My wife grew up in Singapore till she came to the UK for uni. We go there regularly and I love the place. Perfect climate, amazing food and culture, clean, friendly, safe, loads to do and see. Great for holidays.
However, living and working there would be a different matter. I could do it temporarily, but long term no way, for a few reasons...
One is the working culture. There is no such thing as work-life balance. It's a live-to-work place. Most Singaporeans I know will work 10 hour + days and also work Saturdays. You generally don't go home if your boss is still there, even if that means you're twiddling your thumbs/surfing the net and not actually doing anything. Fine if you love your job and/or don't really have anything else you want to spend a lot of time on, but I couldn't hack it.
Another is the living. As the place is so crowded and property so expensive, your reward for that crazy hard work is to live in a high-rise apartment block. There are houses but you can't afford one. You can forget the British idea of a house with land - your own space, garden, garage, shed etc etc. If living in an apartment is OK for you then fine. For me long term it's not. I need a shed damnit!
Finally if you're a petrolhead - forget it and find a new hobby (not that you'll have time for a hobby anyway
). Cars are extortionately expensive due to the COE (tax basically) - 2-3 times the UK price for a new car. The COE lasting only 10 years effectively means there are no cars older than 10 years because nobody in their right mind buys COE again for an old car, so they all get exported abroad (making Singapore the second largest exporter of used cars or something crazy like that). So there is no such thing as a cheap old performance car, for example. You wouldn't have anywhere to enjoy one anyway, so it's all academic . Imagine living in London but everything outside the M25 doesn't exist - that's Singapore. Best you can do is pop to Malaysia for a quick burn or a road trip. In your Hyundai. Even if you could get a nice car and somewhere fun to drive, you don't have a garage for tinkering anyway - see above. Best just forget it .
Those are the main reasons I'm out for the long term - I don't fancy burning out by 50 and having nothing to show for it. But you should absolutely 100% take this opportunity and go. You might love it, and even if you don't want to stay permanently and move on after a year or two, you'll still have no regrets and be a better person for the experience and personal development.
Do it!
However, living and working there would be a different matter. I could do it temporarily, but long term no way, for a few reasons...
One is the working culture. There is no such thing as work-life balance. It's a live-to-work place. Most Singaporeans I know will work 10 hour + days and also work Saturdays. You generally don't go home if your boss is still there, even if that means you're twiddling your thumbs/surfing the net and not actually doing anything. Fine if you love your job and/or don't really have anything else you want to spend a lot of time on, but I couldn't hack it.
Another is the living. As the place is so crowded and property so expensive, your reward for that crazy hard work is to live in a high-rise apartment block. There are houses but you can't afford one. You can forget the British idea of a house with land - your own space, garden, garage, shed etc etc. If living in an apartment is OK for you then fine. For me long term it's not. I need a shed damnit!
Finally if you're a petrolhead - forget it and find a new hobby (not that you'll have time for a hobby anyway
). Cars are extortionately expensive due to the COE (tax basically) - 2-3 times the UK price for a new car. The COE lasting only 10 years effectively means there are no cars older than 10 years because nobody in their right mind buys COE again for an old car, so they all get exported abroad (making Singapore the second largest exporter of used cars or something crazy like that). So there is no such thing as a cheap old performance car, for example. You wouldn't have anywhere to enjoy one anyway, so it's all academic . Imagine living in London but everything outside the M25 doesn't exist - that's Singapore. Best you can do is pop to Malaysia for a quick burn or a road trip. In your Hyundai. Even if you could get a nice car and somewhere fun to drive, you don't have a garage for tinkering anyway - see above. Best just forget it .Those are the main reasons I'm out for the long term - I don't fancy burning out by 50 and having nothing to show for it. But you should absolutely 100% take this opportunity and go. You might love it, and even if you don't want to stay permanently and move on after a year or two, you'll still have no regrets and be a better person for the experience and personal development.
Do it!
