Need advice on schools, housing, and more

Posted by Cammie (249 days ago)

Hi! We are Singaporeans considering a move from HK to HCMC. We would really like to hear from parents who have children in the British International School and the International School of HCMC on your views of the schools.

How do we arrange for domestic help? Are they locals or foreigners usually? Is live-in help usual and easy to find?

As for housing, your views on District 2 and other districts would be appreciated.

Are there clubs for recreation where the kids and family can hang out? How about gyms and spas, any recommendations?

Anything elso we should know about?

Thanks lots!

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Tags apartments, recreation, schools

Posted by Highway-9 (205 days ago)

There are numerous schools here - a real industry boom - but making sure the quality of education is more difficult.

My husband and I decided rather than to segregate our daughter we opted instead to send her to a regular Vietnamese school where the hours are longer and the work maybe even harder than at a Foreigner scholl in VN.

She has also learned two more languages - Chinese and Vietnamese - and has friends in the local community rather than what can be a very small ex-pat community.

Domestic help is readily available, both live-in and live-out. One condition of live-in is the approval of the police for the helper to reside in your apartment. Your occupancy is also subject to police approval. It is unlikely you would be able to bring in someone from outside VietNam.

District 2 is a mixed area on the 'other' side of the SaiGon River from the main part of the city. But many tunnels and bridges are under construction that will better integrate D2 into the city whilst, unfortunately, forcing many poor people to look for alternative housing.

When selecting a property it is worth investigating (1) How far is your proposed house from your place of work; (2) Whether there is flooding AT ANY TIME OF YEAR in your home area OR en route to work. Flooding is very disruptive,

Moving into highrise ex-pat housing can be very expensive and you might be better advised to locate regular rental housing and renovate. Foreigners are permitted to purchase houses within HCMC, Ha Noi and a few other places.

Districts 5 and 6 are 'Chinese' areas where Cantonese and Mandarin are frequently used, in addition to Vietnamese.

There are many places where your children can meet the local children in new, well equipped youth recreation centres. There are also many tennis courts, gyms and pools but membership is occasionally required. Golf addicts are well catered for.

The government is generally less instrusive than that of your government with the InterNet being essential wide open and critcal foreign newspapers aren't hacked to pieces by government censors. You can also chew gum and wear your hair long! No Lee Quan Yew here!

Posted by vothanhyen (136 days ago)

Hi, I know some companies which provide professional cleaning service to ex-pats. They also have live-in helper, but price will be higher. It will cost about 2 million VND per month for a helper like that.

Where in HCMC are you going to move to? If you choose to live in the down-town area, Dist.1 and 3 will be the city centre. However, houses and apartments in these two dists are more expensive than in others.

Dist.2 is not as developed as D.1 and D.3, but still very OK for your stay here. Housing options are various and prices are also much better. A two bedroom apartment will cost about 600USD on average. You can also think of Dist. 4 which is next to the centre or Dist.7 with its PHU MY HUNG New Urban Zone. Most expats living in HCM City choose to live in Phu My Hung thanks to its covenient services around and well planned and nice buildings avaialble. 1 bedroom apt in Phu My Hung costs about 550 USD above and two bedroom is about 700 on average.

Yen Thai