life in Ben tre

What do you want to know?  Wife is from there and I lived there for couple years, thinking of heading back next year.  Compared to the big cities like hcmc,  people are nicer overall,  poorer but less selfish.  Kids are more respectful,  less flooding in the city, fewer job opportunities,  only 1 Shopping Centre (with cinema, lotteria, pizza company,  Baskin robins) and 1 grocery store (coop). Anything else you need?

That's not easy to answer, are you an expat that has to be surrounded by other expats, bars,cafes and social events?

If you don't need all that stuff, then yeah, you could live there no problem.

I could live in Ben Tre without a problem, because I'm not into all the expat stuff. I have been to Ben Tre numerous times, and it's a nice small Delta city that is clean and has nice wide streets.

I am an expat from USA and have been living in Ben Tre (10km from city center) for the last 10 years. 

Life here is not easy, but not hard either.  Being only 2 hours from HCMC is helpful, and My Tho is a fairly large city nearby.  How you live is up to you, you can go to the local markets and deal with vendors who might overcharge you, or you can go to the supermarket where everything is labeled.

There are more and more things available, so it helps.  But aside from materialistic things, life in the province is slower.  If you really want to explore the local culture, you can.  In the big city of HCMC, you can't because it's such a blend now.