Culture Shock - Arriving in singapore

[AngMoG]

I think maybe 0.5% off the bill if you have DBS card or sth...

[katbh]

Has anyone mentioned the fighter pilots who only need to know how to turn left and where there is no point in putting up your wheels!

[nakatago]

I once saw a newspaper ad for a discounted second Galaxy S3 if one goes for a bust enhancement with a friend. New boobies and new smartphones.

[Wd40]

I think maybe 0.5% off the bill if you have DBS card or sth...

You guys must browse the HWZ forum man, Singaporeans are insane. They have almost every credit card out there and they know exactly which card to use and for what, to absolutely maximise the rebates/points. They are brilliant analysts and you guys dont give them enough credit.

I mean nothing will beat this. There is one guy who posted on the forum that he makes payments using AXS machine using DBS credit card and DBS card gives like 3 points for every $5 spent and this guy actually makes sure that the payment amount is in multiple of $5

[JR8]

Mercedes C180 AMG


Is this for real. In europe you see AMG'd Mercs in the 6 litre + category, big bad seriously pimped cars... but a C180?

Isn't that like having a VW Beetle with a US$100k higher price tag because it's has it's engine reengineered by AMG? why would you do that?

Weird...

[zzm9980]

Mercedes C180 AMG


Is this for real. In europe you see AMG'd Mercs in the 6 litre + category, big bad seriously pimped cars... but a C180?

Isn't that like having a VW Beetle with a US$100k higher price tag because it's has it's engine reengineered by AMG? why would you do that?

Weird...

For better or worse, those C180 AMGs just have the "style" packages. So $40k-50k worth of bigger wheels, body kits, carbon fiber trim, and of course, the badges (gotta have those labels!). Again, not sure if that helps to justify it or makes the situation worse

Also, AMG models are always two digits. For example, the SL600 AMG version would be the SL63 AMG.

[JR8]

For better or worse, those C180 AMGs just have the "style" packages. So $40k-50k worth of bigger wheels, body kits, carbon fiber trim, and of course, the badges (gotta have those labels!). Again, not sure if that helps to justify it or makes the situation worse

Also, AMG models are always two digits. For example, the SL600 AMG version would be the SL63 AMG.

Hmmm interesting. Wikipedia ties with my understanding of the brand. High end Mercs rebuilt, performance-wise, to very high specs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_AMG
They used to be the car of choice amongst the gangster type where we previously lived, and you'd quite often hear then approaching from a long way off as the engines have a very loud and distinctive growl.

Hence my curiosity seeing an auntie-type sitting in a C180-AMG (Wiki doesn't mention that model, but you see vids of it on Youtube).

So maybe that's it. For emerging markets AMG have sold out their racing heritage, and offer 'styling packages' on little cars instead...

[Re: the Little Britain sketch, Dudley and Ting Tong, if Dudley were Asian would take great pride in driving an 'Austin Allegro AMG ... chocolate brown' ]

[zzm9980]

So maybe that's it. For emerging markets AMG have sold out their racing heritage, and offer 'styling packages' on little cars instead...

Even in the US you can buy things like AMG wheels or cosmetic trim. You see this with BMWs too. What looks like a normal 3-Series but with the 'M' badge. The real M3 or M5 sounds and looks very distinct, not like a normal 3-Series. Hell, I'd say 1 out of 4 BMWs I see in Singapore have 'M' badges. It's probably just more apparent here because the number of cars per capita that have aftermarket "performance" crap is really high.

My theory is that most drivers get that out of their system in their late teens or early twenties in the west. In Singapore, those boy racers can't buy a vehicle until their 30s or 40s (or ever). So it festers for a long time, and then when they do get their car, they go overboard since they also have more disposable cash than they would have at the appropriate age. It's also compounded by the regional "must have gaudy labels to show off to my peers" syndrome, like you see with designer handbags. Girlfriend with the $4000 bag, boyfriend with the $4000 carbon fiiber whale-tail spoiler on his 1.6liter piece of crap.

[JR8]

Insightful ... rings true IME.

This would tie with the number of SGns who relo to 'the west' and instantly buy inappropriate 'aspiration' cars.*

It's like suddenly having to buy what you've previously been denied: Just because you can, and so you can brag to your friends back home.

Jeez I'd hate to visit the 'smokers cafes' in Amsterdam and witness the carnage...



* I think I mentioned an example previously, an ex-colleague, early 30s, moved to Europe and within a year he'd bought three (no less) 80s/90s Jaguars. Nothing special just everyday but very high-$maintenance 5 litre big old things for which he paid peanuts (euro2-5k each).

Another, in midtown Manhattan, who bought a BMW and probably drove it an average 5 miles a week.


Another, in midtown Manhattan, aged c21. Just passed her driving test and goes and buys a brand new BMW 3 series.


Each of these people were on modest public sector salaries, who were within a walk, or 10 minute bus-ride to work...

[Brah]

Another, in midtown Manhattan, who bought a BMW and probably drove it an average 5 miles a week.

Another, in midtown Manhattan, aged c21. Just passed her driving test and goes and buys a brand new BMW 3 series.

Each of these people were on modest public sector salaries, who were within a walk, or 10 minute bus-ride to work...

A lot of Manhattanites who own cars use them to get out of the city on the weekends, like upstate NY, the Jersey shore, or places on Long Island like the Hamptons or Montauk. Ostensibly this is not just to get out but to avoid the dreaded B&T crowd.

But it ain't cheap to have one there.

[JR8]

But they maybe only did two local w/e trips a year.

Oh lordy yes the B&T'ers, got to avoid that riff-raff at all costs eh?

No it struck me as:-
- Hey I can afford a German car (or what ever)
- Hence, must buy
- Even if it is a material financial drain
- And I rarely use it.

= Buying what you have long been denied (x-ref the failure of prohibition)

[JR8]

- Electric bicycles

-Ladies with parasols.

- Adults poolside, yelling at and/or hitting their children

- Adults poolside with 'structured punishments' for their children.
-- 'Come here now, and sit on this chair in silence for 5 minutes!'
when that fails
--- 'Come here and sit of the floor in silence for 5 minutes!!'.

---- The yelling and noise from the parents is a greater disturbance than any from the children.

- Cars queueing up the road to get into a garage forecourt.

- Cina slang - 'Eheheheh-eh' [+ outstretched arm + hand flapping downwards], apparently meaning Yes (or no) ?

- Glossy carpark floors making cars, even at 2mph, squeal like in a 70s Starsky & Hutch show.

- Jet-fighters going to and fro until c4pm yesterday, but at a much higher altitude than earlier in the day.

- 4pm. A C130 doing low altitude passes/turns over our neighbourhood (c2-3000m?) [from my perspective, I'm sitting by the pool, 50m from the condo tower, and the plane is veering around, about 2/3 way up the condo tower).

- Cars with the entire roof as black glass.

- Schools conducting sports, commencing at 9am.

- A clear sky but hearing distant huge boom-sounds. Sonic booms? Heard 3-4 this morning.

[Hannieroo]

The hitting is horrid. They were debating it on the radio yesterday and getting 'beaten up' never harmed them. Apparently.

[PNGMK]

The hitting is horrid. They were debating it on the radio yesterday and getting 'beaten up' never harmed them. Apparently.

The last child hit I saw here was a white boy about 6. His white father was slapping the shit out of him at a pedestrian crossing (in front of the daughter who was probably 8). I wound down the window and asked in my strongest Aussie accent; "You like hitting the little ones do ya mate?" (I figured he was Kiwi). A stream of Kiwi profanity headed my way ...("feck ya met" - I think he meant freak you mate) but you know what? He stopped hitting the little tike. It took ALL of my restraint not to flatten him with the Forester as he crossed in front of me giving me the finger - the fact that I'd have wiped out his son AND daughter is what saved him. So no; it's not just the locals. And yeah I've been tempted to beat the shit out of my son too... but I don't.

[Hannieroo]

We're human and I could easily pop my eldest three times a week. But you just don't. You don't hit. I can't imagine seeing fear in my boy's eyes.

Good on you.