Singapore

[IAmCrystalHeights]

Has anyone here ever visited Singapore or even live there or have lived there?

From what I've heard it sounds like a very strict place but that doesn't matter to me because I have no plans to mess around. It sounds like a really cool country/city, and I might get the opp. to visit there in a few years.

I'm going to Asia this summer but not to Singapore because we don't have enough $, but I may go with my uncle there because his sister lives there, and I'd love to visit Singapore because it just seems like a cool place. My great uncle told me I'd like Singapore and he's been there once.

If anyone has enough info about it please tell me.

[Urban-Champion]

I went there for about 5 hours. Really the whole city isn't going to "wow" you enough, you should look into local attractions and sights of interest before you go.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/12/11 01:37 PM, Urban-Champion wrote: I went there for about 5 hours. Really the whole city isn't going to "wow" you enough, you should look into local attractions and sights of interest before you go.

yeah that's true, hopefully my relative that lives there can show me the cool things there. Did you explore downtown Singapore and/or other parts?

[Leidolfr]

At 2/12/11 01:33 PM, EddyFromEEnE wrote: Has anyone here ever visited Singapore or even live there or have lived there?

no but i knew a guy from there

[ He was a kiss ass, and thought he knew shit ]

[Jacco]

I've been there once on vacation. It was okay, but nothing unique.

[TechnoHound]

Singapore shouldn't be in asia, they speak english!

[Jacco]

At 2/12/11 03:18 PM, TechnoHound wrote: Singapore shouldn't be in asia, they speak english!

Germans shouldn't be in Europe, they don't speak European!

[TechnoHound]

At 2/12/11 03:20 PM, Jacco wrote:

At 2/12/11 03:18 PM, TechnoHound wrote: Singapore shouldn't be in asia, they speak english!

Germans shouldn't be in Europe, they don't speak European!

I know right?!

[cybermonkey81]

I live in Malaysia, and from what I heard from my friends who worked there, apart from nice wages (which is irrelevent ITT), they also said that things are kinda pricey, and there is really not much to see except that it's just like any other metropolitan area. And you are right on the strict part, you can't just litter, chew gum or smoke.

Plus just like my country, we get lots of sun and lots of rain. And I mean a lot of rain. Flooding in the south just started to subside.

[Warforger]

My Uncle used to work for shipping company there until the recession where he was laid off, he now is in Beijing.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/12/11 03:23 PM, cybermonkey81 wrote: I live in Malaysia, and from what I heard from my friends who worked there, apart from nice wages (which is irrelevent ITT), they also said that things are kinda pricey, and there is really not much to see except that it's just like any other metropolitan area. And you are right on the strict part, you can't just litter, chew gum or smoke.

Plus just like my country, we get lots of sun and lots of rain. And I mean a lot of rain. Flooding in the south just started to subside.

Ah, I see, yeah I've heard there's not much of a use of driving a car and just use public transportation because driving is so expensive there, and the cars too.

I think the tropical weather is a different thing for me, because I live in a place where the heat is dry so it's a big change for me. Also I'm half-Chinese so I probably will like the fact a lot of Singapore is Chinese influenced.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

Would like to know more about it!!

[Jin]

I live in Singapore. Honestly there is fucking nothing here so go somewhere else. Everything is ridiculously overpriced, and nothing is original because Singapore relies on trading(and stealing ideas, like the Chinese we are).

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/12/11 10:06 PM, Jin wrote: I live in Singapore. Honestly there is fucking nothing here so go somewhere else. Everything is ridiculously overpriced, and nothing is original because Singapore relies on trading(and stealing ideas, like the Chinese we are).

Meh. I guess it's over-hyped? I heard Singapore has a lot of sexy people, though.

But anyways, I think of it as a smaller and more diverse Hong Kong. You always hear the good things about SG, like its perfect education and stuff. It is expensive and I knew that, but I'm sad to learn that it's not a very exciting place to be.

Am I better off at being in Hong Kong? I may go there this summer. What other Asian cities you recommend?

[Jin]

Taipei, Taiwan
Bangkok, Thailand

Singapore's good if you're a citizen who doesn't mind its flaws. Education, security, and your kids being semi-literate in their bilingualism doesn't matter when you're a tourist.

[Will]

ive been there and the alcohol was too expensive so i left.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/12/11 11:12 PM, Jin wrote: Taipei, Taiwan
Bangkok, Thailand

Singapore's good if you're a citizen who doesn't mind its flaws. Education, security, and your kids being semi-literate in their bilingualism doesn't matter when you're a tourist.

I've heard Taipei is a good city but I don't have any connections to Taiwan, but I probably had family longgg ago that lived there. So I probably won't be able to visit. Same with Bangkok even though it looks like a really cool city, and I hear Thailand is a very cheap country to visit.

I guess you're right about that, and I pretty much am a tourist when visiting there even though my relative lives there. Singapore isn't like Tokyo I guess, with its' bright amazing lights and technology everywhere. Is Singapore a bustling city like New York or San Francisco at all?

[Jin]

At 2/12/11 11:17 PM, EddyFromEEnE wrote: Is Singapore a bustling city like New York or San Francisco at all?

Only 5km square(exaggeration) of it is barely metro, like the picture you posted. Everywhere else in Singapore is apartment estate or jungle, which is 70% boring and 30% non-existent. The jungles are mosquito infested and off bounds except for the military; Nature doesn't exist here anyway.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/12/11 11:34 PM, Jin wrote:

At 2/12/11 11:17 PM, EddyFromEEnE wrote: Is Singapore a bustling city like New York or San Francisco at all?

Only 5km square(exaggeration) of it is barely metro, like the picture you posted. Everywhere else in Singapore is apartment estate or jungle, which is 70% boring and 30% non-existent. The jungles are mosquito infested and off bounds except for the military; Nature doesn't exist here anyway.

Ah, that sucks. No wonder they're mosquito infested, it's always humid and hot right? Does it ever get chilly enough for a jacket? Would be kinda boring if I could never wear a jacket or a coat...

I live in a suburban city so I could get used to the suburban apartments galore but it is an island so I pretty much have to fly somewhere to experience more city life. I got that part.

Oh well maybe I'll see for myself. Do most tourists you've had experience with seem to like Singapore? Are there a lot of Singaporeans who have a lot of pride for their country, or is it pretty much that they're neutral on living there?

[TeHLoY]

I live in singapore.
Central/south singapore is mainly the city.
North/midwest/northeast is the heartlands.
Northwest is the military jungle thing.
Southwest is industrial estates.
And the middle houses a zoo and a couple of reservoirs and nature reserves. It takes at most an hour to get just about anywhere within singapore.

Tourists are rarely seen in the heartlands, which is where most of us live. They tend to buy overpriced food and stuff in the city, while we get cheap groceries at local shopping centres.

Orchard Road is the shopping centre road, full of malls.

And everyone is bilingual, speaking english and their mother tongue, that is, the language of their ancestors. Most people here are chinese, with some Malays and Indians. I'm chinese.
60% of people speak bad english on purpose, even though they can speak good english, and 40% speak bad english because they don't know proper english.

And the food. The mix of different races of people makes a big variety of food. Just check out a hawker centre in the heartlands to see all of it.

And gum is not allowed to be sold. We just drive over to malaysia, and buy some there.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/13/11 12:24 AM, TeHLoY wrote: And everyone is bilingual, speaking english and their mother tongue, that is, the language of their ancestors. Most people here are chinese, with some Malays and Indians. I'm chinese.
60% of people speak bad english on purpose, even though they can speak good english, and 40% speak bad english because they don't know proper english.

Thanks for all the info. Pretty helpful.

I'm half-Chinese half-white and I can speak some Mandarin, and am still working on it. Even though I know many of them speak English, some even natively (Wikipedia says so, can you confirm that? Would be interesting that a lot of Singaporeans just speak English as their native tongue mainly) I wondered if I ever needed to use my Mandarin skills.

[Gimmick]

I went there for a week, the cost of living was high, but hey -- I visited Sentosa.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/13/11 01:36 AM, sanjeev98 wrote: I went there for a week, the cost of living was high, but hey -- I visited Sentosa.

Sentosa sounds like a sweet little island.

[TeHLoY]

At 2/13/11 01:23 AM, EddyFromEEnE wrote:

At 2/13/11 12:24 AM, TeHLoY wrote: And everyone is bilingual, speaking english and their mother tongue, that is, the language of their ancestors. Most people here are chinese, with some Malays and Indians. I'm chinese.
60% of people speak bad english on purpose, even though they can speak good english, and 40% speak bad english because they don't know proper english.

Thanks for all the info. Pretty helpful.

I'm half-Chinese half-white and I can speak some Mandarin, and am still working on it. Even though I know many of them speak English, some even natively (Wikipedia says so, can you confirm that? Would be interesting that a lot of Singaporeans just speak English as their native tongue mainly) I wondered if I ever needed to use my Mandarin skills.

Almost everyone can speak english. Point is, most of the working adults/younger generation speak English natively, albeit quite a lot of bad english. Singlish, as they call it, has broken grammar and a lot of borrowed words from Malay and Chinese dialects.

Sample:
'You sure you want to makan here or not? The food here damn jia lat leh...'

I'd be hard pressed to see a singaporean not understand that sentence, but foreigners may struggle to understand it. And yes, singaporeans seem to understand proper english as well.

To me, english is my first language, my chinese sucks (I can barely hold a decent conversation in Chinese without running out of words) But it's mainly the old chinese people who can't speak English, like my grandma. Basic chinese knowledge is beneficial, but not necessary if you're hanging out in the heartlands.

Just a tip, if they say "ang mo", they refer to white people. Just another slang word you'd hear often if you live here. (Ang is spoken with the 'a' from 'car')

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/15/11 03:17 AM, TeHLoY wrote: Almost everyone can speak english. Point is, most of the working adults/younger generation speak English natively, albeit quite a lot of bad english. Singlish, as they call it, has broken grammar and a lot of borrowed words from Malay and Chinese dialects.

Really? I've heard of the Singlish thing, but I read that 1/3 of Singapore speaks English as a native language. So you'd think a lot of them speak near perfect English.

Btw thanks for the info.

[Henchman1028]

Looks kind of like London, and I do have a couple of friends from Singapore. Haven't asked them about it, though.

[Dromedary]

I would rather go to somewhere in Dubai.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 2/21/11 09:32 PM, Henchman1028 wrote: Looks kind of like London, and I do have a couple of friends from Singapore. Haven't asked them about it, though.

Singapore is definitely more modernized than London though. But you should. It's a nice place from what I've heard, but there's no doubt that I'd go there and not say it's awesome.

[Prome]

Former british colony.

[Henchman1028]

At 2/27/11 12:12 PM, Prome wrote: Former british colony.

French, actually.