Prison?
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So the awful smoke from fires in Sumatra is a thing of the past?
Guy
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Well, during my 9 years there the air was clean except for 3 weeks when the air from the fires in Indonesia was absolutely terrible. Bad. Bad. Bad. I will never forget that air.
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Winters in Taiwan are splendid. That’s the best time to visit Taiwan. DAHEQ you guys are talking about.
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Except for the possibility of endless drizzle for weeks and even months with rarely a stop. The constant grey overcast skies and the night coming at 5pm.
It hasn’t been like that for a few years at least.
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I have been living in Singapore for several years, I arrived here when I was a bit older than 20 and I am now basically 30.
A couple of informations on myself: I am originally from Europe, from a small town between Portugal and Spain. I have never been here on an expat package, but I managed to change job 3 times.
I do not have any crazily good skills, but I am a decent Technical Sales.
The things I like of Singapore are mainly that:
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Despite what people think, even without expat package there are still jobs where you can easily make 10-15,000USD/month with an extremely low tax rate.
I am a single person, and this allows me to save a lot.
I have a salary in that range, and until last year, despite buying myself nice clothes/accessories, doing 2 travels to Europe a year plus 4-5 six regional travels, I could put aside almost 40,000USD yearly.
And I live in a Condo, not in an HDB. -
Jobs are not widely available as it used to be, and hiring a foreigner is definitely difficult, more than before.
However, if the MNC - XYZ Inc. wants to open a regional hub (APAC/APJ), all the good positions will be in Singapore. So some-how all the good job ends up in here, still. -
English is widely spoken.
I have a basic mandarin (around HSK2-HSK3) and this is more than enough for the 99% of my encounters.
English is also the business language. -
The position is good: you can travel easily to the majority of the places in Asia with low $$$$ and live quite well since your salary is easily 3-4-5 times the average.
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Food is good, weather is not so bad as people say, and honestly speaking the city urban planning is top of the world.
However, I do not see how people can compare the two (Taiwan and Singapore) from a quality of living perspective.
Even let’s assume Taipei vs Singapore, which is maybe a more idea comparison.
In Singapore life is extremely flat and dull, simply for a reason: there is NOTHING to do.
You have a couple of pathetic fake hiking trails, a fake beach/island, shopping malls, bars and clubs.
That’s it.
With the pandemic the life has been even more dull, and we are left with: having a walk (and if there are too many people no park/hiking trail/beach), going to a mall if there are not many people to get in, and hoping there are no queues to enter the store, going to a restaurant. They close at 10.30.
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Lucky you
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For me now is lucky who can go for a drink after 10.30PM without having to break the law.
Be able to leave this Island to go see my family would be another plus point - without having to beg the government to allow me to fly back - despite I have a long term visa, an house and pay taxes in here.
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I spent my 20s and 30s largely scraping by. Singapore was the right choice .We can fly in and out of Taiwan but with quarantines it’s kind of a moot point . I won’t be going back to see my family till next year . But I have enjoyed my summer with some awesome trips here.
Don’t like Singapore (to live), but then don’t like HK or Taipei- basically don’t like cities, so Taiwan outside of Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung (though enjoyed Kaohsiung when I lived there for a couple of years, but that was 30 years ago, I was younger, and drunk most of the time).
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i think you mean fun perspective. from a quality of living standard taiwan isn’t on the level of singapore.
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No drizzle in Taipei in winter ? That’s different !!
Average restaurant is Taiwan closed much earlier than 10:30pm many local ones by 8pm. Bars like everywhere open late and selected restaurants open late but on average Taiwan eateries close earlier than S’por.
The guy who made the video has moved to Taiwan, so its interesting to see his more recent ones.
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I love his hiking videos. He also gives historical background of the places he visits. It’s nice and calming, and occasionally pretty funny. Since moving back to Taiwan again fron Singapore, he now lives in Hsinchu, which means I’ve either been to or plan to go to many of the places he visits.
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Spoke too soon. Winter 2021/2022 was 'orrible!
I haven’t been to Taiwan yet but I agree with some of the points on Singapore. I often have to spend around double that at hawker centers for food, because the vegetables/salads are so sparse I have to order an extra side dish of vegetables/salads.
Rent is really expensive in Singapore.
Corruption is low in Singapore, and dealing with bureaucracy/organizations/business there is easy because people there have a “can-do”, “let’s do it now instead of passing the buck” attitude.
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Haha. In Taiwan no one does anything non-routine unless they cannot find an excuse.