im only here a few weeks and working a fair bit of it (im piggybacking off my partners work trip), so im not getting the full experience, but its been great. too damn hot right now, and i cannot express how incredibly fucking terrifying the traffic is holy shit, and the country is clearly not perfect and still has its share of problems. and apart from a bunch of propaganda posters everywhere, is not overtly socialist in a way that most people would recognise, and there are certainly tensions and contradictions of capitalist encroachment. but the vibe is great and in the places ive been round theres a sense of actual communities that function rather than just alienation and atomisation. and theres clearly people without much wealth but i havent gotten any sense of any grinding poverty in the way that ive seen in eg latin america. and i get the sense that people are fiercely and justifiably proud of the country that they fought and suffered so hard for.

also fwiw hcmc feels a lot more 'westernised' than hanoi and the other cities ive been in