Going through Vietnam immigration is a formality. A stress-free, even welcoming experience.
Going through Thai immigration is like waiting in line for a rectal examination. A cold, hostile experience.
But Thai culture is relaxing, polite and considerate. Very easy to live in.
Vietnamese culture I find hard to put up with for long periods. Vietnamese people seem to exist in a world where only their experience matters. If it isn't negatively affecting them, it isn't happening at all. This seems to be changing among the younger Vietnamese, but it's still in the general culture.
They aren't deliberately rude, it just seems like the concept of being considerate of others doesn't exist. Bunking queues, littering, being noisy at 2am or 5am, any time whatsoever. The experience of the people trying to sleep on the same floor isn't a concept, they will shout down hallways at 5am, bang doors, make all the noise they like.
I stayed in a hotel once and woke up at 6am with staff scraping paint off the skirting board in the hallway, there's no way anyone on the floor could have slept through it.
On a number of occasions, different hotels, different cities, different years. I've been woken up by staff seeming to have a jovial staff meeting, at 6am. Full of laughs and conversation. Not a thought given to the fact people are trying to sleep.
There's a lot to like about Vietnam, but I could never call it home, after a while, I need to get out of the place.
And when I arrive back in Thailand, I breathe a sigh of relief, but not until I'm finished having my ass examined by the b!tch at immigration.