# For all of you living in Singapore, I am green with envy!



## indiko

Hello all!

Singapore is my first choice in living abroad. Currently in Washington DC, I hope to have a chance to live/work in Singapore in a few years with my husband (who also loves the idea).

People mention great foods at cheap-cheap prices in Singapore, but what do you mean by cheap? I'm looking for comparisons to typical prices here for fast foods. We are not "fancy" people who frequent posh places, but do enjoy lots of ethnic foods. We LIVE for good foods - mostly Eastern and Indian. Is it possible to live in Singapore and never have to cook?  Just the thought makes me giddy!

Three years and counting down! That's how long before our youngest hits college!


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## studentgoingtouk

hey, glad that you have a very good impression of where i come from :clap2:

on food, you can get a meal at typical fast food joints like McDonalds, KFC, BK at under S$10. locals generally dine at hawker centres and food courts for everyday meals where one meal should cost around S$5. there are more upmarket restaurants and cafes as well. for instance, an international buffet at a 3 or 4 star hotel should cost you about S$30-40. adjust the prices accordingly if you're going to a posher place e.g. the very popular buffet at the Line at Shangri-La Hotel costs upwards of S$60 depending on when you go. but yes, all in all, you can live here without ever having to cook. regardless of where you choose to stay, whether in typical "expat" areas like holland v or the "suburbs" like tampines or jurong, food is essentially readily available at your doorstep.


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## jobseeker

Hey,

Yes food is cheap, but beware not everthing else is....car very expensive, appartments very expensive. Infact I am from the UK and I would say everything apart from food is on par and more the rentles are alot more beware we pay double here compared to home and we have a mortage in the UK. Of course we are lucky as we are on contract and our home is paid for if not we would'nt beable to live here...... Even the big named shops have large taxes so the price when you compare to the UK add 20% to that when it comes to shopping for clothes, shoes, handbags etc....all I can say all that glitters is not gold. Even supermarket shopping can be much the same as the UK. UK brands and US brands expect to pay double and some. therefore alot more than the US supermarket shopping experiance, its all imported hence the pricing- go to local supermarkets, wet market its cheaper I do, but it takes time to get used to them.

Singapore is a great place to live if you can aford it, I like it here but would'nt say I love it. I always dreamed of living here but now I do I'm not sure its what I expected and its not all I built it up to be. Yes eating out is great but it gets boring and you get fatter hehehe. I cook at home 5 nights a week now and eat out maily at hawkers at the weekend, when we first came we ate out for the first 3/4 months. Very cheap, very good food and hey we love a bit of posh nosh but nothing compares to hawkers here, I complain when we eat posh nosh here because it costs a bomb and I think you can get better at a hawker stall for 4/5 SGD 

anyway its only a little info but i hope it helps 
welcome to mail me if u have any questions


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## ini_niki

Hey there ... Yep, you can definitely live here and not cook ... one of the reasons I moved ... been here this time since December last year and have not cooked once!!!!  

You can get awesome ethnic food everywhere from as little as $3 sing ...  and sure, like everywhere else you can spend as much as you like too  

Re: expensive ... not sure in comparison to US or apparently (according to last poster) to UK, but compared to living in Australia it's cheaper. 

1. You don't need a car -- public transport is awesome, quick, clean, cheap, easy to use, even cabs
2. You can live in HDB (govt housing) for under S$2,000 a month for 2 beds, 2 baths, centrally located 
3. You can buy cheap clothes / shoes for $10 in the heartlands or you can spend stupid amounts of cash on label (as with anywhere in the world) 
4. Booze is expensive compared to Australia and probably the US ... but that's up to you ... you can get local beer and drink in the nightmarkets if you really want to save $$$
5. Broadband / phones / mobiles etc much, much, much cheaper than in Aust 

As with everywhere you can live as cheaply or as you want ...

One of the very cool things about Sing is that it's so close to everywhere else. 

You can fly to Thailand for S$50!!! or pop across the border to Malaysia (very, very cheap and very, very good food from there  ) ... you can get cheap flights to every part of Asia, including Japan, HK and China ... even to Australia!!! 

So ... personally ... I love it here ... I'm on a 3 year contract and hope my company will renew it! 

Come, come lah!


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