That's a decent overview of what you see. My wife being from the far east also avoids the sun, she doesn't want to get brown.....er.
No fines for dumping shit on the ground? The government could make some money there, and clean the place up. Two for one.
yeah one thing i've also noticed is that I very rarely ever see any police. The Vietnamese people I know tell me that there are lots of undercover informants rather than uniformed officers. Ah, so there is the communism I have heard so much about because I haven't noticed it in any other aspect of the country.
Communism and living within it? I don't know much about it, but it doesn't sound too appealing. I guess you did your homework before moving there.