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visiting Singapore to investigate living

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Mags
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visiting Singapore to investigate living

Post by Mags » Mon, 29 Jun 2009 5:14 am

Hi, I have an opportunity to take a job in SG for a bank, I would be a local employee so no fancy ex-pat deals but an interesting prospect for the wife and and I.
I have been to SG once about 15 years ago, my wife has never been. We are planning on visiting for maybe 10-14 days in July to spend some time there and take a good look around as well as getting some rest and I have a couple of questions I'm hoping you can help with.

We need to travel around SG to get a feel for the different areas that we could potentially live in, our local travel agent can only suggest package deals that will get us a nice hotel in the main tourist areas etc and I'm not sure this is the best option for us. Would it make more sense to book a flight and then try to find an apartment for the stay? any suggestions?

Most of the hotels seem to have pools and we definitely will want to laze about for a few days, can we do this on a beach or would we be better off finding a pool that we can use?
Any suggestions on good areas to stay in appreciated, I cant afford to splash out on a 5 star hotel but also don't want to stay in something so cheap it will put us off SG totally.

Any other suggestions on what we should do whilst looking around to see if we could live there would be good. I've been told we should get decent accommodation for between $2-5k, we have no children but wont be out drinking and partying every night so suitable districts that we should visit would be good.

Many thanks

Mags

LoriW
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Post by LoriW » Mon, 29 Jun 2009 3:11 pm

I suppose at the end of the day for your visit it depends on what your total budget is. One website we discovered when we visited earlier this year is wotif.com.sg which has "mystery deals" on hotels. We got a 4.5 star hotel for $125sgd a night which was ok for us since we only wanted to stay 4 nights.

$2 to $5k pcm will definitely get you a condo.

I'm about to move out to Singapore later this week - like you on a local terms contract for 3 years although I suspect that working for a bank is a tad more lucrative than my job if that's the sort of money you're talking about with no housing allowance!

I think you will find a hundred and one suggestions on where to live etc etc on these forums - many seem to suggest the East coast for somewhere less costly, many others choose to live in or close to the CBD for convenience.

Following my own recce I prefer the west since it's a little more out of the way and quieter - also for me, it's more convenient for work and I have a lot of family living that side.

The Bukit Timah area is popular with expats as far as condos go, but nearby, there are the HDB estates at Clementi which from experience of staying with family there are pretty good and well kept.

If you're just going for a look around, I'd definitely try to "go local" and have a look around somewhere like Clementi. it's an area I know well, but I still think that compared with somewhere like Toa Payoh, it's "cosier" - not from an overcrowded sense but less "frantic" and easier to find one's way around the shops.

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durain
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Post by durain » Mon, 29 Jun 2009 6:04 pm

you can defo do singapore on your own. look for the best deal on airfare on the internet (including the airline's own website) and check hotels rate at www.asiarooms.com.

singapore is small and you can get to anywhere within easy reach with public transport. once you are in singapore, you will get a feel of it's location and surrounding. one man's mansion is another man's mudhut. there's no one place that is perfect for you or other foreigner.

Mags
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Post by Mags » Tue, 30 Jun 2009 3:53 pm

Thanks for your replies, I'll take a look at these sites before booking anything up and make sure we get round to as many areas as possible.
I'd like to get a short commute as I know I will be working long hours but as my existing London commute is over an hour I dont think thats going to be too difficult!

Mags

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