Considering leaving Singapore

[Lisafuller]

I've read anonymous reports of female tourists being raped in Singapore when cutting through a park at dark. It still pays to be Vigilant. Having just spent three weeks hiking around PNG though and needing to be aware of where my stuff was all the time it's a relief to be back.

Definitely always important to be vigilant. Can't count how many times I've had to remind my daughter to keep the headphones off when walking alone at night, she is very aware of her surroundings, but I also fear that she takes the safety here for granted sometimes.

[Lisafuller]

I feel sad for these people, imagine taking the time and money to travel all the way here and then eating what you would back in your homes. Ridiculous.

That food is often worse than what they get home. I used to think they might be afraid that Asian food is always very spicy, hot, but I've seen so many such buffets with really mouth watering looking Asian food, not spicy at all (because they cater also for Western tourist what is here my problem) and people not event willing to try it? That is ridiculous. It is not like you must have some developed taste to enjoy fried noodles or pho.

Reminds me of a manager from the US who worked at our office in Singapore for 5 years and when I asked him what his favorite local food was, he said Tony Romas. I was taken aback — not that I didn’t love Tony Romas back in the day, but surely something local has got to ring your bell. One advantage I had is a local SO to help assimilate me. But when I think back, I was cooking Indian curry at my parent’s home in the US before I ever met her, and nobody ever introduced me to that… I still love a good curry to this day.

No way! I have to say, before Tony Roma's closed down, the standard had really dropped. Now, with the exception of Morganfields, there aren't very many chains that do ribs.

[Lisafuller]

That food is often worse than what they get home. I used to think they might be afraid that Asian food is always very spicy, hot, but I've seen so many such buffets with really mouth watering looking Asian food, not spicy at all (because they cater also for Western tourist what is here my problem) and people not event willing to try it? That is ridiculous. It is not like you must have some developed taste to enjoy fried noodles or pho.

Reminds me of a manager from the US who worked at our office in Singapore for 5 years and when I asked him what his favorite local food was, he said Tony Romas. I was taken aback — not that I didn’t love Tony Romas back in the day, but surely something local has got to ring your bell. One advantage I had is a local SO to help assimilate me. But when I think back, I was cooking Indian curry at my parent’s home in the US before I ever met her, and nobody ever introduced me to that… I still love a good curry to this day.

I think the first obvious immersion would be to go to a coffee shop and a friend of mine was asked once by his colleague (don't remember the nationality, a Westerner anyway) "do you really eat in places like that?" Perhaps some people have reservations. I could even understand, at first, but after a year or longer?

It's a culture shock for some. If you're coming from a western country, where a food court is an indoor, air-conditioned space with only chain vendors, a hot, outdoor set up may be jarring.

[Lisafuller]

@WD40, if you order small instead of regular at GYG and don’t order a set, they cost $8+.

You only have one life and one body, sometimes you gotta spend more for nutritious food instead of cheap unhealthy junk or pack lunch from home. IMO you can’t bring money to the grave and you gotta accept SG is expensive in general instead of comparing to everything you’re used to back home. Read this webcomic by thewokesalaryman on thriftiness.

I always rely either on what I can see on the trays and just point my finger, or point to the picture. Not too many stalls with just text menu I believe?

Sometimes the pictures are confusing to him since the meat/veg or gravy or plating isn’t what he’s used to lol. He prefers to read what is in the dish instead of relying on pics.

Can't agree more. While there is certainly merit in saving for a rainy day, you really can't take your money with you when you go, so there's no point spending your whole life miserable.

[Lisafuller]

My hubby enjoys all kinds of food but still isn’t used to hawker centres. I asked him why and he said it’s confusing & stressful to decide ASAP what to order when he reaches the front of the Q since the menu font is kinda small to read when you’re in line. The stall owners can be impatient too. *sweatdrop*

So usually he gets to taste local food at my parents when they cook or when I tabao food home.

I get semi-annoyed when he & my in-laws refer to “chicken rice” as “chicken and rice”. Nooo! They are different things.

Speaking of rice, I quite like the microwave-able rice in the US. I found it tasty & convenient but Uncle Roger’s ancestors will cry. My MIL watches his videos and told me not to be offended when she served us microwaved rice for a home cooked dinner. I didn’t mind, it was yummy.

What makes it even harder is that a lot of the names aren't very informative, or are phonetic spellings of Chinese/foreign words. Me of 20 years ago had no idea what the hell ban mian was.

[NYY1]

Thanks! Yes, I am just venting it out here. BTW, I read that MoM has released the foreign workers stats as of Dec 2022. I find it strange, the number of EP holders has not crossed the peak of Dec 2019, yet rents have skyrocketed. I wonder what has caused the housing shortage. In 2018, there were so many houses vacant, we were spoilt for choice.

https://www.mom.gov.sg/documents-and-pu ... ce-numbers

Likely construction delays, demand for more space, and young adults that want to live on their own. The first factor will ease with completions this year. Whether prices break remains to be seen.

[PNGMK]

I've read anonymous reports of female tourists being raped in Singapore when cutting through a park at dark. It still pays to be Vigilant. Having just spent three weeks hiking around PNG though and needing to be aware of where my stuff was all the time it's a relief to be back.

Definitely always important to be vigilant. Can't count how many times I've had to remind my daughter to keep the headphones off when walking alone at night, she is very aware of her surroundings, but I also fear that she takes the safety here for granted sometimes.

Yes. The younger ones are definitely at risk. "No crime doesn't mean low crime" actually means "We, the SPF, are too damn lazy to do any work so we trash your reports of crime and it helps out statistics".

[PNGMK]

Thanks! Yes, I am just venting it out here. BTW, I read that MoM has released the foreign workers stats as of Dec 2022. I find it strange, the number of EP holders has not crossed the peak of Dec 2019, yet rents have skyrocketed. I wonder what has caused the housing shortage. In 2018, there were so many houses vacant, we were spoilt for choice.

https://www.mom.gov.sg/documents-and-pu ... ce-numbers

Likely construction delays, demand for more space, and young adults that want to live on their own. The first factor will ease with completions this year. Whether prices break remains to be seen.

This topic needs a whole thread of it's own but as a condo owner in Singapore and both miffed and pleased by the high ABSD. Miffed because it makes selling harder but pleased because I suspect rents will stay high for quite awhile as it's harder for real estate investors to get into the market and rent out units.

[NYY1]

Thanks! Yes, I am just venting it out here. BTW, I read that MoM has released the foreign workers stats as of Dec 2022. I find it strange, the number of EP holders has not crossed the peak of Dec 2019, yet rents have skyrocketed. I wonder what has caused the housing shortage. In 2018, there were so many houses vacant, we were spoilt for choice.

https://www.mom.gov.sg/documents-and-pu ... ce-numbers

Likely construction delays, demand for more space, and young adults that want to live on their own. The first factor will ease with completions this year. Whether prices break remains to be seen.

This topic needs a whole thread of it's own but as a condo owner in Singapore and both miffed and pleased by the high ABSD. Miffed because it makes selling harder but pleased because I suspect rents will stay high for quite awhile as it's harder for real estate investors to get into the market and rent out units.

Yeah, I didn't list ABSD, but it is indirectly contributing to things. The other indirect factor is interest rates. I think because the housing market here is essentially financed by floating rate debt, the cost of goods sold has effectively gone up. Thus, the price of the good has to go up as well (no different from crude's impact on petrol). The fact that there is a large rental component to the market is probably why a lot of this can be passed on. Contrast that with other markets that are predominately fixed rate and owner occupied, a rise in rates usually hits (asset) prices (not 1:1 but to some degree). At least the increase in interest rates wouldn't be pushing up the rental rates. But here, the rise in interest rates makes it harder for people to purchase their desired home (mortgage payment going up) so they keep renting, which supports demand, irrespective of the higher price.

As for your miffed point, I think there is a delicate dance here where one needs to monetize when they can, not when they have to, and this probably means leaving a few dollars on the table. Due to both deprecation (either explicit by the lease or even effectively via the building in freehold) and financing constraints, the ability to trade can really freeze up as these properties age. This leads to a host of other issues, and at some point it's just not worth the hassle, even if you know eventually the enbloc will take you out. Take away the enbloc put and it gets even tricker.

[Wd40]

If there is shortage of rental units the easy way to fix it is to do away with the MOP for people who already own houses. Why make them wait for 5 years? Just release a lot of rental.supply into the market.

[PNGMK]

If there is shortage of rental units the easy way to fix it is to do away with the MOP for people who already own houses. Why make them wait for 5 years? Just release a lot of rental.supply into the market.

HDB is not for speculation (as it is heavily subsidized by the gahmen). MOP restricts that.

[smoulder]

If there is shortage of rental units the easy way to fix it is to do away with the MOP for people who already own houses. Why make them wait for 5 years? Just release a lot of rental.supply into the market.

Possibly because it opens up the gates for real estate speculators that they were trying to limit through the implementation of ABSD.

[x9200]

This whole situation clearly benefits long-term residents in expense of of those shorter term or TBP on more volatile types of passes. It looks really weird and I am yet to see some convincing explanation. Not sure how the market could be controlled but what is happening almost looks like a part of the campaign, lets tighten the foreigners intake even further and make the citizens more happy.

[malcontent]

That is one thing that has always puzzled me here. I don’t see much effort being made innovate or improve productivity, despite stated objectives to reduce reliance on foreign labor.

Meanwhile, back in the US…

I go into a physical bank and all the live tellers are now video kiosks, you scan your identity document, explain what you want over zoom, the machine spits out whatever you need.

I go into a restaurant and it’s mostly fast casual concept — you order and bring your own food back to your table.

I go to gas station and it’s all self-service, the car wash is humanness, automated and robotic.

I go to the grocery store and it’s now mostly self check out.

Oh, and I tried the physical Amazon Go store for the first time in my life — now that really is slick: just tap your contactless credit card to enter, grab whatever you want, and leave like you stole it. It magically bills you for whatever you took. On my last visit it said I spent a total of 18 seconds in the store, enough to select the drink I wanted and leave. Now that is some hyper productivity!

[NYY1]

That is one thing that has always puzzled me here. I don’t see much effort being made innovate or improve productivity, despite stated objectives to reduce reliance on foreign labor.

Meanwhile, back in the US…

I go into a physical bank and all the live tellers are now video kiosks, you scan your identity document, explain what you want over zoom, the machine spits out whatever you need.

I go into a restaurant and it’s mostly fast casual concept — you order and bring your own food back to your table.

I go to gas station and it’s all self-service, the car wash is humanness, automated and robotic.

I go to the grocery store and it’s now mostly self check out.

Oh, and I tried the physical Amazon Go store for the first time in my life — now that really is slick: just tap your contactless credit card to enter, grab whatever you want, and leave like you stole it. It magically bills you for whatever you took. On my last visit it said I spent a total of 18 seconds in the store, enough to select the drink I wanted and leave. Now that is some hyper productivity!

There was an attendant-free Cheers store here several years ago. Not to the scale of the stuff Amazon is doing, but for drinks and snacks it worked. I haven't been there in a long time or seen it rolled out elsewhere (not sure why). I think fastfood kiosks were here before the US?

But generally, there is more innovation there, especially high-end inventions or technology (more dynamic economy). For low-end stuff, some of their wage laws may be pushing the substitution.