Singapore Expats

Hi,
My husband and I are possibly relocating to Singapore for a two year contract. We will be down sizing from a suburban four bedroom house.
We will most likely be renting a two bedroom condo (I don't know where yet, he will be working at the PSA building on Alexandra Road), but I would like to get an idea of how small the condo would be.
Should we move the king sized bed, or just make do with a queen sized for a couple years? Also, should I move my maple dining room table and hutch, would there be room? I would hate to move all that stuff and then find out it doesn't fit the condo.
Advice would be greatly appreciated.

canadiangal wrote: I would hate to move all that stuff and then find out it doesn't fit the condo.

Which condo? Not all of them are the same size, if you're prepared to pay you can get as large a place as you want. FYI I live in a 2 bed place and have no problem at all fitting a king size bed into the master bedroom, and we don't pay extortionate rent either (well, not extortionate for Singapore anyway)

You'll have to find out first the dimensions of the place you'll be moving into. There are many anecdotes about non-Singaporean furniture not fitting in the condos. Somebody once mentioned here that the new places are cramped by non-Asian standards. Once you find out which condo, perhaps you may contact them to find out the specifications.

Based on my condo dimensions (3 bedroom 1200sf) a king sized bed fits nicely (we have one) but there's no way we could fit a large dining room table or a hutch in here without feeling seriously cramped. We have just a single "living/dining room" and the layout is such that the living area is twice as big as the dining area. When we entertain, we always do it outside at our condo complex. If you're only coming for two years, my advice would be to store the nice furniture in a friend's basement. There's also the risk of it getting moldy here--look for threads on mold in this forum.

About the mattress, keep in mind that "king size" here has different dimensions, so if you buy linens here, they won't fit nicely.

As for the dimensions go to this forum host web page and look for condos around your target areas - more and more often they also publish the floor planes.

http://condo.singaporeexpats.com/condo-district-03.htm

No precise dimensions but you can figure out a bit from the sizes of doors or some appliances.

Thanks so much for the advice. I think I will bring the King sized bed (with extra linens) and leave the dining room set in Canada. I didn't even think about mold... thank you for that bit of information, I would hate for my beautiful maple furniture to mold.
I am going to have some issues packing up because we will be packing, then moving to Singapore, then the company will put us in a hotel or Serviced Apartment until we find a place to live. So it looks like I'll be packing up before I know where we are going to live.
I have another question (I'm not sure if I should start a new thread or not), what is the insect situation like in Singapore? Are there dangerous bees, wasps, or spiders that I need to watch out for??? I'm not a big fan of inscets (one of the reasons I like Canadian winters )

canadiangal wrote:I have another question (I'm not sure if I should start a new thread or not), what is the insect situation like in Singapore? Are there dangerous bees, wasps, or spiders that I need to watch out for??? I'm not a big fan of inscets (one of the reasons I like Canadian winters )

I would say if I compare it to a summer in Europe (no experience with one in Canada there are virtually no insects here. Enough to say you do not have insects smashed on the cars windshields. The most you are going to be bugged will be with roaches (oversized and flying), mozzies and ants.
Aaaa, and prepare to live with the geckos

x9200 wrote: Aaaa, and prepare to live with the geckos

Tell me about it! Just moved into a place roughly 15 years old (my previous place was brand new) and the damn things keep getting into the bathroom and the kitchen.

Apologies to the OP if this is highjacking your thread, but does anyone know any methods of keeping the geckos out of the house? In the UK I had mice but we bought one of those things that you plug into the power socket which emit a signal that drives them away, is there anything similar for geckos?

JayCee wrote:

x9200 wrote: Aaaa, and prepare to live with the geckos

Tell me about it! Just moved into a place roughly 15 years old (my previous place was brand new) and the damn things keep getting into the bathroom and the kitchen.

Apologies to the OP if this is highjacking your thread, but does anyone know any methods of keeping the geckos out of the house? In the UK I had mice but we bought one of those things that you plug into the power socket which emit a signal that drives them away, is there anything similar for geckos?

Get rid of insects and you get rid of the geckos.

x9200 wrote:
I would say if I compare it to a summer in Europe (no experience with one in Canada there are virtually no insects here. Enough to say you do not have insects smashed on the cars windshields. The most you are going to be bugged will be with roaches (oversized and flying), mozzies and ants.
Aaaa, and prepare to live with the geckos

As far as mosquitoes go, they're practically non-existent here compared to summer in Canada. I've been bitten maybe five times in the four months I've been here and I never wear insect repellant. The rest of the critters, tho, you don't really see in Canada. In my condo, I'm on the 8th floor and I get only the occasional tiny ant in the kitchen. I've never seen any spiders, roaches, geckos or anything else in my unit. Downstairs in the common area, however, I've come across several giant roaches after dark. Since they're not in my home I'm not really disturbed by them. I have the theory (I may be way off base) that the higher you are from the ground level the less problems with critters you'll have.

Not too sure about that though. Ask the family who found a 3 meter python on the 10th floor of their apartment block.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Not too sure about that though. Ask the family who found a 3 meter python on the 10th floor of their apartment block.

Wah lau!! I bet they didn't find too many other critters on their floor tho

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Not too sure about that though. Ask the family who found a 3 meter python on the 10th floor of their apartment block.

No offence meant sms... but isn't this an urban legend?

JayCee wrote:

x9200 wrote: Aaaa, and prepare to live with the geckos

Tell me about it! Just moved into a place roughly 15 years old (my previous place was brand new) and the damn things keep getting into the bathroom and the kitchen.

I like geckos and would not mind their presence at all (just opposite) but the damn things are sh**ing all over the walls. Recently one made an aircon unit its favourite sitting place and regularly and successfully tries to sh*t down to the umbrella holder below.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Not too sure about that though. Ask the family who found a 3 meter python on the 10th floor of their apartment block.

And the latest edition in Sengkang a 2 meter monitor lizard

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 23/1/.html