Have you lived in Singapore ?

:hello: Hi all,

DP works IT in Melb CBD and is wanting to leave the company he works for (company has become dreadful to work for), anyway he and i were discussing last night how we would like a change from living here in Ballarat, we moved here 5.5years ago not knowing anyone here and really don't feel we have any attachment to living here so therefore could up and move again to another area we don't know well.

It came into the discussion how one of his work collegues is also leaving soon and is moving back to his home country Singapore. He mentioned to DP that Australians have no problem in getting IT work in Singapore which left open for discussion would we actually move to another country ... be it for 2 or how ever amount of years. We didn't discuss in too deep as to why we would move overseas but myself personally it has been something i have always wanted to experience living overseas (i have traveled some of Asia but not Singapore). DP has lived overseas in the USA although alot different to living in Singapore.

My question as the thread title suggests ; Have you lived in Singapore ? ... and how did you find it (pro's & con's) ?


We would have to sell our home here but my concern the rent in Singapore i have heard is expensive. And i don't know how it would work for education in regards to my DD (she starts 4year old Kinder next year).

TIA and any replies are most welcome (keeping in mind this is just something my DP & i have only just discussed so it's nothing concrete for now but all the same i would love your imput IYKWIM) :D

Hey hun,

I have never lived in Singapore, but the lovely Yules lives there now... maybe send her a PM?

Hi, I haven't lived in Singapore but have been there and had friends who lived there for many years (they are English) and have always enjoyed it but never thought of it as a permanent thing. Recently an opportunity came up for me (also in IT) to get a contract in Dubai which we were seriously considering but have ruled out now due to financial reasons but living abroad for a while is a great experience (we were in Spain 18 months). I know sometimes you can get the company to pay for accommodation in places like Singapore, if they recruit you from Australia (I have recently seen adverts in my field (SAP) for these type jobs) and friends there said is because the accommodation is so expensive.

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Hey hun,

I have never lived in Singapore, but the lovely Yules lives there now... maybe send her a PM?

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... Elo, oh thanks a million, will do :thumbsup:

Wysi that's good info to hear (thanks), yeh i thought maybe good time to do when our DD is still little - i think one of the reasons i'm considering it, and yes wouldn't be perm ... more so for the life experience !! (i heard Dubai is expensive living ??)

I wonder how it would work if i was a SAHM there for awhile ??

Funny thing is i nearly moved to Japan before i met DP ... can't half tell i love Asia !!

Work were going to pay for the accommodation in Dubai - so that would have been ok, it was more that we would have had a loss of income as DH would be taking unpaid leave and being a SAHD while I worked, if tax worked out better would have been viable as DH income here not so big and we thought was a great opportunity while DD is so little. My old boss said living costs if take accommodation out of it were not that different from here, some things more expensive some things cheaper so swings and round abouts. At some point in the future we will move away short term, maybe Asia, maybe back to the UK - but here will always be home for us now. There are some forums out there for living in different countries and lots have great info about living in all sorts of places (I used one extensively before we moved over here) - I used British Expats Australia section - but they have one on Singapore also which might also be of help - and I know lots of people who are not British use them too.

I haven't lived in Singapore but I have been there 3 times and my ex was from Singapore. I love Singapore and think it would be a great place to live short term (don't think I could live there forever!). The weather is nice and it's safe and clean. Would be a great experience.

wysiwig, I was working in the SAP field too before becoming a SAHM :)

I have been to singapore when I was 8!!! DH goes there fairly regularly with work, and says its very safe and clean, he has mentioned a few times about possibilty of moving there for work but I have never been keen only because I have my friends close by and family a few hours away.

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I have been to singapore when I was 8!!! DH goes there fairly regularly with work, and says its very safe and clean, he has mentioned a few times about possibilty of moving there for work but I have never been keen only because I have my friends close by and family a few hours away.

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... this is the thing for me i don't have my close friends nor family here in Ballarat, i've pretty much survived on my own in Ballarat whilst DP has worked in Melb and lately in Sydney so for me to move else where with no support would make no difference IYKWIM !! ......... Feeb reckon you need to move with me so i can have one good buddy there, ... come on you know you want to ;)

Sometimes moving to places like Singapore/Dubai etc you find you can make friends easily because there are lots of people in the same boat - without families, there short term etc. Certainly the info I found on Dubai supported that. I have found Melbourne a bit like that too, lots of new arrivals without the support network so on the look out for friends. My opinion would be that in Singapore would probably be easier to meet people than in Ballarat.

Smiley I am putting my foot down! You are NOT allowed to go to Singapore!!!!! I will miss you :cry:

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Smiley I am putting my foot down! You are NOT allowed to go to Singapore!!!!! I will miss you :cry:

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... harr too funny, hey did i get it wrong isn't Warburton in Singapore :lol:

(i have a feeling i'm now gonna get belted up at the Hen's night :hide:)

I'm here.....!! PM me all you want to know ;)

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I'm here.....!! PM me all you want to know ;)

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... oh Yules how did you see this here, what a miracle woman i was gonna PM you soonish :D

Yules hey about i have chat with my DP either tonight or tomorrow night and i will get together a list of questions to ask you (will try make it pain-free for you as possible, lol) !! BTW feel free to fire away and post any info you might like to share with anyone here that might see this thread at some point ;)

(:hug:thanks Yules for the generous offer, does that mean i can move in with you too, harr harr !! ... i'm not looking for a sweet perfect lifestyle there which doesn't exist anywhere and what i can see doesn't there, i know i am just after a massive change and not long term, i think my DP feels the same !! )

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... harr too funny, hey did i get it wrong isn't Warburton in Singapore :lol:

(i have a feeling i'm now gonna belted up at the Hen's night :hide:)

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No it's not and yeah you might :p

I haven't lived there, but I have visited and *loved* it :)

Oi Missy you are NOT allowed to go!!!!!!!!!!!! :rofl:

One of my friends is from Singapore if you want to ask me questions from a local's perspective.

I'll give you one word to start with, and we can work from there.....EXPENSIVE!

We live in a 3 bedroom condo in the central area (so very close to Orchard Road - think ridiculous amount of shopping) and pay about $6k a month in rent (singapore dollars) BUT that is included in DH work package. You'd definitely want that to be covered.

Things to do for kids.....Did I hear Play centre!! Swimming..... Play centre.....Swimming.....and ridiculously expensive extra curricular activities. Their parks don't even have swings :(

Getting around in Taxis and buses if you don't have a car can be a bit awful in the long term (well for me now we have DD) but buying a car is also totally ridiculously expensive (we just paid $61k for a car.....on finance!)

On the upside....you can get a 'helper' for about $400 a month...it helps them out greatly. BUT there is a hidden Maid's levy paid to the government at about 270 per month PLUS you have to feed, house, and insure them too.....not such a cheap exercise....but is the 'done' thing. I never wanted a maid....still don't really....

It is not a bad place to live though. Of all the asian countries you could be an expat in, this would be the one to do it. You'd definitely want it to be worth you while though. Because living here costs a bomb. I seriously paid $4.25 for 30g of Rosemary the other day!

There is much more to it though so shoot through your questions :)

Thanks heaps Julia for that and for being so honest (what i mean is for example when i was looking at starting a family it was amazing how all my friends with kids were like " Yeh is wonderful " needless to say they didn't tell me the crappy times that come with it), ... i hear ya Julia as i do have huge concerns of a few things that are so incredible expensive there is Singapore such as the rent, etc .... i stumbled across the Australian International School of Singapore and almost had a heart attack at the fees, just insane eg, Kinder like $4grand a yr, then primary $6grand+ :o

DP and i chatted some more about it last night and he seems more keen about it and to be honest so am i, just gotta decide on where (what country) and then the when will come later on if it ends up being what we want to do after looking intensively into it. He also said for him it's doing it more for the life experience and best to do it while DD is so young rather then later when it could affect her schooling or social side of things (meaning pulling her in and out of schools at an older age, ... DP had this happen when he was 13 and he found it traumatic but then he was painfully shy whereas our DD isn't, but who's to know if her character could change).

As for the maid yeh DP mentioned about it how his Singapore co-worker's parents have one and like you Julia he and i aint keen on the idea, we wouldn't want to have someone living with us or in our residence, for me i wouldn't feel comfortable with it IYKWIM

Julia i will most likely get back to you at some point armed with some questions ;)

(P.S - hope you don't mind i read your blog and didn't know whether to laugh or cry when you mentioned about the cost of your herbs when you had a herb garden back at home cause i use to have one until DD was born now it looks like some unidentified shrub, lol)

I said to DH we could start trafficing Rosemary....the size of my hedge at home...I'd be totally loaded!

You'll get nothing but honesty from me on this subject. We are doing this for DH's work experience, it's an opportunity to get ahead, pay off the house and all that, and that (like you) is best done while the kiddies are young...but I'll tell ya from my heart, it's hard feeling so dependent here, because there isn't much to do.....hence blogging :)

I am not unhappy, some days are just worse than others. You have to get out and meet people (especially with kids the same age as yours) which is easy to do....but sometimes it's hard to be bothered!!!

Oh and the maid 'live in' thing....they are pretty good at making themselves invisible AND you can also get live out maids....but it costs you more :) Of course!

I think one of the reasons for my not feeling so concerned about being on our own there is cause living here in Ballarat after 5years i still feel lonely even though i have a few people i can go visit or ring i don't particularly feel close to them ... not like we go out socialising together without kids, and to be honest they are not my cup of tea to do that with anyway as we have different tastes and interest.

As for family none bother to come visit us, it's all about us visiting them which we are truly sick of doing ... might open their eyes up and teach them a lesson if we did move overseas (but clearly not the reason we would go) and as for my close friends in Melb (and interstate) i have only one friend that bothers to visit me every 2 or so months in Ballarat whereas the rest use the excuse i live too far to travel to (which ticks me off cause it's not like i live in another state). So i guess in explaining all that DP and i don't feel we are at any lose in connections when it comes to our family and friends.

I would imagine i would feel lonelier abroad in just knowing i'm further away from Australia but i'm an adaptable person and would feel comfort in knowing it's not long term but to just be there and try enjoy what i can out of the experience. Who knows i and/or DP could end up miserable and just wanna come back home and think as long as we have that security in knowing we can come home we could deal with it, still wouldn't be easy emotionally and financially but it's there meaning home back to Australia.

Julia how long are you there for do you know ? (just curious)

We are supposed to be here 2 years...but DH's contract is open ended. My condition is that we are back for DS to go to school. As you'd noticed schooling is VERY VERY expensive here (my neighbour with 3 boys in the Aus school pays $77k per year for their schooling!!!)

I felt the same as you too, I find making friends easy, but with everyone in the same situation, you can't get really close because they can up and leave at any moment. The lifestyle here is quite pretentious.....which I am not, so I don't really fit into that norm. I don't dump my kids with the maid and go out for Coffee and cake! If I leave Max with our helper it's only coz I want to do the food shopping and not let her do it (coz she spends more than me :))

We kept our house in Aus just in case something went wrong we would have something to fall back on. I want that tie to Australia too.

Moving up here is also a pretty expensive exercise. That would be another thing you'd want included in a work package. We had an allowance of $15k to do it, but we got the company to give us the money instead and bought new things with it. Our furniture we had wasn't worth taking on a trek around the world with. We also have in the contract that we get 2 business class trips for the whole family back to Perth per year....but we are able to downgrade ourselves (or family members from home) and do more trips or bring people to visit us. Can't let it be too much of a habit though...people take advantage!

Where we live is a pretty expensive spot coz it is so close to town, but you do pay less that what we pay in rent. We wanted a bigger place, and we are on the ground level so we have an outdoor area on our apartment which is pretty hard to get. We get to BBQ, so keeping that outdoor Aussie lifestyle, and because DH and I are pretty homely, we don't always like going out where everyone else is sitting, swimming etc. It kinda feels like you have people in your backyard ALL the time, which can be great on some days but not so great on others.

There is also loads of 'Singapore Red Tape' so the simplest things to us always end up such hard work to the Singaporeans. They never step outside the square or do anything to break the rules, even if it wouldn't hurt anyone (like the time I wanted a ****tail glass for my lemonade - that was a 'no can do'). This can be very very frustrating!

BUT...it's good money, good experience and a life change that you should probably snap up if you get the opportunity. You'd be silly not to really.

DP just had a read of all your posts Julia (easier than me re-reading what i've already read ;)) ... Thanks heaps Julia :D

Hey my pleasure, if there is anything else you want to know, just ask :)

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... thought i'd give a bumpity bump to see if there is anyone else with comments :D

spoke with DP last night he is actually feeling more stronger about the idea of moving to Singapore i think also cause his Singaporean co-worker he works with in Melb put in his resignation yesterday as he decided to go back to Singapore (with his Singaporean wife) and he suggested to my DP again about working there in Singapore. He doesn't leave his job in Melb until i think the end of October so i told DP to get some more info from him ;)

Yules his co-worker said the same thing as you that there isn't much to do there other than going out to eat and shop, and that it's incredibily humid (us coming from icy freezing weather i don't think we care about that much, lol) but we both feel we could take that chance for the experience of living there providing it doesn't set us back financially and would look at being there for only 2years which we know 2years goes fast ... Will keep you posted Yule)

Yes keep me posted....we will soon be outa here! 2 years does go fast and you're right....if it doesn't set you back, only benefits you financially, you'd be daft not to go for it. I know we did the right thing financially :)