Singapore is best city for Asian expatriates to live: HR survey

Via The Straits Times newspaper:

ASIAN expatriates have ranked Singapore as the best place to live in the world for its safe and clean environment, while Europeans chose Copenhagen, a survey showed on Tuesday.

Spore is best city for Asian expatriates to live: HR survey

I can testify to the above, being a resident alien in Singapore myself. I came from Jakarta to live in Singapore in June 2007 and so far the experience has been pretty good. Here are the reasons why Singapore is great for expatriates:

• English is the primary language -- This fact cannot be understated. Being in a foreign country and able to read street signs, understand restaurant menus and ask questions to some random person on the street can give you a sense of control.
• Excellent public transportation -- Singapore has a network of well-maintained, air-conditioned underground trains (MRT), buses and taxis that cover pretty much the whole country. Do you need to know when the next bus will arrive at your stop? Look it up with your mobile browser. Need a taxi? Call them up and most of the time they will arrive within 5 minutes. With all of this, you won't need to buy a car when you first arrive in Singapore, which translates to lower moving cost.
• Low crime -- Being in an unfamiliar and foreign country can be an exhilarating experience. Being in an unfamiliar and foreign country fearing for your own security is quite another feeling. It's easy to take security for granted, but you have to remember that in some countries you cannot just listen to your iPods or talk on your hand phones while riding the city bus.
• Affordable apartments are widely available -- I know Singaporeans bitch a lot about the cost of property, but the truth is, livable accommodation is still pretty much affordable. If you spend the same percentage of your salary on housing, you will find a nicer place in Singapore than you would in Jakarta, for example.

For me particularly, Singapore's close distance to Jakarta enables me to travel back and forth without needing to do serious planning. I can fly off for a weekend trip and be in Jakarta after an hour and 20 minutes flight. Ticket price is pretty affordable too.

Free bed frame and mattress

You spend a third of your life in bed, so I always believe that a bed is something you should spend good money on. When we moved to our apartment about three months ago, the previous tenant left a queen-sized bed previously purchased from Ikea. Imagine a wooden bed frame that comes in a box which you have to assemble yourself. Now, I'm a big 120-kg guy. The bed creaks and I get anxious every time I turn over in my sleep, thinking I would break one of the legs.

So me and my wife went to Courts and found a nice spring bed with independent coils, latex and the whole whiz-bang technology guaranteed to give a good night's sleep. Now, what to do with the old bed? I posted an ad on Facebook Marketplace -- free for whoever wants to take the bed.

The first response came a few hours after I posted the ad. That was quick, I thought. After checking availability, the person asked whether she could have two. "Two?", I asked. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean. I only have one bed to give away."

"Oh... You mean the bed is not new?"

A few seconds of awkward silence... Yes, the bed is used. Do I look like Santa Clause in my Facebook profile?

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Would you like wi-fi with that latte?

Ars Technica has an interesting article on cafes giving free wi-fi. I wish they have that problem in Jakarta, where internet is still quite expensive.

I have to admit that working in a coffee shop has its own appeal. I'm usually more productive when working at a local Starbucks because nobody bothers me there.  Nobody comes to my table and asks why data is suddenly missing from their Oracle table. And because wi-fi in Jakarta is not cheap, I'm online only when I need to. The rest of the time, I'm typing away at my notebook, productively, offline.