Once we got back to Chiang Mai we had to hunt for a guesthouse. With kids in tow and all our luggage! It was the first time we had to do so and it proved a daunting task. A task we grew to hate over the course of our trip.
We all had our various requirements and we ended up turning down many places. In fact I had actually booked a couple rooms in one guest house, but after we dragged our luggage up the three flights of steps the rooms turned out to be very dirty! Yuk. I had to go back down and ask for my money back. Very awkward.
And so we ended up walking miles, or so it felt. That first night we finally settled for a very clean, but uninspiring homestay on a back street, with a rather nosey and overbearing owner. It was a relief to find it, but we really didn't want to stay there more than that one night. So the next day we were back on the trail.
The following are several blog entries I made from a little cyber cafe. I think they convey some of my feelings at the time.

This morning Krista and I set out to find a decent guesthouse. It was actually cool and breezy! Beautiful weather. We must have seen 20 places! All we require is a clean room, a nice green place to hang out, relatively cheap, quiet and in a good location. We finally gave up and all went out for breakfast at a cute little cooking school restaurant. While we were waiting for our food, I ventured next door and found our place! The Rendezvous. We booked two nights. We have a lovely balcony overlooking the roi and plenty of space. Best of all, it's clean and in a nice alley street (roi) with cooking and massage schools, plus a few little laundries. We took naps and are now out and about.

We really like our guesthouse. The balcony overlooks the quiet roi with a two-story bougainvillea across the way and an old temple. As the sun was setting I sat there with Eden, who was drawing temples and humming 'la cucaracha' while I addressed postcards. The birds were singing and it was hot. Krista is resting, hopefully sleeping as night descends, to be fresh for the night market. I went out to the train station to get our southbound tickets today. The air, especially on the main drags, is pretty bad. If only the Thai could switch to biodiesel! It would cut their air pollution drastically in no time. And I'm sure they could produce a lot of it just with waste cooking oil. I think I'll write a polite letter to their king.
The Thai people love their king and queen. They may even worship him. He has done a lot, apparently, to better the lot of the poor, or so we hear. It's 180 degrees from home!
No one seems to care that we are Americans. It's interesting to try to guess which country the farang we see come from. I'd say Americans are in the minority, although I've met some really nice folks from Oregon, Nantucket, Detroit and Atlanta. The rudest tourists are German!

I wanted to add...I feel really really safe here. There are certainly many Thai who are maybe grumpy or not interested in farang. We've even seen a few drunks and crazy folk. But no one wants to hurt us! No one seems resentful of us even, which is amazing considering we are SO wealthy by their standards, and are no doubt trampling on their lovely etiquette. This absence of fear is one of the things I really wanted to experience travelling. I love it.

It's funny. The Rendezvous was very humble. It had no pool or beautiful lobby or anything like that. But somehow it had a very nice energy. I met someone this summer who had stayed there for several weeks while having dental work done. She loved it too.