40 Day countdown!

[CaptainBullus]

In 40 days time we will be using our one-way tickets to Singapore, the moving company are coming to pack up our house next week. What essentials do you recommend we buy here in Manchester and ship that are expensive/hard to get in Singapore? So far our list runs to: Coffee, (Yorkshire) tea bags, sun cream, tampons, hair products and marmite! Thanks!

[the lynx]

In 40 days time we will be using our one-way tickets to Singapore, the moving company are coming to pack up our house next week. What essentials do you recommend we buy here in Manchester and ship that are expensive/hard to get in Singapore? So far our list runs to: Coffee, (Yorkshire) tea bags, sun cream, tampons, hair products and marmite! Thanks!

I'm surprised that you considered tampons and sun cream to be rare in Singapore. Unless you have specific brands that you cannot live without.

Wait you mean sun-tanning cream or sunblock cream?

[rajagainstthemachine]

1.cigs and booze - you cant bring your cigs into Singapore so you are stuffed on that front, booze bring all your best wines and spirits, also be prepared to pay duty as well.

2. bring some extra pairs of shoes if you have rather large feet it is rather difficult to find your sizes here

[nakatago]

2. bring some extra pairs of shoes if you have rather large feet it is rather difficult to find your sizes here

Trousers/pants, shirts, bras (for women, of course)...for a country that has a high foreigner population, they only seem to market skinny Asian sizes.

Enough toiletries and over the counter medicine to tide you over until you find local brands that will agree with you.

There's also a thread that already discussed these things, albeit for a more general audience; use the search feature to find it.

[ecureilx]

[.

Wait you mean sun-tanning cream or sunblock cream?

being a tropical country need loads of Sun tan cream right ?

one of the idiotic excuse I heard, (if at all true) as a reason for a car crash was the driver got distracted by a "tropical dressed" ang moh woman jogging ....

oh, don't forget summer clothes ... not that you need it much since almost every place is air conditioned ... :p

[sundaymorningstaple]

In fact, bring a cardigan or two as it is bloody cold in the shopping malls. They set all the aircons to the absolute minimum. Orchard road is, on average, almost 3 degrees cooler than the rest of Singapore and it's all concrete! Go Figure!

[Saint]

A sense of humour otherwise you'll never survive here!

[Hannieroo]

Tampons aren't the same here.

Bring facial moisturizer, the brands are different here and frequently contain whitening not SPF. Sunblock is everywhere, fake tan is not. Bring cards, they cost twice as much and the selection and quality is poor. Particularly kids birthday cards. Bring bras if you are over a c cup, you can get but marks us double the price, swimwear too. If you have larger than a 6 shoe buy sandals etc, the cut off here is a euro 40 in most places and even then not huge stock. I spent £40 on m&s flip flops.

All hair products are here apart from stuff you only buy in boots and Paul Mitchell.

Bedding, bring enough. Asian beds are slightly smaller so your stuff will fit here but not vice versa. Choice is poor and quality is rare and very expensive. Same with towels.

Antihistamine cream. Bites and stings happen and hydrocortisone is hard to find unless at the gp.

[Hannieroo]

Foundation/bb cream unless you are very pale or very tanned. The super expensive brands stock a more medium tone but they are pricier here. I've has to buy two before now and mix them.

[JR8]

In 40 days time we will be using our one-way tickets to Singapore, the moving company are coming to pack up our house next week. What essentials do you recommend we buy here in Manchester and ship that are expensive/hard to get in Singapore? So far our list runs to: Coffee, (Yorkshire) tea bags, sun cream, tampons, hair products and marmite! Thanks!

It's so hot, you might drink less hot drinks. But if you like tea bring buckets of M+s 1-cup tea-bags. You can get them here, but anything from M+s is 2-3* the px at home.

Bring as much anti-antiperspirant as you can pack in your freight. 30p from a discount shop back home, £1.5-£2 here. Wedge (upright) 24-30 in a shoe-box. That's £50 saved, and maybe a years worth. I'm using the very last few from just such a tactic, and now ponder if I should have brought more.

Sun cream. The weird thing, is you don't use it when you live here. Same same with insect or mosquito stuff.

Tampons - Well, hmmm

Marmite. They probably have it here. They certainly have vegemite.

Look for another topic titled 'What to bring' or similar...

[rajagainstthemachine]

Medicine, some if them are hard to get here over the counter *cough cough*

[x9200]

Deo-sticks for women if you use them.

[JR8]

Deo-sticks for women if you use them.

Ooh, what are they?

[x9200]

Deo-sticks for women if you use them.

Ooh, what are they?

Virtually impossible to find in Singapore. For men - no problem.

[CaptainBullus]

In 40 days time we will be using our one-way tickets to Singapore, the moving company are coming to pack up our house next week. What essentials do you recommend we buy here in Manchester and ship that are expensive/hard to get in Singapore? So far our list runs to: Coffee, (Yorkshire) tea bags, sun cream, tampons, hair products and marmite! Thanks!

I'm surprised that you considered tampons and sun cream to be rare in Singapore. Unless you have specific brands that you cannot live without.

Wait you mean sun-tanning cream or sunblock cream?

Not hard to get, but expensive. we can buy sunscreen here for about 1/5 of the price and same for tampons.