The family drove us to Udon Thani to catch our 5pm flight. It was only a one hour flight. When we made the same trip in 2008 it was a turbo prop plan that we had to walk out on the runway in the rain with umbrellas to board. This time it was a modern jet and you boarded the way you do most planes. In Chiangmai I had requested the free hotel shuttle in advance. I did not know they would have a guy with a sign with our names inside the airport so I must have walked right past him to where ground transportation is to look for the hotel van. After waiting for awhile I called the hotel and the driver came outside and helped with our bags and walked us to the nice hotel SUV. We stayed in the same hotel as we did for eight days in 2008 and it was just as nice except we only spent one night this time. We got checked in and then walked to night market which is about ½ mile. The night market is even bigger now but more crowded. We did find the photo studio where we had our native photos taken in 2008 in native Thai costumes. They have expended and appear to be doing great business. There prices are still unbelievably low. It brought back really good memories. We didn’t buy anything since we plan to shop in Chiang Rai. One thing I did notice on our walk was that there are many more bars, restaurants and massage places now. On the walk back to the hotel we bought crepes with fruit in them for a snack since we did not eat dinner and relaxed back at the hotel. They made the crepes from a small cart along the rode.