4 weeks ago I did a small report on flying to Hanoi from Hedland via Bali and K L. The following is a summary of the return leg from Saigon via K L to Bali with Air Asia.
Our flight to K L had changed departure time to 10 20 am, this will make the connection tight as it's a 2 hour flight but add 1 hour for time changes. The flight was delayed by ½ hour and by the time we cleared customs and immigration, gathered our bags for the next leg, there was less than 1 hour left for ETD and the queues were long and moving ever so slowly. Ibu spoke to an Air Asia person, explaining the circumstances and next thing, we are waved to the top of the queue. Cant complain about that.! This flight was also eventually delayed by 30 minutes which meant we got into Bali at 7pm and then a miracle happened. We were the only plane to have landed, No queues for VOA, we even had to wait for the luggage to appear. In over 20 years of coming to Bali, that was a first.
I see that they have also relocated the X ray equipment so now all luggage gets x-rayed before you advance to customs, so smugglers be ware.
The next miracle was the change in Balinese traffic laws in the last 4 weeks. By comparison nobody toots their horns anymore; well compared to Vietnam they don't and very orderly as well. In fact you only have to worry about westerners on motor bikes speeding down the back gangs!
A few other minor comparisons.
Shopping: Old Vietnamese tourist tee shirt saying. 'Same same but different. Same as Bali, if you show the remoteness of interest by glancing at a product 20 meters away, your gone, they are on to you.
Massage: Had a few in Vietnam where I was walked on, knees and elbows were used and I was stretched in all directions and after I remembered how to walk again, I think I felt better. (In Saigon whilst out walking with Ibu, we passed a few places that advertised massage, but judging by the way the young ladies had on their 'sexy uniforms' one could have believed that they might be offering something else. I volunteered to check this out, purely for the benefit of fellow travelers research, but Ibu gave a short sharp tug to the choker leash she had on me and that was the end of that) Got back to Bali, went to my favourite massage place; it was just pure bliss and I just melted into the massage table from the treatment. Yes Bali massage #1