I'm having a bit of down time in the hostel, so thought I'd write up my thoughts, if no one else is interested at least I can look back of the thread and have some kind of record.
What I've seen so far of vietnam, I really like, I've found the street vendors a bit pushy and a bit sneaky, but in comparison to Asian countries I've only got Japan and China to compare too, that said I've really loved being out in the country, people are friendly and smiley and really rather helpful. I've been surprised at how cheap things are here, but it makes sense when speaking to the guy who took us to the DMZ who said factory workers earning about $50 dollars a month is standard, he also said many people here have family who left after the war and send money back to them, but said they don't tend to spend it wisely in his view, they'll live on what they earn, but they'll spend savings they get from abroad on tombs for deceased, that $50k isn't unheard of for a tomb.
I wish I'd have spent some more time in Hanoi and Hue, I really didn't get to see as much as I'd have liked to, but I've loved Hoi An, although yeah it is quite picture postcardy. A lot of Hoi An has been flooded since I've been here, so things that I've wanted to do haven't always been accessible. We booked on to Ms Vy's cooking class but couldn't get to it, so we're going to try again tomorrow, but if there's floods (which they keeping pronouncing as "flewds" then they'll refund us). We've had free bikes to borrow so have been pootling around Hoi An on those which has been great.
I'm actually really rather jealous of the girls I'm here with who are touring the area, off to Cambodia and some other countries after, but on the flip side, it's got to a point where they're worried about budgets, and end up squabbling about lending each other 30p, and wanting to stay in the new hotel room and snooze etc, because they're so tired.
It's the first Asian country I've been to that I think I could live in, but I guess I'm seeing
