4 ms·

why?

cinquemb 8y ago
Over regulated daily life (though very well run) combined with being very culturally bland automaton like outside of very few pockets, mixed with Israeli militarism applied to its own people, just doesn't feel very welcoming compared to say Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia. Some of my wife's family has lived there and Indonesia for a while, and it is agreed that out of all the places in SE asia, it is a good place to make money and potentially for schooling when young, they plan on moving when retiring.
- ponyfleisch 8y ago
  Fair enough, but every city in malaysia feels like post apocalyptic singapore, infrastructure wise. Indonesia - not much quality of life overall.
  - cinquemb 8y ago
    Well I live in South Jakarta, in a pretty nice area in a 2br apt with alot of amenities that I would never want to pay for in the US or SG, so I'm biased because I probably have a very high quality of life compared to say most Indonesians (or even what I had compared to living in Boston paying the same for a room in an apt with 3 other grown men), but Indonesian's seem to be much more welcoming/laid back/hospitiable than Singaporean's (at least to me as a Black American). Plenty to complain about here (as anywhere), but progress is being made here without whole jack boot feel to it, albeit at a slower pace.
    - ponyfleisch 8y ago
      Do you have to go to an office daily? How convenient is that? Do you go out socially a lot? How are the restaurants and bars? Jakarta is the city in SEA i know the least. I spent 3 days there as a cheap backpacker 10 years ago. I remember spending a substantial amount of time in traffic.
      - cinquemb 8y ago
        No I worked remote for companies in the US, which was my main willingness to live in SE asia in the first place because salaries here are crap. Some places are better than others, if you lived in SCBD or Pondok Indah (where I am), and your office is close, it kind of feels like some parts of tokyo, but with a little more green space. Traffic is pretty crap though (morning and eveing when people are coming from work), but go-jek or grab biking doesn't make it too bad. Pollution is still bad during the work week, and if you do it alot best to get one of those face masks people tend to wear a lot in Asia anyways. MRT is coming online soon (alot of test runs on the tracks now), so that will make it alot easier geting around esp from south to central jkt. Plenty of restaurants, bars, and clubs, I manage to have a good time when I out (pretty introverted though, so I tend to not go a lot in general, maybe a couple of times every month, but I tend to order food via gojek at least like every other day), though I try to avoid places that allow smoking indoors. I also tend to avoid eating any street food unless I have something I can take that my stomach can handle (but I'm like that in the US as well ha). It's also nice to be able to take a quick flight to some of the Islands and relax (Bali is ok, but super crowded with tourists compared to other places). Never was really interested in backpacking unless it was hiking in mountains purely, so I don't really know what would appeal to that perspective.
        ponyfleisch 8y ago
        > No I worked remote for companies in the US, which was my main willingness to live in SE asia in the first place because salaries here are crap. You can make decent money in Singapore as an expat. But the range of salaries i've seen here is quite a bit larger than in most of the west. As for the rest of your comment - interesting. Thank you for taking the time to write that up. I am no longer a backpacker and i travel and look at places differently nowadays. I have to check out Jakarta again. I live in Singapore currently, have been here since 2013. There are things that i miss from my home country (Switzerland), but overall life here is good.
        cinquemb 8y ago
        > But the range of salaries i've seen here is quite a bit larger than in most of the west. I noticed this as well, do you have a college degree? I've noticed companies over here place even more emphasis on having such (even despite paying less than in the US, at least regarding work relating to writing software). > I live in Singapore currently, have been here since 2013. There are things that i miss from my home country (Switzerland), but overall life here is good. Do you go back and visit fairly often? I found that friend's and family were more likely to want to come to me or meet me somewhere outside than the US so I haven't really found the urge to go back to at least visit.
  - inferiorhuman 8y ago
    Yeah but Singapore is so bland they fucking banned the song 25 or 6 to 4.
- inferiorhuman 8y ago
  > Some of my wife's family has lived there and Indonesia for a while, and it is agreed that out of all the places in SE asia, it is a good place to make money and potentially for schooling when young, they plan on moving when retiring. Not having to shoulder the cost of an aging population would work very well for SG.
  - cinquemb 8y ago
    You should see their subways when they are littered with signs for people to get pregnant. "Pool of citizens aged 65 and older grew to 14.4% this year, from 9.4% in 2007, as lifespans increase and births stay low"[0] [0] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/spore-ageing-at-faster-pace-than-a-decade-ago https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/spore-ageing-at-faste...
    - philliphaydon 8y ago
      I've never ever seen signs in the MRT about anything to do with pregnancy... (been here 7 years, catch the MRT to work every day, yellow and green lines)
      - cinquemb 8y ago
        This was sometime between Feb 27 and early march 2017 passing through some station on coming from somerset station on the red line, coming off one of the trains and on the walking tram, there was a huge billboard for it.
        philliphaydon 8y ago
        Ah I never get the red line. It’s always so crowded :)
      - kreeWall 8y ago
        Singapore once aired a commercial during their National Day Parade about making babies, sponsored by mentos obviously. [1] [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jxU89x78ac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jxU89x78ac

why?

Over regulated daily life (though very well run) combined with being very culturally bland automaton like outside of very few pockets, mixed with Israeli militarism applied to its own people, just doesn't feel very welcoming compared to say Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia. Some of my wife's family has lived there and Indonesia for a while, and it is agreed that out of all the places in SE asia, it is a good place to make money and potentially for schooling when young, they plan on moving when retiring.

ponyfleisch 8y ago
Fair enough, but every city in malaysia feels like post apocalyptic singapore, infrastructure wise. Indonesia - not much quality of life overall.
- cinquemb 8y ago
  Well I live in South Jakarta, in a pretty nice area in a 2br apt with alot of amenities that I would never want to pay for in the US or SG, so I'm biased because I probably have a very high quality of life compared to say most Indonesians (or even what I had compared to living in Boston paying the same for a room in an apt with 3 other grown men), but Indonesian's seem to be much more welcoming/laid back/hospitiable than Singaporean's (at least to me as a Black American). Plenty to complain about here (as anywhere), but progress is being made here without whole jack boot feel to it, albeit at a slower pace.
  - ponyfleisch 8y ago
    Do you have to go to an office daily? How convenient is that? Do you go out socially a lot? How are the restaurants and bars? Jakarta is the city in SEA i know the least. I spent 3 days there as a cheap backpacker 10 years ago. I remember spending a substantial amount of time in traffic.
    - cinquemb 8y ago
      No I worked remote for companies in the US, which was my main willingness to live in SE asia in the first place because salaries here are crap. Some places are better than others, if you lived in SCBD or Pondok Indah (where I am), and your office is close, it kind of feels like some parts of tokyo, but with a little more green space. Traffic is pretty crap though (morning and eveing when people are coming from work), but go-jek or grab biking doesn't make it too bad. Pollution is still bad during the work week, and if you do it alot best to get one of those face masks people tend to wear a lot in Asia anyways. MRT is coming online soon (alot of test runs on the tracks now), so that will make it alot easier geting around esp from south to central jkt. Plenty of restaurants, bars, and clubs, I manage to have a good time when I out (pretty introverted though, so I tend to not go a lot in general, maybe a couple of times every month, but I tend to order food via gojek at least like every other day), though I try to avoid places that allow smoking indoors. I also tend to avoid eating any street food unless I have something I can take that my stomach can handle (but I'm like that in the US as well ha). It's also nice to be able to take a quick flight to some of the Islands and relax (Bali is ok, but super crowded with tourists compared to other places). Never was really interested in backpacking unless it was hiking in mountains purely, so I don't really know what would appeal to that perspective.
      - ponyfleisch 8y ago
        > No I worked remote for companies in the US, which was my main willingness to live in SE asia in the first place because salaries here are crap. You can make decent money in Singapore as an expat. But the range of salaries i've seen here is quite a bit larger than in most of the west. As for the rest of your comment - interesting. Thank you for taking the time to write that up. I am no longer a backpacker and i travel and look at places differently nowadays. I have to check out Jakarta again. I live in Singapore currently, have been here since 2013. There are things that i miss from my home country (Switzerland), but overall life here is good.
        cinquemb 8y ago
        > But the range of salaries i've seen here is quite a bit larger than in most of the west. I noticed this as well, do you have a college degree? I've noticed companies over here place even more emphasis on having such (even despite paying less than in the US, at least regarding work relating to writing software). > I live in Singapore currently, have been here since 2013. There are things that i miss from my home country (Switzerland), but overall life here is good. Do you go back and visit fairly often? I found that friend's and family were more likely to want to come to me or meet me somewhere outside than the US so I haven't really found the urge to go back to at least visit.
- inferiorhuman 8y ago
  Yeah but Singapore is so bland they fucking banned the song 25 or 6 to 4.
inferiorhuman 8y ago
> Some of my wife's family has lived there and Indonesia for a while, and it is agreed that out of all the places in SE asia, it is a good place to make money and potentially for schooling when young, they plan on moving when retiring. Not having to shoulder the cost of an aging population would work very well for SG.
- cinquemb 8y ago
  You should see their subways when they are littered with signs for people to get pregnant. "Pool of citizens aged 65 and older grew to 14.4% this year, from 9.4% in 2007, as lifespans increase and births stay low"[0] [0] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/spore-ageing-at-faster-pace-than-a-decade-ago https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/spore-ageing-at-faste...
  - philliphaydon 8y ago
    I've never ever seen signs in the MRT about anything to do with pregnancy... (been here 7 years, catch the MRT to work every day, yellow and green lines)
    - cinquemb 8y ago
      This was sometime between Feb 27 and early march 2017 passing through some station on coming from somerset station on the red line, coming off one of the trains and on the walking tram, there was a huge billboard for it.
      - philliphaydon 8y ago
        Ah I never get the red line. It’s always so crowded :)
    - kreeWall 8y ago
      Singapore once aired a commercial during their National Day Parade about making babies, sponsored by mentos obviously. [1] [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jxU89x78ac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jxU89x78ac