Singapore Expats

Hey Everyone -

I hope you're doing well. Ever since I've arrived to Singapore from the United States, I've noticed that walking up to random people at bars and lounges isn't very conducive to mingling (and dating) in Singapore.

I would have thought that just given the diversity that Singapore boasts about, having conversations with singles or young couples would be easy, but most of them look at me with deer eyes.

What's everyone's thoughts on the random chatter in Singapore? If you think that the foreign community is open to conversation, then WHERE do you go? I need to be there.

I would have thought that a young professional in Singapore should find it easy to create and sustain conversations.

its hard to find those type of bars in singapore because most people sit down in their own groups and dont really mingle as you say.

Two exceptions that I found were Magumbos in Boat Quay and The Prince of Wales in Little India, but the latter is more of a backpacker spot. Magumbos is originally from Tokyo and attempts to bring the shot bar (dive bar) culture to singapore.

piyushdabomb wrote:Hey Everyone -

I hope you're doing well. Ever since I've arrived to Singapore from the United States, I've noticed that walking up to random people at bars and lounges isn't very conducive to mingling (and dating) in Singapore.

I would have thought that just given the diversity that Singapore boasts about, having conversations with singles or young couples would be easy, but most of them look at me with deer eyes.

What's everyone's thoughts on the random chatter in Singapore? If you think that the foreign community is open to conversation, then WHERE do you go? I need to be there.

I would have thought that a young professional in Singapore should find it easy to create and sustain conversations.

one way to make friends is .. join one of the social activity groups, like Junior Chamber, Rotaract/Rotary .. and the likes, and instantly you get a lot of friends.

Now back to bars, well, 9 out of 10 'good' girls think a foreigner saying hello in a bar has ulterior motives, and 9 out of 10 'bad' girls think you are a good catch, and why waste time talking about the weather etc. . not that most would know how to converse.

If you are into 'drinking' buddies, go the way of the FNCD/WNDC groups in this forum ..

If not, then head the way I suggested, one of the many youth groups which can help you make friends, with no expectations ..

of course, you can also wander around and get grabbed by the many friends, who want you to buy insurance, or sell this or that .. upto you

Approaching complete strangers smacks of 'Jonny-no-mates' desperation.

Maybe that works in the US, but...

JR8 wrote:Approaching complete strangers smacks of 'Jonny-no-mates' desperation.

Maybe that works in the US, but...

In SG, you'll get the cane

Well it's not going to work in Europe, or probably here, unless you're in some real 'cruising' joint.



p.s. Strange to hear the Tokyo bar Magumbos has opened here. Yes, the Tokyo branch (20yrs ago) used to be a meat-market*



* Together with Gas-Panic, and Yello

JR8 wrote: p.s. Strange to hear the Tokyo bar Magumbos has opened here. Yes, the Tokyo branch (20yrs ago) used to be a meat-market*



* Together with Gas-Panic, and Yello

Magumbos (or as I remember - Mogambo) has been in operation for some time .. in BQ .. more than 2 years I think ..

ecureilx wrote:

JR8 wrote: p.s. Strange to hear the Tokyo bar Magumbos has opened here. Yes, the Tokyo branch (20yrs ago) used to be a meat-market*



* Together with Gas-Panic, and Yello

Magumbos (or as I remember - Mogambo) has been in operation for some time .. in BQ .. more than 2 years I think ..

Your spelling is probably correct, and yeah its been around in sg a while now. Unfortunately its success in sg led to the closing down of the original last year. The original in tokyo suffered after the 2011 quake so the owners closed down and shifted full attention to the Singapore branch.

Are they related to the one in Makati?

piyushdabomb wrote:Hey Everyone -

I hope you're doing well. Ever since I've arrived to Singapore from the United States, I've noticed that walking up to random people at bars and lounges isn't very conducive to mingling (and dating) in Singapore.

I would have thought that just given the diversity that Singapore boasts about, having conversations with singles or young couples would be easy, but most of them look at me with deer eyes.

What's everyone's thoughts on the random chatter in Singapore? If you think that the foreign community is open to conversation, then WHERE do you go? I need to be there.

I would have thought that a young professional in Singapore should find it easy to create and sustain conversations.

Seriously, the best thing to do is approach other expats for conversation. The "deer in headlights" look is somewhat common with locals, even when you're not in a bar. However, some locals might surprise you and strike up a conversation. Let the locals come to you.

Another option to meet people with similar interests is meetup.com.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Are they related to the one in Makati?

not sure .. but I guess not ..

Yeah, I feel the same way since moving here. It's harder to meet people than I would have thought. If you want to hangout and try to meet people together, send me a shout.

hprasad wrote:Yeah, I feel the same way since moving here. It's harder to meet people than I would have thought. If you want to hangout and try to meet people together, send me a shout.

being a cynic .. care to share how or what you did to mingle ?

ecureilx wrote:

hprasad wrote:Yeah, I feel the same way since moving here. It's harder to meet people than I would have thought. If you want to hangout and try to meet people together, send me a shout.

being a cynic .. care to share how or what you did to mingle ?

And I thought he was just offering to play Wingman @ "try to meet people together"...lol

to the OP:

I suppose it also matters if you're a lady or a gent. eg, post a thread here to meet as a guy, and you would be lucky to get any/handful of responses. Post one as a girl, and the floodgates would open.

Simplest principle of supply / demand at work.