept before the pilot had pulled in the landing gear of the plane.