Leaving Saigon for Bali

MUSINGS ON SAIGON AND THE MEKONG
Saigon and HCMC area is dynamic, modern and a "city that almost never sleeps". It has now embraced a market economy, it is city of contrasts and struggles for the smaller man who it seems puts in very long hours to making a living. The people of the Mekong are facing a rapidly changing life due to environmental change that threatens this extensive agricultural area. Similar to Cambodia, it is a country still recovering from war but a "that was then, this is now" attitude of resiliency and strong national identity prevails and this is a country on the upswing as long as there is political stability. Our accommodation in Saigon, although 2 star, had the best air con to date and the Bamboo Ecolodge was a very memorable experience. The Mekong tour was great and good value but remember to bring tip money!

We arrived at SGN airport by 0545h to find a quarter of the country checking in at the Vietjet counter and half of it lined up at passport control where there were not many officers working. It took us just under two hours to get to the gate. Doug survived four hours of knee pain due to seat spacing designed for the average Vietnamese person (average men 5 ft 3 in and women 4 ft 10 inches). Bali/Denpasar airport is very modern although the new immigration machines that scan the QR code from your prepaid Visa along with your passport seemed to work for some but not us. We were met by our prearranged Klook driver. The trip to Ubud (the "cultural centre of the island) took a surprising 1.5 hours, the two lane "highway" that dwindles down to one as you get closer to Ubud was never designed for the amount of traffic on it. We both felt again that our driver was unnecessarily aggressive, passing where we could see oncoming vehicles, getting rather close to motorcycles - sigh! even in idyllic Bali; why??Read more