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Singapore v/s Poland v/s Bangalore

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JR8
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Post by JR8 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:32 am

zzm9980 wrote:
JR8 wrote: Or Salford, or Bradford, or Gateshead, or the wrong end of Glasgow, Bristol, Croydon, or Liverpool. But it comes down to how you define 'slum' is it in relative or absolute terms?
I have a funny story about going for kebabs in a place called Stoke Newie. Not sure how it compares to those places though.
'Stokie'.... oh yes. The three guys (2 of them scousers/Liverpudlians) who ran the little specialist hi-fi shop in west London where I bought my stack from, all shared a house in Stokie. I can't say I've been there, but there was always talk of their antics at The Shakespeare pub ('The Shakie')

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Post by Sergei82 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:22 am

JR8 wrote:...Wroclaw (pron: roughly as 'Breslaur')...
Believe me, it is pronounced as 'Vrotslav' with accent on O. X9200 will confirm.

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Post by bgd » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:19 am

vink2 wrote:Guys, I'm not to much into debates anymore, but I will tell you that I'm okay to downgrade my income by 20-30% and move to Poland from Singapore. Give me an offer!
For that sort of downgrade there would be quite a few takers, especially with the carrot of a conversion from contract to permanent. Problem is the offers are more in the region of 60-80% cuts. Once there you're pretty much stuck until the next low cost location comes along.

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Post by x9200 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:39 am

Sergei82 wrote:
JR8 wrote:...Wroclaw (pron: roughly as 'Breslaur')...
Believe me, it is pronounced as 'Vrotslav' with accent on O. X9200 will confirm.
Yes, it is pronounced like Vrotz-love or if you are a correctness nazi than the "l" should pronounced like W in Wyoming: /ˈvrÉ’tswɑËÂ

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Post by x9200 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:46 am

bgd wrote:
vink2 wrote:Guys, I'm not to much into debates anymore, but I will tell you that I'm okay to downgrade my income by 20-30% and move to Poland from Singapore. Give me an offer!
For that sort of downgrade there would be quite a few takers, especially with the carrot of a conversion from contract to permanent. Problem is the offers are more in the region of 60-80% cuts. Once there you're pretty much stuck until the next low cost location comes along.
This is to prevent you in falling under the highest tax category :) If you earn here say $S5k, and they downgrade you by 30% you will still earn enough to be the subject to 40% income tax.

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Post by Sergei82 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:10 pm

HR guidelines in our company is 40-50% salary cut + conversion from permanent to contract. You end up in ass anyway.

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Post by Wd40 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:30 pm

Good. Finally you guys are back on track and talking about money, after all that sidetalk about slums :D

If you are a Polish or east European it's very easy to understand the inclination towards Poland, it's basically going back home or closer to home.

Home country always has several advantages and you can take a cut in salary for those advantages, but going to another lower cost foreign country without an expat package is crazy.

Sergei, in our company there is an Indian AVP in the market risk team who was sent there on an expat package to basically set up a team. He continues to get Singapore salary and on top of that he gets plush accommodation in Wroclaw and other expenses covered. He is a lucky bastard, but others who are not that critical to the team are not so lucky.
Last edited by Wd40 on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Wd40 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:55 pm

Wait a minute! Can you get by in Poland with just English and not knowing any other European or the local language?

I wonder how easy it is to get Indian food there and what cost? In Singapore, we have been spoilt with the privilege of getting Indian food choices wherever we go. Also does Poland have anything close to a mustafa?

These are some major stumbling blocks for an Indian.

These issues probably exist in other Non UK cities too, like Zurich for example, but then that gets more than compensated because you are talking about Zurich, earning in CHF 8-)

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Post by x9200 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 1:12 pm

Wd40 wrote:Wait a minute! Can you get by in Poland with just English and not knowing any other European or the local language?

Probably yes, but it may not be easy all the time. According to some reasonable surveys I think I posted some time ago on this forum people in Poland as per average speak better English than in Singapore :)

I wonder how easy it is to get Indian food there and what cost? In Singapore, we have been spoilt with the privilege of getting Indian food choices wherever we go.

Basic ingredients should be available but definitely in limited variety. There are some Indian restaurants but I have had no opportunity so far to try any of them.
I.e. http://www.ganesh.pl

According to the uncle google, in Wroclaw you have at least 12 Indian restaurants.


These are some major stumbling blocks for an Indian.
ETA: autocorrect, not all Indian, but serving Indian food.

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Post by vink2 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 2:47 pm

Wd40 wrote:Wait a minute! Can you get by in Poland with just English and not knowing any other European or the local language?
Yes, everyone in IT speaks English in EE.
I wonder how easy it is to get Indian food there and what cost?
No, but Polish food is amazing.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 3:11 pm

Heaven forbid! WD40 could never survive unless he could continue to show his "Indianess" Practice "when in Rome.....?" Surely you jest! :lol:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by x9200 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 3:20 pm

Wd40 wrote:Wait a minute! Can you get by in Poland with just English and not knowing any other European or the local language?

I wonder how easy it is to get Indian food there and what cost? In Singapore, we have been spoilt with the privilege of getting Indian food choices wherever we go. Also does Poland have anything close to a mustafa?

These are some major stumbling blocks for an Indian.

These issues probably exist in other Non UK cities too, like Zurich for example, but then that gets more than compensated because you are talking about Zurich, earning in CHF 8-)
You edited while I was responding:
Mustafa? You mean with Indian or just cheap stuff? Carrying Indian focused - no, for obvious reasons, but in Europe generally it is a different selling approach as the land is much cheaper so you have all the chains like Real, Tesco, Auchan etc. plus a few discounted ones.

This are the stores like this:
Image

BTW, what is the Indian food for you? Garam masala, 50g, ~$S1.2; basic King Fisher, 330cc ~S$2.7 - probably still cheaper then in Singapore.[/img]
Last edited by x9200 on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Wd40 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 3:33 pm

x9200 wrote:
Wd40 wrote:Wait a minute! Can you get by in Poland with just English and not knowing any other European or the local language?

I wonder how easy it is to get Indian food there and what cost? In Singapore, we have been spoilt with the privilege of getting Indian food choices wherever we go. Also does Poland have anything close to a mustafa?

These are some major stumbling blocks for an Indian.

These issues probably exist in other Non UK cities too, like Zurich for example, but then that gets more than compensated because you are talking about Zurich, earning in CHF 8-)
You edited while I was responding:
Mustafa? You mean with Indian or just cheap stuff? Carrying Indian focused - no, for obvious reasons, but in Europe generally it is a different selling approach as the land is much cheaper so you have all the chains like Real, Tesco, Auchan etc. plus a few discounted ones.
BTW, what is the Indian food for you? Garam masala, 50g, ~$S1.2; basic King Fisher, 330cc ~S$2.7 - probably still cheaper then in Singapore.
Yeah, I meant Indian groceries availability at ease. In Singapore ofcourse Mustafa has everything Indian that you need. But even east Tampines I know 2 proper Indian groceries stores, west tampines has another one run by a bangladeshi. I am not even talking about the Malay-Indian.
Last edited by Wd40 on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Wd40 » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 3:39 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Heaven forbid! WD40 could never survive unless he could continue to show his "Indianess" Practice "when in Rome.....?" Surely you jest! :lol:
Indians and Chinese surely dont believe in that. Thats why they go and create Little India and Chinatowns whereever they go :P

Infact I would go on to say that if I have to choose between say wroclaw and KL, I would choose KL.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/co ... y2=Wroclaw

1)More disposable income in KL
2)4 hour cheap flights on air asia to Bangalore
3)Climate and weather is like India
4)Little India and so much of India related stuff in KL

But of course, Bangalore is even better so there is no need to go to KL.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 12 Apr 2013 4:26 pm

Wd40 wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:Heaven forbid! WD40 could never survive unless he could continue to show his "Indianess" Practice "when in Rome.....?" Surely you jest! :lol:
Indians and Chinese surely dont believe in that. Thats why they go and create Little India and Chinatowns whereever they go :P
That's why they should just stay in India! :lol:

:wink: After all, the world has enough problems with Indians venturing overseas and creating more of these....

Image

Just havin' a poke on a Friday avro! :P
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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