What is your Singapore experience

[malcontent]

I will kick this off and see where it goes…

The first time I arrived in Singapore, I arrived on a Northwest (now Delta) Airlines flight via Tokyo. It was an open ended ticket which could be used to return anytime within 6 months, but never was. I still remember the wall of humidity that hit me, felt like it could be cut with a knife. Then getting into a Taxi and hearing this ding-dong, ding-dong quite often whenever the driver was speeding. It was the first international flight and the first taxi ride of my life. That night as I laid awake from the jet lag, I remember the purr of the split air conditioner in my room — this was also something new to me, only central air or window units existed where I was from. The very next day I was down at the shop having a plate of chicken rice and washing it down with some barley water. Having arrived at the age of 24 and living like a local right (and living with locals) from the start had a major impact on how I see the world, and how I see Singapore. Life was not hard, but it was highly constrained; it required a lot of flexibility and adaptability, especially living in a rented a room in an HDB. I remember looking out the window and seeing the orange tiles on the rooftops, thinking to myself, this is a long way from home. Also, the weirdest thing — sometimes I would get this flash realization about being on the other side of the planet… it would kind mess with my mind. This only happened once in a while during my initial years. I still remember buying prepaid calling cards and going down to use the pay phone at the void deck… it wasn’t cheap, but it sure was nice to be able to make a call. I still remember one time calling up my friend on the weekend, someone else answered his phone and told me, he’s at Captain Lou’s (a popular bar in my hometown), go down there and meet him! I told the person, sure, I will! Of course they had no idea I wasn’t even in the same hemisphere.

[PNGMK]

I grew up overseas so moving to Singapore (with just a suitcase) wasn't a shock.

What I'm finding hard is imagining how to leave now.

[malcontent]

I grew up overseas so moving to Singapore (with just a suitcase) wasn't a shock.

What I'm finding hard is imagining how to leave now.

People talk about culture shock and reverse culture shock. I never had culture shock when I moved to Singapore (at least not that I was aware of). I can think of a few reasons:

1. I was relatively young at the time
2. Spent 4 years with a local who prepped me
3. Singapore is Asia for beginners
4. Some natural shared traits w/ locals
5. Tend to be accepting of cultural differences

I just remember a surreal feeling being on this one-way flight by myself to the other side of the planet with no job, no immigration status and little money. It was a leap, but she was worth it.

As far as reverse culture shock goes, I haven’t really experienced that either. A couple of reasons I can think of:

1. Frequent connections to the U.S. thru my job
2. Frequent trips to the U.S. (work/personal)
3. Close family ties in the U.S.
4. Cultural flexibility in general

One thing that was an adjustment: yielding for pedestrians is the polar opposite of Asia. I have gotten some “wild reactions” from pedestrians here when I almost hit them.

The other big adjustment is taxes, adding my wife into the mix was a serious undertaking. I imagine you’ll face some issues there as well.

[smoulder]

Here goes.

I was just a month into a new (IT) job in Bangalore when they told me that I was to travel to Singapore on a project. So about a little over a month later and after celebrating my 33rd birthday, I found myself on my first international flight. It was supposed to be a 3 month long project.

I flew first from Bangalore to Chennai, met in transit, my team mate who was to join me for the project. From there we boarded a red eye flight to Singapore... Jet Airways which was then India's second largest private airline.

I barely slept and felt like shit as I got through immigration. So before we arrived in Singapore, my colleague and I planned to stay about a week in Hotel 81 at Geylang of all places! We were supposed to spend that week searching places to stay with the help of my colleagues friend. I had read the reviews about Geylang being the red light area but I thought "I'm from India - this is not going shock me at all"! I didn't tell my colleague what I read.... He found out later that evening when he saw lines of girls in short skirts waiting at the street corners

So as I got out of the airport, my first experience was a rather beaten up old Toyota Crown taxi driven by an uncle reeking of rice wine. When we reached the hotel, I was shocked at how tiny the room turned out to be. That and the fact that there was an ang Mo guest at the reception bringing in a hooker.... Freaked out my colleague, a bit of a mama's boy. So he decided he was going to try to move out that day if he could.

I recall stepping out of the hotel at lunch time and the back alleys and humidity reminded me of certain parts of Mumbai where I had grown up. Add to that - a couple of Indian made Bajaj motorcycles!

As we had our lunch, my colleagues friend suggested some place in Tiong Bahru which was renting common rooms. We went there and had a look. Satisfied, we decided to move that evening!

I stayed there for about a month before I found a studio apartment at Beach road. The apartment itself was nothing to shout about - I stayed there for about 3 months... But the surrounding area was fantastic. I Ioved the experience. I then moved to Serangoon, near Nex. Another common room which was much nearer to work.

So on the work front, while my boss somehow initially thought he was sending me to Singapore for just 3 months to install the servers for the project and then move on to another project, the PM of the project had other ideas. He wanted me onsite to do server support and maintenance on the test servers and wanted me to help cut over the website as well. So my 3 month project in effect was extended to 12 months.

Before I moved to Singapore and in fact before I had even begun working at that company, I had begun interviewing with an American MNC. I had my heart set on joining them. But since they took forever to get back on the hiring. So I ended up at this company and in Singapore. And then, after I had started at my new job, they called me for another interview in Bangalore. It went well but then another long wait. I was in Singapore by then. They scheduled yet another interview. I was still keen on joining the other place. At that point, I wasn't really looking at Singapore as a place I'd want to spend a lot of time in. So then this American MNC scheduled another interview when I was in Beach Road. They were to call me in the evening after work. Somehow I messed up the time and I was just getting out of the train when they called. So at the instant when I was to record my name, the train announcement blared "Nicoll Highway"! And that's how the system recorded my name and announced my entry. I quickly walked over the over bridge from the mrt towards Shaw Centre which is where I sat in a slightly quieter but quite public place taking the interview. So even though the interview went alright, I think they were put off by the time management.


I think I didn't really have too much inclination to stay here after my project ended until I met my wife (then girlfriend) ... That's when I suddenly started searching for opportunities in Singapore, within my company at first. That didn't really yield much - there was a high chance of being moved elsewhere, and I hadn't a clue where it would be. Eventually I did manage to switch jobs just a month before my project was ending - my company had to quickly arrange to fly over someone to help with the infra cut over.

So until that point, I was surviving on a shitty prepaid sim which was barely adequate.

I don't recall ever struggling to adapt. Food, weather, public transport, people... Seemed easy for me to adapt to. Perhaps the only area where I had a slight learning curve was working out attitudes of locals at work. I found them at times quite demanding. But eventually I have been able to blend in.... Some would say that I have become more demanding and edgy

[malcontent]

@smoulder it’s interesting that you came for the job and stayed for the girl. I came for the girl and stayed for the girl.

It seems Singapore has a lot to thank for the women luring men to stay!

[Strong Eagle]

I had a good friend who lived in Singapore and was the MD of a large managed services company. He wanted to quit and start a project management company. We talked about it and then each of us dumped 100K USD seed money into a new Singapore company, Catalyst Project Solutions Pte Ltd. I joined him in Singapore in 2004 and that was the start of a really fun business that both of us loved doing. I lived in a spare bedroom in his house for the first year; when the wife came over, we rented our own semi-D two doors down the street. He was PR, I got an Entrepass for the new business; three years later, I too, got my PR.

What can I say? My life in Singapore was a blast. I lived in a great 4 bedroom semi-D in Watten Estates. I was making a lot of money so cost of living wasn't an issue at all. We had offices on the 35th floor of the Stan Chart building that overlooked Boat Quay and all the ships in the strait. I was running million dollar projects and I met and worked with so many different people all over APAC. I flew business class all over Asia Pacific, even Australia and New Zealand. Besides a car, I had a very rare Honda Valkyrie motorcycle that was my daily driver. It made for easy and cheap parking in the CBD.

I loved all the places to eat. Nothing like a tall, cold Tiger beer at the hawker center in Holland Village. It was great fun exploring all the nooks and crannies in Singapore. I enjoyed going to concerts, museums, and all sorts of Singapore celebrations and entertainment. I toured five US nuclear aircraft carriers and tipped countless beers at the American Club and on Boat Quay. I found all the places in Singapore where a handyman needed to go to buy tools and supplies for projects. I golfed almost every Saturday on Batam Island, with lovely female caddies who played much better golf than I did.

I lived in Singapore for just a bit longer than 8 years before the global recession killed by business and forever changed the way MNC's bought ITC services in Asia. Towards the end, I grew very tired of some Singaporean habits that I first thought "quaint"... like the buttheads that insisted on getting onto the lift before anyone got off. I started using a rolling bag and made it a point of running over the feet and banging the legs of people trying to get on the lift or MRT before anyone got off. Some of my Singaporean coworkers (I was always a contractor) were overly bold in wanting to know how much the Ang Mo was making... but they were reasonably few and far in between.

I judge that island fever is real. Even though I traveled extensively throughout APAC, and kept an apartment in KL, I started to get tired of the sameness of the place... like they say... Disneyworld with the death penalty. Changi is, without question, my favorite airport in the world... in my last 18 months in Singapore, I flew in and out 89 times... I still have all my boarding passes.

On the whole, though, I loved my time in Singapore, and it has generated many stories to tell. My life is far richer for the experience, and while I don't think I would ever move back to Singapore, the cost notwithstanding, I am so thankful I got to work and live in Singapore. It was a life changing experience.

Here's my ride... Singapore taxi drivers used to roll down their window at a red light and ask, "How much you pay?" This pic was taken in my front yard... I loved the tropical setting and the birds... although the parrots could be noisy beggars. And especially the Koels... holy cow... five in the morning... uwu uwu uwu oooooo at 100 dB.

[malcontent]

@Strong Eagle - I think you came at the right time and struck while the iron was hot. Things have changed quite a lot since those days.

I was in Singapore around five months ago and met some expats at boat quay (which is making a comeback of sorts)… and yes, they are still enjoying the Singapore life, but it’s not quite what it was. Certainly the American Club has changed, better in some ways, worse in others… but going out of style nonetheless.

Although I’ve never felt “on top of the world” at any time during my life in Singapore, I look back with more fondness than I had in the moment. Selective memory perhaps. The “bad manners” you experienced is something you eventually become immune to, but IME it takes decades, not years!

[smoulder]

Mal, what do you think has actually changed that makes "then" more attractive than "now"? I'm very curious about this.

[malcontent]

Mal, what do you think has actually changed that makes "then" more attractive than "now"? I'm very curious about this.

It’s a great question. I think at the very core it has to do with opportunities and leverage.

The end of the golden age.

As the talent landscape in Singapore matured, there is less need for expats — they are no longer the tail wagging the dog. As this occurred, companies eliminated or reduced expat packages which had enabled that free-wheeling, spend-easy lifestyle. The aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis amplified the opportunities, allowing expats to scoop up properties at bargain prices without any ABSD, and buy cars at relatively low prices as COE trended at low to mid 5 figures.

From golden age to golden cage.

The focus today is less about the talent landscape and more about filling gaps in the local birth rate. The combination of high ABSD, COE and MOE fees for foreign students, together with little company support has made the financial calculus very different than in the past. There is immense pressure to localize just to survive financially. However, even if they decide to localize, there are no guarantees they will be welcomed. Many feel trapped, having paid an enormous price to stay in Singapore as a foreigner on the hope that they would eventually get PR or citizenship.

What do you think? Is my perception off target?

[Strong Eagle]

I agree with many of the points made by malcontent but perhaps from a different perspective. I judge that it was the global recession of 2007-2009 that fundamentally changed the expat landscape. Prior to this time, MNC's were mostly composed of relatively autonomous regions... NA, SA, EMEA, and APAC. While each region followed corporate policy and high level direction, each regional VP had mostly total control of the operations.

There was already a move afoot to further globalize the MNC's... I was the hated project manager for a globalization of managed services for a couple of large companies with a large presence in Asia. All the decisions were/are made out of headquarters in EMEA or NA, the only exception I know of being Stan Chart with world HQ in Singapore. The result was a displacement of mid level executives who no longer ran their own shop but followed the rules of the global operations office. My projects shut down two call centers in Singapore, in favor of Manila and KL, migrated servers from hundreds of locations into a handful of datacenters like Singtel, and replaced long time employees with contractors.

As malcontent noted, cost pressure was pushing companies into more local hires, and the globalization efforts post recession put that into high gear. Now that process was globally defined, the jobs were shipped where it was/is most cost effective. Phone support moved to the Philippines, KL, and India for all regions. Need lots of SAP programming done? Brazil is the place to go. Need quality testers? Romania. HR and finance functions outsourced to the Philippines, KL, India, Vietnam. Coupled with an increasingly competent local population, expats running the show have become obsolete. What expat workers remain are here because they've already been here a long time, have specialized skills, or they are on the fast track and are being rotated in as part of their global training.

I judge that the gahmen is acutely aware of this transition because every corporate function that is moved out of Singapore means fewer jobs for locals, and I bet if you could find the data, expat employees number far fewer than a decade ago. I would expect that the gahmen are doing whatever they can to ensure that MNC's keep as many functions as possible in Singapore.

I do know that when the recession ended, my Asia regional company was no longer competitive in the global market because I couldn't offer global solutions. The only thing available was to work for a global provider, filling in gaps in their own coverage. And the offered pay really sucked. I judge this happened to quite a few small businesses.

[malcontent]

@Strong Eagle that is a really interesting peek under the covers, which I am sure just about every company faced in some way shape or form. I worked for a Fortune 100 that had already done a lot of the outsourcing and restructuring you mentioned pre-2008, but still managed to grow headcount in Singapore. We definitely saw a culling of expats during the ‘08 crisis, just as we did during the ‘98 crisis.

However, at least at my employer, an expat resurgence always followed, just in a smaller wave each time. The COVID crisis seemed to be the final nail in the expat coffin because it proved much could be done without being physically present. Our offices truly went quiet for several years.

At first they tolerated WFH entirely, but then 1 day a week, 2 days and finally 3 days a week (now 5 days as of mid-2025) were made mandatory. By 2023-24, I was seeing another resurgent expat wave, still smaller than the last, but still happening.

My company has always been a bit of an outlier, sticking to tradition, tried and true, etc… but that is a big reason I stuck with them — it was almost an oasis of American culture, where even locals got infected and exuded the same. That office honestly became my home away from home, and I still miss it.

[Wd40]

I still cant believe the unbelievable ride I had in Singapore. To set the context, this was 2009 and I came from Bangalore I used to drive a car in Bangalore and I had a decent job and was just married and I was doing great, although it was the GFC and my current company in Bangalore wasnt doing great and I had decided to quit and while I was looking out I got a call from a head hunter for a role with Credit Suisse, Singapore in the IT dept, on vendor payroll salary offered was 6K. I spoke to a few people and foudn it wasnt great and since I wasnt serious about moving, I decided to negotiate, I asked for 7K and the headhunter wouldnt budge, we would speak everyday and he would try to convince me that 6k is great and I wouldnt accept it, this continued for a week and finally he asked me whether I would take it or leave and I left it. Then over the weekend I was a bit sad, because for a week I had researched about Singapore and the story grew on me and I was a bit disappointed that I had to pass it and I was wondering if I made a mistake. Then on the following Monday I was surprised to recieve call from the recruiter and he said he was willing to negotiate. He said "tell me any figure other than 7k and I told him 6.5K. I think I could have told him 6.8K and he would have agreed, but I was so much sold into this opportunity that I didnt even risk it. I was offered 6.5K and the same day I got the offer letter and within 1 day my visa was approved.

It is unbelieveable at this time how easily I got my visa approved, with just my passport copy and my education and experience documents. No effort at all. I decided to quit my Bangalore job and in 2 days I moved to Singapore. I expediated my joining date because there was a 6 month rule to qualify as a tax resident so I joined on 1st of Jul 2009.

Initially when I came to Singapore, I didnt really like it to be honest.
I didnt like the fact that cars are expensive and that we are supposed to use the MRT. To set the context, the only foreign country I had visited before Singapore was, the US. I had been to Dallas TX in 2003 for 2 weeks, and I absolutely loved it. The catch phrase "Everything is big in Texas" I remember seeing DMC Dodge, Hummer, Limousine in Texas and I was really awe struck. So my benchmark of a developed country was bigger cars, bigger houses etc. So naturally I was disappointed with Singapore, the fact that we had to rent shitty old HDBs, our houses back in India were better, we drove car in India and in Singapore we had to hear "tick tick tick, doors are closing" I was like where the hell have I come.

But, there was 1 thing clear, I knew I could save money in Singapore and that is the 1 thing that kept me in Singapore. My sole aim was to make enough money as long as I can so that I dont have to work another day. Over time, we liked Singapore especially for my wife and daughter for the safety it provided and the convience. Honestly Singapore is the perfect place for zombies and dumbos. It is like that book "Unix for dummies". I mean if you were born really dumb, then you would pray that you were born in Singapore. Life would be easy for you. But I was someone who liked adventures, I love riding and driving. I dont mind walking on the street with vehicles coming on both sides, no footpaths, no pedestrian crossing, taking risk. Thats is where I thrive, it makes me feel alive. I lived in Singapore for 16 years and every couple of years I applied for PR, not because I loved it, it was because my wife and daughter would find it easy to lead their life.

Unfortunately, I was never accepted for PR, which to this date I consider my biggest failure. I eventually convinced my wife that we have no choice but move back to India and the sooner we move the better it is.

It has been exactly 1 year since we moved back and honestly I dont miss Singapore. I have 1 bike and 2 cars and I am someone who doesnt mind the traffic, but I want to be at the steering wheel, rather than be like a zombie walking to the train station to catch a train and then like a zombie stand in the train. I am absolutely loving the fact that I am back in Bangalore and I feel rich here, relatively.

Singapore now feels like a dream, too good to be true. It was like a paradise, but something that is so perfect cant be real. It has to be a dream. Now life feels real and I feel alive, there are problems in India, but with the kind of money I have made in Singapore, just psychologically it makes feel God like. I feel I am above the rest of the people although I still lead a frugal life, the bike and cars I bought are used, although I could easily buy brand new cars, but I wont. The fun is in optimizing, I bought a 2010 Suzuki SX4, a 15 year old car for cheap and I absolutely love driving it. Something I could never do in Singapore.

[Strong Eagle]

Thank you for sharing. Your experience with PR demonstrates that expats really have no long term security in Singapore. You strike me as exactly the kind of person that would make Singapore a better place... steady, educated, a saver with a family, working in technology... and yet, you missed checking the right box on some bureaucrats scoring form, and you'll never know what it was. That aint right.

I'm glad you are enjoying your move back home. Me? Not so much... Houston, Texas is not where I want to be but most of my wife's large family lives in Houston so we're not going anywhere. So... I live with excessive heat and humidity, mosquitos, the smell of petrochemical plants, yahoos in jacked up pickup trucks speeding and weaving down the freeway, and enough ignorant MAGA assholes to make sure that we can't really have anything nice... everything is always a fight with morons. I might want to move to San Miguel, Mexico.

[Wd40]

Thank you for sharing. Your experience with PR demonstrates that expats really have no long term security in Singapore. You strike me as exactly the kind of person that would make Singapore a better place... steady, educated, a saver with a family, working in technology... and yet, you missed checking the right box on some bureaucrats scoring form, and you'll never know what it was. That aint right.

I'm glad you are enjoying your move back home. Me? Not so much... Houston, Texas is not where I want to be but most of my wife's large family lives in Houston so we're not going anywhere. So... I live with excessive heat and humidity, mosquitos, the smell of petrochemical plants, yahoos in jacked up pickup trucks speeding and weaving down the freeway, and enough ignorant MAGA assholes to make sure that we can't really have anything nice... everything is always a fight with morons. I might want to move to San Miguel, Mexico.

There are people in India who feel the same way, they were born and brought up in India and yet they dont identify with the majority and what is going on. So this feeling is not unique to with America. I am sure a lot of Singaporeans feel the same way about Singapore.

[malcontent]

But a word of caution: I have seen countless expat vlogs where people left “wherever it was they were from” motivated by this idea that somewhere else would be better. It often ends in disappointment, because they just find other things they don’t like in the new place. I think the bottom line is, no matter where you live, it can “be a blast” to live there depending on how you view/live it.

I will never forget one American expat I frequently had lunch with back in 2008, he looked at life as this big opportunity to experience all the wonderful things around him and truly got the most out his time in Singapore. It really made me realize how my perceptions were holding me back and I needed to change.

My username ‘malcontent’ is a reminder of that dimmer perspective that I had in my earlier years living in Singapore. I’m glad I snapped out of it.

Here on the West Coast of the USA, it’s a place people back where I’m from in the Midwest have a dim view of… but I have been enjoying the time here. One example: several times a week we go for a walk during sunset on this bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean… it’s a simple thing, but it’s not an experience you can have just anywhere in the world, and it costs nothing to do it.