Originally Posted by Dandy

My observations as a regular visitor who has never lived there. Just to state my bias up front, I live in Tokyo. Singapore is... Clean and well presented, and not just when compared to other Asian cities such as Taipei or Seoul. The bits a visitor like myself gets to see are efficient. Very easy for monoglot ex-pats to live in, as everybody speaks some degree of English and like HK everybody seems to have a maid. Cars and rent expensive. On the other hand it's tiny - a city state rather than a country. However good the connections are international travel is onerous compared to being able to hop on a domestic plane or train. If you come from a temperate climate you may miss having real seasons - always hot and humid in Sing. Size means it could rapidly become socially claustrophobic. I feel it lacks buzz, pizazz. Probably very comfortable to live for a year or so especially as a family but ultimately boring and a bit restrictive is my reading of it; many of my friends or colleagues who have lived there would agree.

HOWEVER the fact that you can communicate is huge: I know people who lived in Tokyo and never felt settled because they didn't speak adequate Japanese. They went to Singapore and love the fact that they can operate at something like 100% social capacity instead of being restricted by linguistic problems. So that's something to really think about carefully.

In summary, if you've never worked in Asia before Singapore is the gentlest introduction you can get and its faults are unlikely to concern most ex-pats.

Originally Posted by Seasider

......and you're in the ME, so used to heat. It's not as hot in Sg (usually around 30C) but the humidity is a bugger. Be prepared to sweat.

Originally Posted by Seasider

Cheers Djoerk, I'm pretty good at talking cock, eh?