Singapore - here we come!

[AnotherMotherNomad]

We are leaving London next week - I can't believe it.

I wanted to ask the very helpful Singapore based community if there is anything you think would be good to bring with us. Anything that is expensive or difficult to get out there? Any suggestions welcome! Shopping doesn't seem to be much of an issue over there, but I thought it was worth asking.

I know, noticed the use of 'helper' as presumably more PC than 'maid' when we were in S'pore a few years ago!

The $1k includes the money you pay to the Gov't, although we're just at the planning stage so I may have misunderstood the rules.

I disagree that everyone has a maid, I don't and many of my friends don't.

Yes it is harder without the friend network but completely doable.

Papooshka I agree with you some of my friends do and some don't. Mostly those working have one as I have found that daycare - particularly for babies doesn't seem to be great (probably due to lack of demand) is expensive and inflexible with the long working hours that most people seem to put in here. But quite a few of my friends who are SAHMs don't have a maid.

will probably move back to Singapore soon and would rather not have another live in maid like we did previously though she was a lovely girl. It's tempting though when you add up the cost of part time (most people I knew still had part time maids) help and babysitters. Think most people do it for the ease of childcare, freedom to pop out, socializing etc. Also husbands sometimes can be keener than the wives at it absolves them from almost EVERYTHING.

Yes can already see where this is heading re 'live in' in our household. Can't believe the cost of housing, its extortianate (excuse spelling!). Are there any housing complexes - ie where you can get a house even small - that have shared facilities, so I could get the best of both worlds? We are in a large apartment here and had thought our next move would be to a house so the thought of living in a 'condo' is taking some getting used to! Here there is a carrefour so can get most European foods, am told its about 20% more than Waitrose in UK, can anyone vouch for that?

bnz lol thought you were going to start a fight then ! Works very well for some - doesn't for others.

Re housing you can find what they term 'cluster houses' which are effectively houses that are within a complex and have all the normal facilities like pool, gym etc so that might be a compromise for you. There are a couple up by Newton area - Chancery Grove etc and also east coast if you prefer that area. You can also get maisonettes that are within a condo complex (which is what we have) that feels much more like being in a house especially having just come from a larger condo. We have a ground floor one so it has a small garden and patio. Upstairs has large balcony. They are older but have much more space you can also find some decent renovated ones. Have a look on propertyguru.com.sg or the expatsingapore website that I think allows you to use cluster houses as a search term.

BNZ - yes there is a Carrefour so you can get loads of European stuff, but also theres quite a few other supermarkets - Cold Storage seems to be the most popular amongst expats but you also have Fairprice and Giant which are cheaper than Cold Storage and more local.

You can get most things here that you can get in the UK, but it is def more expensive...for example, Lurpak spreadable butter - the smaller one is about 7 dollars - which is GB3.50.. I know the large one in the UK is 99p or thereabouts. 2 litres of milk is roughly 5 dollars, so thats GB2.50 (not sure how much milk is now in UK though!!) There are local wet markets, basically where you can buy fruit/veg/meat and these are much cheaper and fresher.

3 weeks here so far, and we're slowly settling into life here. DC (4 and 2yrs) started at a local kindergarten, and we're also going to have a try out football session on Saturday.

The prices of non-local products have been eye-popping to say the least. It's nice to know that we can get Tiptree jam and Waitrose items here, but 4 quid for Waitrose branded cornflakes is rather taking the p*ss IMHO

Saying that, the quality of the fresh seafood and local food at the foodcourts have more than made up for the foreign food prices.

We've been to Downtown East, which at $15/entry/adult is not particularly cheap, but I suppose we'd probably pay similar prices in the UK for such an attraction. We've not had the need to go to softplay yet, as there are lots of free parks with good playground areas.....just pray that the rains don't come when you want to go out

I start work next week, so I suppose that's when my honeymoon period will end

tootsieroll, glad your settling in and sounding quite positive. The most important thing about being happy is a positve frame of mind and looking at it as an opportunity and an adventure. Some folk are just so negative and can't wait to get back home! Good luck on starting work.

Springaporesling - can I ask where you are staying? Looks like we are moving back to Singapore and sounds like where you are is the kind of thing we will be looking for.

Thanks Scanty. It has generally been positive, but of course some things are starting to bug me, not least the kiasu behaviour on the MRTs (trying to get into the trains before passengers alight), and other impatient people tsking away if you so much as get in their way by accident.

Oh, and the cheesiness of various govt. campaigns (am I allowed to post this here without the gahmen taking note of this?)

None of my gripes are serious enough to contemplate leaving (yet) of course

see you're already settled and going local! In 3 years I never made it on to the MRT (always meant to) as I luckily had a car and drove everywhere!

bnz I'm also in a maisonette and agree it's best of both worlds. There are also houses on this estate, but they were out of our price range. The older developments seemed to have bigger spaces and were more reasonably priced. But yes - rents are ridiculous - there is no way around that.

As far as European food goes, I've also found Carrefour better than Cold Storage or Marketplace-whatever-it's-called in Tanglin Mall. If you are lucky prices are 20% higher, for some things, lamb for instance, it's off the charts (£40 for a leg of lamb?!) Our eating habits are changing accordingly. We're discovering Australian brands, which seem to be marginally less than European ones. Also, in London we tend to buy organic meat, dairy, veg when possible but that went out the window here. Either it's impossible to find or eye-poppingly expensive. Our new food shopping approach is: 'anything so long as it's not grown/reared in China'.

Wine is typically about a tenner a bottle in the shops and don't ask how much at restaurants... however, the shops usually have sales on so sometimes you can get decent bottles for about £7-£8.

As tootsieroll says food centre or hawker centre food is really good, and a much cheaper for a family meal than eating European dishes at home.

Out of curiosity, where is everyone staying? We're in Punggol at the moment, but are looking to move somewhere that doesn't take 45 min to get to work (Tanjong Pagar/Outram area). We have slight preference towards the eastern part of Singapore, and the last search was around the Kembangan/Bedok area, within easy reach of the MRT station.....does anyone live around there or can comment on it?

Tootsie I think there are quite a few places in Tanjong Pagar area - I know quite a few people looking round there at the moment. Have family in Bedok area and they used to live near Tanah Merah MRT as well which always seemed really nice but I suppose still a longish commute.

Scanty we're on Jervois Rd. I'm afraid to say I don't know how CAT works but if you can enlighten me I can give you condo name as well - unfortunately my name is obvious from e-mail too! You might also want to take a look at Sommerville Park and Villa Della Rose as they are similar in that they have maisonettes although Sommerville is a big complex but great facilities.