Singapore Expats

Hi,

My boyfriend and I will be moving over to Singapore (from London) in January. After having spent a week in SG looking around, my boyfriend has recommended we rent an apartment on the East Coast - can anyone give me any thoughts on this district and time it will take to travel to the city for work (I'll be working in Prudential Tower).

Any help would be much appareciated!

Thanks

Good place to live. Near to the beach (well, what they call a beach) and 30 minutes from the city on the average.

Thanks.

So is the beach pretty poor? Is the sea clean enough to swim in? Also, how is the area in terms of bars/restaurants etc..?

I was a commercial diver in the offshore oilfields and inshore harbours, what do I know about clean water!

Yeah, it's swim-able but. Huge crowds during the weekends. I swim in it all the time. It's greenish, not brownish so all hope isn't lost. It's not the Blue Lagoon though and the view is of hundreds of ships anchored out in the harbour/straits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coast_Park

Yes. It's reasonably clean but I wouldn't swim in it. There is an earlier thread on food/pub at the east: http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic74629.html


You will be mostly commuting to work by bus or cab, approx half an hr plus minus

At the risk of sounding negative, i'm sure that you will like it in the east. I'm residing at this part of the city and it's awesome, plenty to do during the weekends

sundaymorningstaple wrote:.....and the view is of hundreds of ships anchored out in the harbour/straits.

which by the way, is probably no more than a few hundred meters from the beach - so bascially, you`ll be swimming in oil, excrements and whatever else comes out of those oil tankers.... and SMS isnt joking when he says a few hundred ships - they are literally "parked" by the beach.

aargon wrote:

sundaymorningstaple wrote:.....and the view is of hundreds of ships anchored out in the harbour/straits.

which by the way, is probably no more than a few hundred meters from the beach - so bascially, you`ll be swimming in oil, excrements and whatever else comes out of those oil tankers.... and SMS isnt joking when he says a few hundred ships - they are literally "parked" by the beach.

You exaggerate. The water is more than clean enough for swimming and Singapore has stringent policies with respect to discharges from ships. Note, too, that there are strong tidal currents through the area that help keep it clean.

Strong Eagle wrote:

aargon wrote:

sundaymorningstaple wrote:.....and the view is of hundreds of ships anchored out in the harbour/straits.

which by the way, is probably no more than a few hundred meters from the beach - so bascially, you`ll be swimming in oil, excrements and whatever else comes out of those oil tankers.... and SMS isnt joking when he says a few hundred ships - they are literally "parked" by the beach.

You exaggerate. The water is more than clean enough for swimming and Singapore has stringent policies with respect to discharges from ships. Note, too, that there are strong tidal currents through the area that help keep it clean.

I`m willing to debate this. Although the Sing Govt have stringent policies and say the water is safe for swimming - they know if they were to say otherwise, the impact to the community, businesss, tourism (esp Sentosa island) would be massive. I`ve swimmed in the water a few times, and I guess it is swimmable (you`re not going to die from it), but I came out of the water feeling pretty grubby and needed to wash off with clean water - it may be all in my head, but you cant avoid the fact there is literally up to one hundred tanker ships parked next to the beach. Its doesnt take a genius to know that cant be a good for the water.

Actually the government quite often ban swimming, if the water doesn't pass the hygiene test, this happened off Changi not long ago, due to the waste discharge I believe it was.

aargon wrote:

Strong Eagle wrote:

aargon wrote: which by the way, is probably no more than a few hundred meters from the beach - so bascially, you`ll be swimming in oil, excrements and whatever else comes out of those oil tankers.... and SMS isnt joking when he says a few hundred ships - they are literally "parked" by the beach.

You exaggerate. The water is more than clean enough for swimming and Singapore has stringent policies with respect to discharges from ships. Note, too, that there are strong tidal currents through the area that help keep it clean.

I`m willing to debate this. Although the Sing Govt have stringent policies and say the water is safe for swimming - they know if they were to say otherwise, the impact to the community, businesss, tourism (esp Sentosa island) would be massive. I`ve swimmed in the water a few times, and I guess it is swimmable (you`re not going to die from it), but I came out of the water feeling pretty grubby and needed to wash off with clean water - it may be all in my head, but you cant avoid the fact there is literally up to one hundred tanker ships parked next to the beach. Its doesnt take a genius to know that cant be a good for the water.

Frankly, as one who spent twenty years of his life in waters in less than ideal conditions, you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about. The grubbiness you feel is nothing more than the effects of swimming in salt water rather than fresh water. You will get that no matter where you swim.

I daresay it's better than swimming in the Ganges don't you think?

London2010 wrote:Hi,

My boyfriend and I will be moving over to Singapore (from London) in January. After having spent a week in SG looking around, my boyfriend has recommended we rent an apartment on the East Coast - can anyone give me any thoughts on this district and time it will take to travel to the city for work (I'll be working in Prudential Tower).

Any help would be much appareciated!

Thanks

Do note that East Coast is not near/next to a train station while Prudential is within walking distance from Raffles Place MRT. If you are working in Prudential Tower, there are 2 ways to get to work from East Coast, bus or taxi. There are some fast route buses which pick up people staying in east coast and skip most of the bus stops, heading straight to Raffles Place. These buses have a fixed schedule and seats can be limited at times. However, it will take only 20-30mins to Raffles Place. If you take the normal bus, it will take about an hour. On evening, they have a fixed schedule as well and it can be a little inconvenient as the schedule ends early. Of course, you can always take the normal bus back home.

Cabbing is the other obvious route but it is impossible to flag a cab in Prudential Tower during peak hours. The traffic around Prudential can get a little insane during peak hours as well. You would definitely have to book a cab daily, so budget between $20-30/trip for evening cabs if you are taking them.

An alternative is to investigate Kembangan. There are a few condos that are right next to the train station so it brings you to & fro work easily. It is also fairly close to East Coast if you like that area.

East Coast sea water is deemed fit for swimming in by the authorities here. In areas where this is not the case (Pasir Ris - relatively high E.coli concentrations) warnings are published.

The ships you see at anchorage are run by skeleton-crews - basically a handful of people awaiting their next gig. Apart from an errant cigarette butt, the crews don't discharge anything into the sea; I'm not sure why aargon would imply otherwise.

The sea around Singapore is brownish in color, because of the muddy sediment below. However, during the next few months, the NE monsoon months, the water will clear up considerably and turn a greenish-blue. I'm not sure of the mechanics of this, but it sure is nice.

OP, FYI, some condo projects, Bayshore Park for instance, run direct shuttles to the city. Travel time, depending on traffic of course, tends to be less than 30 minutes.

The East Coast is a great area to live. It's a happy medium between the laid-back feel of the coast and the buzz of the city.

I`m willing to debate this. Although the Sing Govt have stringent policies and say the water is safe for swimming - they know if they were to say otherwise, the impact to the community, businesss, tourism (esp Sentosa island) would be massive.

They don't seem too bothered about the impact if it has to be done - they have deemed the water off Pasir Ris unsafe for swimming because of pollution and Pasir Ris is probably the third most popular beach area after Sentosa and the East Coast Park.

But whatever the authorities say, I find the water around here to be full of rubbish and it doesn't look too inviting to me so I don't swim in it.

As for the east coast - it's quite a good place to live - less of a city feel than in some areas. The buses into the city can be slow sometimes and there's no MRT unless you go up to the East/West line which can be a short bus ride if you live nearer the coast (Marine Parade Rd/East Coast Rd etc). You could move up somewhere near the MRT line though and it'd still be classed as East Coast but would be better for getting into work.