Newbies

They have mattresses ranging from non-fireproofed foam through to very firm yet surprisingly comfortable types.

VietNam now has an indigenous mattress industry. Most beds are solid frames, many with drawers underneath and a single mattress. Dimensions are standardised, now, and fitted sheets are best priced in local markers - but get a VNese speaking person to buy, you will save a fortune.

Food - well covered in this chatroom.

district 3 looks good for accommodation as we want a bit of quiet at times.

That's a good one, what a street appears to be during day time can drastically change in the evenings. Many VNese believe they can sing and visit karaoke places to prove they can't. What appears to be a quite restaurant can change in to a karaoke at the flick of a switch.

Ducks? Oh, yes, we eat them. They are generally grown well away from Quan 3.

Thanks Jaitch, we will look for those beds.  Yes we eat duck too but sounds like he can't breed them near home.  Food is covered in this forum but b/c I haven't been there yet, it was impossible to work out how to actually approach food buying. 
From reading the forum is sounded as though sewerage or toxic chemicals were inevitable.  Is this your understanding?

Thanks for your help.

If your son likes to have ducks and chooks or some other animals then dist 7 could be good place to live. Depends on where your husband will have to work, dist 2 is an other option if your husband work in dist 1.
Dist 7 is not too far from dist 1 (central), It takes about 30 minutes to travel to the central but there is an international hospital, international schools and some big supermarket where you can buy fresh foods and vegetables in dist 7. The traffic is not too bad and the air is clean, it's quiet in the evening. Quite convenient if your husband will work close by. The most of foreign family is settle down in dist 7 and dist 2.

Dear Ms Lucy,
you have been most helpful.  Thank you very much.  It is reassuring to know there is somewhere that is so suitable to us. 
Have you lived there for long?  The forum on food spoke of much chemical use on all green groceries and it sounded difficult to get safe food.  Is this your understanding too?  Thank you again.  Jane

I am a Vietnamese, I have been living in HCMC for 8 years. I am currently living in dist 1 and my office is in dist 7, I am travelling from dist 1 to dist 7 everyday for work and now I am getting sick of the traffic and the noise in dist 1. As I shared above, dist 2 is an other option for your family, the most sucessful people and most of foreigners are living in dist 2 and dist 7 but dist 7 is newer area.
I understand your concern of foods and green groceries but it's an non-authentic issue. There are a few shops supply foods imported from Europe and some local shops supply vegetables from the highland, they confirmed the hold system of planting without using chemical on vegetable.
First you can take a tour to dist 2 and dist 7 to see how is the life there, then you can make decision. It's easy to find a supermarket where you can buy good foods from Europe and the shops to buy good quality vegetables.

Dear Ms Lucy,

I am so glad you are in contact.  Thank you.  Yes we will visit the districts and see what suits.  That is a great relief about the food.  We will do as you advise.  We are wondering about whether you know of a choir in either of those districts.  My husband enjoys choir singing especially sacred music choir if you happen to know of one.  Unusual request I am sure.
Jane

Hi,

Welcome to HCm!

@about farming: I know a youth farming club which has a lot of expats gathering every weekend.  They have a farm in dist 2. Your son maybe love to join them. I will pm you their website later.

@about food: your farming son can grow some nice vegetables while you can get other vegetables in a organic shop (thao dien str, dist 1 or metro (near there).

Pls read this link if you have time
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=374698

@about mattress, I recommend you to buy matresses from lien a (5 zone mattress-$500) or kim dan brand.(900-1000 $). Normally they will offer you some .

I am going to eat. Will reply you more later.

Regards

Hi,

I am a writer too. When I was in Vietnam, I had never joined any writing community because that concept was not so common. We have reader community, traveler community but not writer community as far as I know. Because you know, writers are mostly keen on being isolated . Anyways, I am a writer and would love to talk to you about writing.

Keep in touch!