Vietnam is a great country and hardly undiscovered anymore. Tourist numbers are increasing annually, but probably only around the level seen in Thailand in the late '90s, but this could change given some promotion on the part of the Vietnamese government and more liberal visa policies. Apart from Thailand, I spend more time in Vietnam than any other country in the region and there is good reason for that...good weather (in the south), great food, friendly people and an interesting and different lifestyle and sights from Thailand. Cheaper? Maybe a little, but you do have to bargain (much more than in Thailand). Also, since I don't speak Vietnamese there are many aspects of the culture that I am not so familiar with and therefore the country remains a curiosity for me that Thailand isn't anymore (I speak fluent Thai, including reading and writing). Infrastructure wise it's obviously not as good as Thailand, but is catching up. Hotels are of a very acceptable standard in most places, in fact I don't see much difference with Thailand in this respect except that annoying passport game they play with you; the law says that all guests must be registered with their ID, so that means foreigners must use their passports for registration and locals use their ID cards, which are brought down to the police station for registration purposes. Not even out of the way hotels avoid this step, unfortunately. It's annoying because unless you ask for your passport to be returned to you, the hotel will keep it the whole time you are staying with them.

The passport issue isn't a problem. More worrying is direct flights beginning December from London to HCMC and Hanoi.

Expect to hear of many ripoffs the next couple of years from two weekers travelling to Hanoi...it'll be Xmas every week for those taxi guys!

^Never had my passport kept by a hotel, the take a photocopy and give it straight back.

When staying in the wifes home the friendly immigration guys come visit the house to take the passport details so no need to go to their office.