Life in Singapore?

Don’t break the law.

If I’m not mistaken I do believe that have a list of laws that are strange to other countries.

And as @JLeslie says, don’t break them. They are some pretty heavy fines.

Not only unusual laws, but unusual punishments (caning) . . .

Life is awesome especially the nightlife.Don’t mingle with local strangers too soon and dont get escorted by someone you don’t know to any estranged place.Be in the crowd of your knowns till you get used to the city.Always take the main route no matter how far the destination is.Don’t take easy shotcuts while driving.Know the cab fares and the parking rules.Stay away from hookers.If they find you an easy target,They’ll take no time to creep on you.You’ll find them everywhere and in everyform which is something beyond what you could guess..

I know several people who spent a few years working in Singapore and they loved it.

Visit Tokyo while you are in Asia. Great city.

I’ve spent a good deal of time in Singapore. Life there is good if you have money. The government is a little restrictive but generally not too restrictive. The have some strange laws concerning the purchase of cars and how old they are allowed to be. They also seem to have time limits on buildings that aren’t designated historical,

If you are going there as a contractor, do not get involved in politics and especially don’t mess with drugs. I think hanging is still on the books for possession, and if you bring your kids, teach them to respect other people’s property. By the way chewing gum is legal there now but you better not throw it in the street.

I lived there in the early 90s, so I’m sure it’s changed a great deal. But I can say that I loved it. The food was cheap and really good. I never had any health issues related to food. There is a lot of fun things to do, and it’s very easy to travel from there to the neighboring countries for more fun.

@hawaii_jake I agree about a wide variety of cheap food and I never got sick from it. However the sushi at the Changi Meridian hotel gave me one of my worst food poisonings. I no longer eat sushi but still enjoy going to Singapore.

I am Singaporean and I have lived in London for 10 years. Everytime I go back, Singapore has changed. It is ever-dynamic, and it has very aggresively opened up to foreigners, playing down on their rigidity and the existence of victorian laws. As long as you’re not planning to supply the nation with hallucinogenics or express your artwork on other people’s cars, you will be fine being your own individual with no hassle at all.

I would say go for it. Life is whatever you want it to be, there. You have alot of Singaporeans who have lived abroad and now return there, bringing their influences and tastes back home. You’ll find everything you need there. Supermarkets stock japanese, korean, english, australian and US stock. It’s truly international.

I wish you the best!

thanks a lot guys,,,,
can anyone give me how much I should expect to spend in month ?
I know it depends on how I live…but in average or how much you guys spent there would be very helpful..

I took it pretty easy and did a lot of bike riding. As I recall, my last expense report was about $US 4000 for a month plus a $7000 plane ticket. I guess you could get away for less, but I like maid service and good beer. By the way Guiness doesn’t work too well in the hot climate. It tastes much better in the U.K.

Heylo Joon!

I’m a Singaporean and I think I could help! However, I have never been to Canada but I could give you a rough idea on how things go in Singapore (= I think it really depends on where you will be staying at, transportation costs, where you have your meals and things like that! But if you’d like to go on a budget, I don’t think it’d be that difficult to do so (=

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Transportation
I’d say that the transportation system in Singapore makes many places very accessible for both locals and expats.

For buses, we’ve got day-time buses start as early as 5am in the morning until 12:30am the next day, and they don’t cost more than SGD$1.10 (approx. C$0.9). There are also night buses that run from 11:30pm – 4:30pm (depends on the bus that you take) which cost about SGD$3.50 (approx. C$2.70). You can either pay for your bus rides using coins or a stored value smart-card, which you can purchase from the ticket office located in the train stations.

For the trains, we call it SMRT (or just simply SMRT). It only takes about 1 hour to travel from the west to the east of Singapore by train. Same as the bus, you will need a stored value smart-card (the same card which can be used on both buses and trains, something like the ‘Tap n’ go’ kind of system.) A train ride can cost about SGD$1.10—$2 (approx. C$0.9—$1.50). All the train lines are named accordingly to the starting point and the end point (like EW for East-West), and they are also color coded.

P.S.: For the bus and trains system, you can look at this site.

And for the cab/taxis in Singapore, the meter usually starts from SGD$2.80—$3.00 (approx. C$2.10—$2.30) and SGD$0.20 (approx C$0.15) for every 10km. You can take a look at this site , it will tell you a lot about how the cab/taxis and how the meter system goes. Do look out for the midnight charges.

In my opinion, to maintain a car in Singapore is not that cheap. You can take a look at this site to understand better.

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For food, you can easily find cheap food in Singapore at places like the hawker centres or small ‘coffee shops’ (a small area with one drink stall and lots of food stalls). It really depends on what you eat, like a bowl of noodles will cost about SGD$2.50—$4(approx. C$1.9—$3). A can of drink should cost about SGD$1.10—$1.80 (approx. C$0.9—$1.4). One thing for sure – you can easily find food anywhere in Singapore! There is also a wide variety of restaurants and cafes, you can find almost all kinds of cuisines here – Chinese, Western, Italian, Mexican, Spanish, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Fusion, etc! You will never go hungry here in Singapore. But of course, having a meal in a restaurant might cost a little more but you can find some places with good food that you don’t have to pay too much for! (=

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Some other things that you might need to know

1) There are a few hypermarkets/supermarkets here in Singapore. If you are looking at lower prices, there is a supermarket called FairPrice which can be found in most heartlands in Singapore. You could also look at Sheng Siong, which is also a supermarket but I’d not like to comment on the quality of the products there :P

Another two supermarkets: Cold Storage and Market Place—the products in these two supermarkets might cost a little more than the previous two but they have a bigger variety of products.

If you’d like to visit a Supermarket that is especially catered for the Japanese, there is one called the Isetan Supermarket. A lot of Japanese imported food there, but extremely expensive! But you could find some reasonably priced items there too!

There are two hypermarkets in Singapore too – Giant and Carrefour. And convenient stores like 7-Eleven and Cheers.

And like @supercheryl said, it is truly international here in Singapore (=

2) I am not sure how much a bottle of water costs in Canada but in Singapore, a bottle of water (500ml) costs about SGD$0.80—$1.50 (approx. C$0.60—$1.20) and SGD$1.80++ (approx. C$1.40) for 1 litre bottle of water.

3) Some expats might not feel comfortable having their meals in a hawker centre as they find it is ‘not too clean’ or it is too crowded for them. But that is one place you can look at if you are interested in trying some local delicacies. And they are not too expensive too!

4) No drinking of water is allowed in the train stations/on the train. No idea about the reason behind it, but you’ll be fined if caught. Silly, I know!

5) The prices of items depends on the location where it is being sold. If you are buying things in town, it will cost slightly more than what you could get out of town. And sometimes it is a big difference between the two prices!

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If there’s anything more that you’d like to know, you can PM me (= But at the moment, you could take a look at this site to get some additional information about Singapore.

PHEW ! What a long post! I think this is my longest!

You never need a jacket. Day and night. The whole year.