Singapore Expats

I have been using this excellent forum to assist in our decisions regarding our move to Singapore in August. We have seen a lovely house in Punggol and given my work requirements of 50% travel across APAC access to Changi and Marina Blvd are the criteria. My wife is Ukrainian by birth but now a British Citizen and a qualified language tracher and will look for work in Singapore. We will have access to cars and realise that Punggol is a little remote by Sg standards. If anyone lives out that way and can offer advice re shopping, social contact and general facilities we would be most grateful. In addition anyone wishing to meet up socially or network with a Brit couple (we are 40's) we would be delighted to make contact.

Returning to Sg after many years (Iwas in the RAF) is very exciting and the availability of information and support from Forums such as this makes the whole process much less daunting. Thank you in advance and I hope we can reflect over a beer soon!

I'll leave it to SMS to give his expert feedback on Punggol area for living but I would probably say you would be very brave to stay there. You could find yourself very isolated as it is the Heartlands. Also getting to Marina Blvd would be quite a trek even for Singapore standards.

Advantages staying in punggol are its calm and silent surrounding and beautiful, spacious, well furnished houses. Its good for someone who likes to come back to a silent place away from city after work, good for long walks with a loved one and cycling but definetely very disppointing /boring for someone who needs a few options to hangout near the house.
Infact interiors of many houses in punggol is done better than the condominium in farrer park but on the other side yes its remote and outskirts of Singapore.
There are bare minimum facilities and the hdb’s don’t have a shop in the block or nearby one unlike other areas, so its preferred that the groceries shopping is done on weekly basis.

You have punggol central mall, 24hrs Chinese shop and couple of 24hrs kopitiam food centre.
Vicinity to these shops depends on your house location. Let me know the closest LRT to your house?

Sengkang is one stop to punggol. If you want to access to better malls and food facilities you can travel to sengkang,
you have good community clubs in sengkang and comparatively its lively.

If you have access to cars then commuting to Changi would be easy via a direct Tampiness Highway.
There are very less houses which are at walking distance from mrt. In case you opt to travel by mrt you would have to take lrt to reach your house.

Punggol is half an hour to 45 mins distance from places like orchard road(shopping hub), dhoby ghaut and Clarke quay(clubbing hub)
and a hour distance from sentosa beach and east coast beach.


Cheers!!

That was a detail description of punggol but my suggestion would be
You should definitely look for other areas if you haven't already signed for the house

Cheers!!

hey there - I'd say that it depends on what you're looking for and your lifestyle

I live in Punggol myself and it works well for me as I'm only in Singapore 1 or 2 weeks a month, and I'm always taking taxis if I'm heading out - it's a breeze getting a taxi in this area at almost any time, except for peak periods. Since I'm often making trips from home to the airport, it's nice that I can reach in about 12 minutes with no traffic. From here to Orchard by taxi will be 20-30 minutes. To the west would be longer, but I don't really go to that part of the city. The MRT of course is always a convenient option as well.

I'm into fishing too and Punggol is pretty near the water on the north side so this suits me well. It's quiet and I have two 24 hour food courts right downstairs (GM and Kopitiam), with 2 grocery stores as well, which is real convenient. Also, I can pull out my bike and cycle to the Anchorvale community center and work out at the gym there

So it takes care of everything I need! Hope this helps

bhauranya wrote: Sengkang is one stop to punggol. If you want to access to better malls and food facilities you can travel to sengkang,
you have good community clubs in sengkang and comparatively its lively.

I stay in Sengkang and can vouch for the library inside the mall (yes!) and the fields where a lot of people seem to like using for kite flying.

I also travel for work and the North East side is better for someone who needs to be always going to the airport.

Welcome to punggol.... its developing quite fast now...
lots of places like Tampines, sengkang, yio chu kang is onli a short drive away via the expressway...
there's even a new mall coming up in serangoon which is a short train ride or drive away...
And most impt... air and scenery is fresher there...

You have Compass point shopping mall, they have good swimming facilities close by, kite flying is very popular on the free open spaces. I travel frequently in the same night from compass point to novena square shopping mall, within 20 to 30 minutes. Though peak periods maybe difficult to get into the city under 45 minutes.

The area is fast developing still quite for expat standards, and cheaper than the city area. Its nice to escape the hustle and bustle, though if you are into expat life, you are better off on the East Coast, for Changi and Marina boulevard for socialising, though beer isn't cheap these days

I'm living in the heartlands Kovan as a permanent fixture, though only 15 minutes away from East Coast, 25 minutes from the dog & bone 12 minutes to City by KPE, Changi airport is 25 minutes following the speed limit. Lots of activities in the park like wake boarding, cycling, skating, restaurants and plenty of night life, gets quite busy at weekends.