Singapore Expats

Hi everyone:)
After almost a year of hard work and waiting its finally done- me and my husband (I am Swedish, he is English) are moving from UK to Singapore end of January next year:)
So excited, so nervous but sooooo happy.
Just wanted to know any tips before the move...
What would you have wished you thought of before moving? (as in what to bring, what to bulk up on, ship furniture or not etc)
And also (for the ladies)- My hair is super bleached- can i get hair bleach easy in Singapore (the famous brands) or should i stock up? And if anyone knows... Silver shampoo?
Thank you very much and see you all soon:)
Linda

The hair stuff might be difficult to source but not impossible, Magicboo, maybe. But I think it's on the banned list for shipping. Check with your transport people.

Welcome on board!

I think in general terms you can split down 'what to bring' into many categories. As a starting point, are you moving your entire home, or just bringing suitcases? How long might you be here, do you think?

It might be presumed that you will be renting. If you bring furniture then you are limited to unfurnished property. That might be no bad thing, but a consideration. Property here tends to be smaller... so it would be a real PITA to freight furniture and then find you can't realistically fit it into your home. For that reason I tend to bring the smaller/personal/antique items, and then buy sofas/beds/cupboards here from IKEA and/or Courts.

Next tip. Remember that westerners are assumed to be rich, hence most western groceries are expensive. That tube of tomato paste you use weekly to help make up pasta sauces might be euro 0.29 in Aldi back home, but it'll be at least S$5 here. Same with tetrapaks of tomato passata. Same with stock cubes. Same with bars of soap. Same with deoderants (e0.30 at home, S$3+ here). I've recently moved back into SG for the 3rd time, and we brought about a years supply of all the above (and more). You just slot them inside furniture and stuff, so it causes no additional freight, (keep any roll-ons upright by the way). Oh, and cotton ear-buds, e50c back home S$5+ here.

The climate here is pretty brutal though, and it can do bad things to food/clothing etc. So don't especially buy more than a years worth of anything.

Also consider bringing anything uniquely Brit/Swedish, moose chew-sticks, or tins of mushy-peas . The more unusual it is, the more the margin will be to get it here.

Good luck!

re: clothing. 90% of the population here are Small>Medium. If you're not, bring clothing with you. Especially stuff that are basics that you'll get through, underwear, stockings, work shoes.... you'll realise what a corner you're in if you're say 6'3"/250lbs and need a pair of chinos for the coming weekend.

re: hair bleach. Can't help there. Hair tends to come in one colour here. More importantly most removers refuse to pack/transport 'hazardous goods'...

Loads of skin-bleach products around though

we brought lots of razors, bar soap, TP, paper towels, wipes etc.
Wish we had brought more diapers.. May not be an issue for you though.
Glad we brought all of that though. I shave my head and razor blades are 2x the price here.

Be mindful of electronics.

We shipped all of our funiture because the company was paying for it. I asked them to give me cash instead and I would buy new funiture. That wasn't the policy. It was all my furniture or nothing. It was nice to hit the ground with all of our familiar stuff though.

Oh the bed sizes are different here. Bring extra sheets if you're bringing a bed.

Dert42 wrote: Oh the bed sizes are different here. Bring extra sheets if you're bringing a bed.

I have faced this issue living in Asia/US/Europe. Suddenly you find your daily bedlinen no longer fits. King size in the US is NOT the same King Size in Europe (IIRC it's longer). Beds in Singapore are rarely more than 6' long (my feet hang off the end).

The simplest way (that I found) to compare bed-linen sizes, is to go to the IKEA site of the place you're moving to. That will list sizes, and their physical dimensions.

Clothing isn't much of an issue. There's Zara, h&m, oasis, top shop etc. For delivered shopping Boden and Debenhams both ship. Boden charge £12 per unlimited order and knock off the vat. Cheaper to buy it here!

Shoes though. If you are over a 40 then you'll find it trickier. Not impossible. Bras a very overpriced and if you are over a c then you'll find yourself limited to marks or la senza unless you want to pay $300.

Hannieroo wrote:Clothing isn't much of an issue. There's Zara, h&m, oasis, top shop etc. For delivered shopping Boden and Debenhams both ship. Boden charge £12 per unlimited order and knock off the vat. Cheaper to buy it here!

Shoes though. If you are over a 40 then you'll find it trickier. Not impossible. Bras a very overpriced and if you are over a c then you'll find yourself limited to marks or la senza unless you want to pay $300.

Size 40 feet... Coco the Clownesque....

my wife is a typical american sized woman. not fat, not tall. she's also a bit busty.
she's having a very hard time finding clothes that fit. bras are completely out of the question.

Have you/she tried M+S?

I tend to find that they cater to real people/adults, rather than twigs.

JR8, earbuds really? Daiso? There is a shop in Queenstown, shops in Chinatown that sells toileteries much much cheaper than Guardian.

Nearest Aldi for me is actually somewhere like Wembley. In terms of fashion - UK type shops are represented here quite well.
ASOS delivers, figleaves delivers and a host of others. I use comgate - so I sometimes buy from Target, Walmart etc.
Boden, Mr. Fulham , their clothes doesn't fit me. Shoes - there's Hush Puppies, Aldo and Tangs.

What I muss is Pradamark aka Primark and ASOS do not deliver Primark stuff.

Dert42 wrote:my wife is a typical american sized woman. not fat, not tall. she's also a bit busty.
she's having a very hard time finding clothes that fit. bras are completely out of the question.

If she knows her size, unlike my daughter, then try figleaves.com/co.uk

PrimroseHill wrote:JR8, earbuds really? Daiso? There is a shop in Queenstown, shops in Chinatown that sells toileteries much much cheaper than Guardian.

Yes, we still have a few 200-stick boxes of 'Staebchen' [that's earbuds ), that were about e0.30-40 a box. I don't advocate it as a stand-alone plan (requiring massive thought or effort), just when you go to the corner shop, in the couple of weeks before leaving, buy 3-4-5 things to bring. That's what I did the last couple of weeks before leaving. I expect the sales assistants (who I knew quite well, but who couldn't speak English) wondered why I was buying 200 staebchen, and three bars of soap, and a six-pack of persto each time I went in for a bottle of wine Soap there e.29c a bar, here ... no idea, but I bet it's going to be $2+ for an equivalent... kerching .... 100+% return.

Anyway, that casual exercise, will probably end up saving us maybe S$500+ as it plays out, not a bad return for 30 minutes effort/thought.

The reverse also applies. When you leave Asia, take a 20kg sack of the best rice. Spices, spice mixes, curry pastes etc. [all assuming it won't cost you additional freight]


Nearest Aldi for me is actually somewhere like Wembley.

I was speaking more in terms of generics. Lidl/Aldi, Asda might do, or Boots/Superdrug. Anywhere with unbranded quality basics. M+S for hosiery, Boots/SD for daily bathroom consumables, and so on. There does not seem to be any equivalent of 99p M+S socks here, or e0.29 tubes of tomato puree.

But as I said, it's not about creating a fuss and work, it's about feeling the direction of the wind (the value) and using that simply to your advantage.

PrimroseHill wrote:JR8, earbuds really? Daiso? There is a shop in Queenstown, shops in Chinatown that sells toileteries much much cheaper than Guardian.

Took me 2-3 years before I figured out that Guardian/Watsons is quite expensive compared to buying all that stuff in Chinatown - big, old building next to the OG dept. store has several stores where you can get all that stuff much CHEAPER.

Travel across the country for half a day to save 20 cents? I don't think so.

Wasn't that the point being made. There is a balance where the saving is significant, and more or less effort-free, and hence worthwhile.