Singapore Expats

Dear Expats of Singapore,

I am a local guy who is really sick of the inane mind-numbing mall-hopping tedium of life in Singapore. This feeling is becoming especially acute ever since I came back from hiking Mount Kinabalu and all it's wonderful natural beauty.

I've tried asking around in my social circles for advice on overseas life and how it stacks up with sg, but it appears that no one has any useful insights to offer. If anything, the propaganda instinct goes into overdrive and all the other countries 'unsafe', 'crime everywhere', 'boring', 'no shopping', 'racism', 'no maid', etc etc all starts spewing out.

I really want to get out of this place, at least for a while and if it's not too much trouble I would like to seek some small insights as to whether sg living is really all that great. Almost everyone I know seems to really believe that we are the best place to live in and somehow I dont quite feel its true

Thanks so much!

I've been here two weeks and I feel the same.

Singapore's great for careers compared to say Australia, for example. Its a more global city and a bigger financial centre, a busier port and air transport hub than Sydney or Melbourne. It is more tax efficient.This is why expats come to Singapore.

The world is a really big big place.

As a SC you have one advantage you may not be aware of. Because of the FTA between Singapore and the US there is a vastly underutilized working visa class available to Singaporeans. Have a look at that.

Also if you're young enough look into working holiday visas in Australia and the UK/Europe.

Go west young man.

kukumalu wrote:Dear Expats of Singapore,

I am a local guy who is really sick of the inane mind-numbing mall-hopping tedium of life in Singapore. This feeling is becoming especially acute ever since I came back from hiking Mount Kinabalu and all it's wonderful natural beauty.

I've tried asking around in my social circles for advice on overseas life and how it stacks up with sg, but it appears that no one has any useful insights to offer. If anything, the propaganda instinct goes into overdrive and all the other countries 'unsafe', 'crime everywhere', 'boring', 'no shopping', 'racism', 'no maid', etc etc all starts spewing out.

I really want to get out of this place, at least for a while and if it's not too much trouble I would like to seek some small insights as to whether sg living is really all that great. Almost everyone I know seems to really believe that we are the best place to live in and somehow I dont quite feel its true

You sound like a journalist fishing for opinions.

Well you can certainly do a lot worse than here too. By all means travel explore and see for yourself. But I reckon in the end you might find happiness and fulfillment depends more on your attitude, choices and the people you surround yourself, rather than the place you're living. Good luck

Buy a plan ticket to somewhere. Have a look at the world. Make up your own mind. It's not rocket science.

bgd wrote:Buy a plan ticket to somewhere. Have a look at the world. Make up your own mind. It's not rocket science.

But it is plane science..

kukumalu wrote:

I would like to seek some small insights as to whether sg living is really all that great. Almost everyone I know seems to really believe that we are the best place to live in and somehow I dont quite feel its true

Why don't you try visiting a few places and find out for yourself? Why rely on other people's opinions be it the ones you know or strangers on a forum?

ohmz52 wrote:

bgd wrote:Buy a plan ticket to somewhere. Have a look at the world. Make up your own mind. It's not rocket science.

But it is plane science..

I think its plain Math! $$$

x9200 wrote:

kukumalu wrote:Dear Expats of Singapore,

I am a local guy who is really sick of the inane mind-numbing mall-hopping tedium of life in Singapore. This feeling is becoming especially acute ever since I came back from hiking Mount Kinabalu and all it's wonderful natural beauty.

I've tried asking around in my social circles for advice on overseas life and how it stacks up with sg, but it appears that no one has any useful insights to offer. If anything, the propaganda instinct goes into overdrive and all the other countries 'unsafe', 'crime everywhere', 'boring', 'no shopping', 'racism', 'no maid', etc etc all starts spewing out.

I really want to get out of this place, at least for a while and if it's not too much trouble I would like to seek some small insights as to whether sg living is really all that great. Almost everyone I know seems to really believe that we are the best place to live in and somehow I dont quite feel its true

You sound like a journalist fishing for opinions.

Eh no lah. I think it'll be easier to fish for opinions by posing as a fellow expat no? I was just forum-surfing on this topic and I thought it would be good to get some outside view to balance the local forums

PNGMK wrote:The world is a really big big place.

As a SC you have one advantage you may not be aware of. Because of the FTA between Singapore and the US there is a vastly underutilized working visa class available to Singaporeans. Have a look at that.

Also if you're young enough look into working holiday visas in Australia and the UK/Europe.

Go west young man.

I see! I wasn't aware of that. Would that be the H1-B Visa?

I was looking at the working holiday visa for New Zealand too, looks quite tempting as well.

If you like nature, you will love NZ. I have lots of my colleagues from previous company moved to Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin. They work in IT and got their work permits sponsored from overseas by their company. Some really breath taking pictures, they have posted. They rent landed property with some beautiful sceneries.

[quote="kukumalu"...[/quote]

you know what your nick kukumalu roughly translates to ... right?

@kukumalu, the whole problem with your initial question and people advising you on this forum (and any other place with similar set of people = expats) is that we may be different even if what you wrote is what many of the expats thinks. You still may be the very product of your own country/culture and you may not like the world outside Singapore at all, just like your countrymen you mentioned. In other words, even if I tell you, that this is a BS, at the end of the day it may not be a BS to you because I was not brought up in Singapore and you were. Do you see my point?

Anyway, there is no other way for you to know but to go and check yourself. Of course you have to live in a different country, not just visit it.
As a guideline, for people arriving here, it takes very often over 1 year to see some disadvantages or annoyances of Singapore. I would expect similar effect for Singaporeans but the other way around - you may be very disappointed at first but it should get better with time.