Funny, I was in VN during the Lunar New year too.
This year, I went to Beijing for 2 weeks and came to VN for 4 weeks.
Being a Vietnamese American and living in the US since 1978, I first went back to VN in 2008 and that really openned my eyes.
I had such a great time that I went back last year for 2 months.
This time around, I was there for the Lunar New Year and I had a fantastic time.
Had a Viet friend from Australia that is working there and we went out and partied almost every night.
When you are a Viet Kieu(foreign Vietnamese), you are instantly looked at differently as they all think you have money.
Being Viet Kieu, the girls just flock to you(probably for the wrong reason, but never the less)
I have tons of pictures of everywhere in VN as I've done pretty much all the tours of VN.
Its an awesome country to visit and cheap.
Its definately not the norm for the OP.
They are very very well off.
If you have a car, you are status, especially a BMW.
Most people make do make $100/month.
Thats why business owners make so much money over there.
Labor cost is practically nothing.
If you guys don't know, the tradition of Lunar New Year is giving out money in red envelopes.
Being a foreigner just mean you gonna have to give out alot of money while you're there.
Yeah, I spent alot of money this time around but I had such a fantastic time.