A GUIDE TO LIVING AND WORKING IN SINGAPORE

Living in Singapore

Housing

As mentioned briefly above, the quality of housing in Singapore is very good and, at least when compared to Hong Kong, it is reasonably priced, particularly bearing in mind the way rents have fallen sharply over the past few years. Lawyers coming up from Australia or New Zealand would probably still have to pay more than back home, but the additional cost from what they are used to paying would be more than compensated for by a higher salary level and reduced tax rate (the top rate is Singapore is now 22%).

Dependent on your circumstances, you can choose city living or something further out, and both offer some excellent choices with fantastic amenities. In the latter case, the public transport is excellent, although taxis can be a little hard to come by at peak times. Transport is an important consideration because cars are very expensive and road and vehicle import taxes high. Nevertheless, Singapore is a small place and no-where is very far away.

Social Life

As alluded to above, there are plenty of things to do with your free time in Singapore and around the region. There is a large and socially very active ex-pat community and Singaporeans tend to be far more westernized culturally than the native populations of some other Asian countries. After work, the numerous bars and restaurants along Boat Quay are alive with people, typically sitting or standing outside by the water.

Sport is an important part of ex-pat life in Singapore and as well as the more traditional team sports, a lot of people take advantage of Singapore's natural environment to get involved in water sports, such as sailing, water-skiing and wind-surfing. For those who like to spend their spare time bargain hunting, there are no end of options. Chinatown and Little India offer traditional bazaars, while there are plenty of large, modern shopping malls full of household name stores from around the World. The main shopping district is located at Orchard Road, where one can also find plenty of good restaurants, bars and clubs.

At weekends, you might choose to visit Sentosa, Singapore's own island resort, or maybe take a short ferry ride over to the Indonesian island of Bintan, where there is quite excellent, yet inexpensive golf available on spectacular Championship courses. Slightly futher afield, you might decide to visit Tioman in Malaysia and do some diving in the crystal clear waters, or take a Friday evening flight to Phuket in Thailand, with a flight time of only about an hour and a half.