Finally.....SG is the real #1

[JetFixation]

For NYC (and most locations, even HK!) you don't have to live in Manhattan. You can live farther out in Brooklyn or Queens in a decent place and save a ton of money. In Singapore, you have no choices. condos in Woodlands will still cost you what that place in Manhattan you found costs.

Ok yes that is true.
I actually do know someone who relocated his whole family to JB a couple of years back. When I first heard about it, it came as quite a shock. But seems like he made a good choice riding the property boom there.

[Brah]

food on average used to cost me 5000yen per meal, service was amazing

I had excellent meals for < 2500, and usually below 1500 yen in the Kasumigaseki area which is the govt district in central Tokyo.

You can get damn good Japanese food in the range of approx 800-1200 yen (e.g. soba noodles + a side dish + green tea) in most places. The quality is incomparably better than what you'd get in Singapore.

I paid $12 for a small dollop of greasy, salty pig slop..er I mean ..'Thai food' at an eatery near Dhoby Ghaut today for lunch. I am still recovering...

+1

And raja doesn't seem to know how to pick his restaurants. I've been on dates that didn't cost Y5,000, and I'm no cheapskate.

[Brah]

But I looked up the rentals in Manhattan, not Upper East / West but around Soho, Greenwich, and the prices there are around 2700+ USD for a 50 sqm apartment which seams a lot worse.

But it is still NY, which can't even be compared with here on any number of levels.

You don't go to NY for the apartments, you go there to live there. And then you move on once if ever it gets out of your system.

[rajagainstthemachine]

Sorry for the wrong information regaring cost of food in Tokyo, I added another zero
I looked back at my old travel receipts to be sure and my average spending on meals per day below 1500 yen.

[Brah]

Y1500 per meal is not so bad, Y5000 per meal is more than necessary unless an occasion, as you say the zero thing, I think Y1500 per day is a bit tough, unless you are cooking at home.

[rajagainstthemachine]

I was spending on average 800 Y ~ 1200 per meal, but of course I was there on work and I was getting a daily allowance of 75USD per day so the idea was to stay within that limits which is easily possible.
The best thing there was one could smoke in Macdonalds

[Brah]

This just in: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26546169

"And at dinners with our Singaporean friends who did not seem to moan anymore than the rest of us - sure they are battling soaring property prices and the tedium of the corporate ladder..."

[rajagainstthemachine]

whats up with portions here ? why are all the portions so small in size? I'm not saying I eat a lot but, most times its highly inadequate.
I just got back from Sydney and was happy to see a good sized portion being served up in almost every meal I ate there.

[zzm9980]

whats up with portions here ? why are all the portions so small in size? I'm not saying I eat a lot but, most times its highly inadequate.
I just got back from Sydney and was happy to see a good sized portion being served up in almost every meal I ate there.

Ha! Nothing drives me more nuts than those 'designer' hamburger (handburge,etc) that serve you these burgers loaded with ingriedients that are shaped more like cans of soda because they're so small but stacked with so much filler.

When I first arrived as an American I thought "Ah, so this is how much (little) you should eat in order to not be fat like us Americans!" and was happy about it. Then I realized it's just related to cost.

[triste]

whats up with portions here ? why are all the portions so small in size? I'm not saying I eat a lot but, most times its highly inadequate.
I just got back from Sydney and was happy to see a good sized portion being served up in almost every meal I ate there.

I feel like this is even worse in the supermarket. I spend so much money on groceries here. For example, packs of chicken serve one meal here, compared to back home where I can get a pack with enough for multiple meals for the same price. I bought asparagus the other day. Teeny tiny stalks enough for one meal. Back home they would be nice thick stalks for several meals worth, and for a fraction of the price. I don't even want to talk about tomatoes. So depressing.

[rajagainstthemachine]

Stop buying veggies and fruits from supermarkets here, its just not worth it! I've been shopping in wet markets. You'll find 20$ will get you a lot of veggies there as opposed to buying in cold storage say.
the same holds for meat and fish too.
the supermarkets here are really a big big rip off.

[rajagainstthemachine]

Breakfast @ T3 airport : 12$ for a donut, croissant latte from dunkin donuts lol
latte tastes like hot water, at least provide some quality ?

[Sergei82]

Breakfast @ T3 airport : 12$ for a donut, croissant latte from dunkin donuts lol
latte tastes like hot water, at least provide some quality ?

+1 for airport, but you don't it there often, do you?

Besides, who's gonna pay for all these government increasing subsidies and grants? You and me eating 12$ charity doughnut.

[Wd40]

I dont know, but for fruit and vegetables, I found Singapore better than Sydney. We shopped in Woolworths and Coles and found not only the choice of fruits is so less there, it more expensive than here. Here you get like 3 avacados for like $3-4. There a single avacado is $3 and I thought avacado grow in Australia Regarding choice, the bananas there are tasteless. Here you get nice Philippines bananas that taste awesome.


http://industry.avocado.org.au/RetailPricing.aspx

http://www.fairprice.com.sg/webapp/wcs/ ... gory=10064

Its also much more convenient to shop here, the fairpice across my house is open 24hrs and in Sydney you will need to hit to Woolworths near the townhall if you need to shop at like after 7PM(Unless its a Thursday, market day)

[zzm9980]

I dont know, but for fruit and vegetables, I found Singapore better than Sydney. We shopped in Woolworths and Coles and found not only the choice of fruits is so less there, it more expensive than here. Here you get like 3 avacados for like $3-4. There a single avacado is $3 and I thought avacado grow in Australia

You can get avocados at all different prices based on type and organic or not. Are you sure you're comparing avocados to avocados? (ha pun).