Post: #1

I want to stay for a couple of months, get some work done and have fun going out and chasing lizards. Has anyone lived in both of them? Which one is more fun to live in? "Fun" in general and regarding girls.

I spent a week in BKK and a week in Singapore. Singapore seems nicer but pricier.

Post: #2

What did you do in Singapore?

Singapore is a place to work, not a place to live.

Singapore is nicer in the sense the electricity is always on, you can rely on your garbage being taken away and you can have confidence in the rule of law, but really, it's the cross between Wall St and Stepford wives. A perverse utopia (dystopia) for people on this board, a convincing parody of ideal but ultimately shallow to the point of meaningless. It works however if you're in banking and money laundering, or you need to develop Asian contacts.

If getting work done is your own intellectual projects which derives your own income, not a wage, as far as fun in terms of how much and what type of fun the locals have, in terms how far your fun your dollar can buy, in terms of the quality of lizards, BKK wins hands down.

Post: #3

(06-12-2013 09:08 AM)T and A Man Wrote:  What did you do in Singapore?

Singapore is a place to work, not a place to live.

Singapore is nicer in the sense the electricity is always on, you can rely on your garbage being taken away and you can have confidence in the rule of law, but really, it's the cross between Wall St and Stepford wives. A perverse utopia (dystopia) for people on this board, a convincing parody of ideal but ultimately shallow to the point of meaningless. It works however if you're in banking and money laundering, or you need to develop Asian contacts.

If getting work done is your own intellectual projects which derives your own income, not a wage, as far as fun in terms of how much and what type of fun the locals have, in terms how far your fun your dollar can buy, in terms of the quality of lizards, BKK wins hands down.

Went to Clark Quay. I liked that place though it was bloody expensive.

Yeah, I canoot get anything done when staying in hotels/hostels for a few days and then going to a next place. Need to rent an appartment and stay for a couple of months.

Post: #4

T and A Man is right about Singapore. There are many, many sexily dressed girls, but they all come across as robotically sexless and conversationally uninteresting. It's no wonder the place survives on a bubble of importing illiterate "foreign talents" to do the dirty work. This bubble will pop spectacularly in twenty years or so given the space limitations unless they change policy drastically, which is unlikely.

Post: #5

--

I thought this was a troll thread when I saw the title.

Bangkok wins in almost any category.

-Cost of living
-Quality of women
-Quantity of hot women
-Fun
-Muay Thai
-Beaches
-Mountains
-Tiger petting zoos
-Adventure tourism
-40 minute flight to Myanmar - final economic frontier in Asia
-Number of clubs and venues
-Equally good as a regional and intercontinental air hub
-Equally good as a budget flight destination
-Facing the strange and exciting every time you go to the local 711
-Learning a new language by default
-Emerging market and exploring business opportunities

Singapore wins for overall salary (although the cost of living and alcohol will eat that up anyway)

Singapore wins for low taxes if you want to incorporate. But then again this all depends on what you are doing.

Singapore wins for English language penetration - but then you are speaking fluently in English to a bunch of sterile and boring people. Would you rather have funny pantomime conversations in broken English with Thai people while picking up Thai or speak English to close minded Chinese douche bags and learn nothing?

If I was married and had a couple of kids I would still probably live in Thailand if it came down to it.

If you were going to die 5 years from now you would remember your year in Bangkok much more vividly than the year you spend in that giant sterile cultureless shopping mall at the tip of the Malay peninsula.

--

Question - are you going to build your career? Are you going to live as a digital nomad? Do you want to start an import/export business? Are you trying to launch a tech startup? Do you want to work in finance or private wealth management?

What are your goals? What are you trying to get out of these spots?

----

Post: #6

(06-12-2013 10:55 AM)Rutting Elephant Wrote:  T and A Man is right about Singapore. There are many, many sexily dressed girls, but they all come across as robotically sexless and conversationally uninteresting. It's no wonder the place survives on a bubble of importing illiterate "foreign talents" to do the dirty work. This bubble will pop spectacularly in twenty years or so given the space limitations unless they change policy drastically, which is unlikely.

What do you mean about the bubble of importing foreign talent for dirty work? How's it gonna pop?

Sorry to derail, that comment just caught my eye lol.

( p.s. since you're in Indo, would love to hear your thoughts on life over there, maybe anotehr thread?)

Post: #7

(06-12-2013 11:06 AM)RichieP Wrote:  

(06-12-2013 10:55 AM)Rutting Elephant Wrote:  T and A Man is right about Singapore. There are many, many sexily dressed girls, but they all come across as robotically sexless and conversationally uninteresting. It's no wonder the place survives on a bubble of importing illiterate "foreign talents" to do the dirty work. This bubble will pop spectacularly in twenty years or so given the space limitations unless they change policy drastically, which is unlikely.

What do you mean about the bubble of importing foreign talent for dirty work? How's it gonna pop?

Sorry to derail, that comment just caught my eye lol.

( p.s. since you're in Indo, would love to hear your thoughts on life over there, maybe anotehr thread?)

Yes this is interesting to me, I didn't catch that the first time around.

Are you saying there is a bubble of P4P Cambodians/Filipinas/Laotians/Etc in Singapore?

Or are you saying that their policy of importing foreign skilled labor is unwise and will backfire?

Post: #8

(06-12-2013 11:06 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  Question - are you going to build your career? Are you going to live as a digital nomad? Do you want to start an import/export business? Are you trying to launch a tech startup? Do you want to work in finance or private wealth management?

What are your goals? What are you trying to get out of these spots?

This, at least for now

Post: #9

BKK if you want to actually have fun and not spend a fortune. Singapore is dull.

Post: #10

I want to say a few nice things about Sillypore. The food is really wonderful and I could spend a week just enjoying all different kinds of unique cuisine. I find the girls interesting, as long as you stay away from the upscale rich Orchard Rd types. Some of the regular girls are very approachable and fun. Also some opportunities with cute indonesian or malay girls working as au pairs, housekeepers etc. I found a lot of the locals very nice.

The city is a great location for getting cheap flights to desirable places for diving and tropical paradise type activity. The place has great health care. The city has an incredible history as a major port, and although they have torn down most of the atmospheric and historic old city, there still some interesting parts worth exploring.

If you can find it, I recommend getting the Peter Bogdanovic film version of the Paul Theroux book 'Saint Jack'. Lots of shots of old Singapore, which Peter talks about in the film commentary as having been torn down. I understand why Singapore destroyed so much of their traditional buildings in the push to be a first world country, but it was still an absolute shame. Old Singapore was supposed to be one of the most atmospheric and interesting SEA cities

I spent time in Singapore for work, and I can honestly say I really enjoyed my time there. Singapore has more to offer than many give it credit for.

Post: #11

I had a twelve hour layover in Singapore a couple of weeks and did a quick tour of the city, not enough time on the ground to get a good impression of the city but it was nice and of course, very clean. The one thing that impressed me was the insane amount of container ships in the harbour, I've never seen anything like it, that is one very busy port!

Post: #12

(06-12-2013 12:57 PM)Northern Wrote:  

(06-12-2013 11:06 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  Question - are you going to build your career? Are you going to live as a digital nomad? Do you want to start an import/export business? Are you trying to launch a tech startup? Do you want to work in finance or private wealth management?

What are your goals? What are you trying to get out of these spots?

This, at least for now

I don't really know enough about you to give a final answer.

However, the first country I think of (in the entire world) when I hear "digital nomad" is Thailand.

The best way to resolve this, really, is to spend 2-4 weeks in Bangkok and then 2-4 weeks in Singapore and decide on your own. We can give you all the info we can but there is really nothing like showing up.

If you are averse to the new, strange, and sometimes less-then-perfect infrastructure (and not much English) then you may be averse to Thailand.

If you are averse to outrageously high cost of living, cost of partying, mediocre women, and a lack of culture, then you may be averse to Singapore.

Check out Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on Youtube for both Thailand and Singapore. That'll also help give you a bit of an idea of what things are like on the ground over there.

--

Post: #13

(06-12-2013 08:33 PM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  The best way to resolve this, really, is to spend 2-4 weeks in Bangkok and then 2-4 weeks in Singapore and decide on your own. We can give you all the info we can but there is really nothing like showing up.

If you are averse to the new, strange, and sometimes less-then-perfect infrastructure (and not much English) then you may be averse to Thailand.

If you are averse to outrageously high cost of living, cost of partying, mediocre women, and a lack of culture, then you may be averse to Singapore.

Check out Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on Youtube for both Thailand and Singapore. That'll also help give you a bit of an idea of what things are like on the ground over there.

But he said he's already spent time in both Bangkok and Singapore.

Post: #14

(06-12-2013 08:44 PM)Soma Wrote:  

(06-12-2013 08:33 PM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  The best way to resolve this, really, is to spend 2-4 weeks in Bangkok and then 2-4 weeks in Singapore and decide on your own. We can give you all the info we can but there is really nothing like showing up.

If you are averse to the new, strange, and sometimes less-then-perfect infrastructure (and not much English) then you may be averse to Thailand.

If you are averse to outrageously high cost of living, cost of partying, mediocre women, and a lack of culture, then you may be averse to Singapore.

Check out Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on Youtube for both Thailand and Singapore. That'll also help give you a bit of an idea of what things are like on the ground over there.

But he said he's already spent time in both Bangkok and Singapore.

Yup. And he didn't make a decision the first time.

A week in each city is nothing. Maybe for Singapore it is actually, in that city everything you see on the surface is more or less what you'll get.

Bangkok is a city that is fun when you arrive and become increasingly more fun as you start to understand Thai culture and a little bit of Thai and start to get hot girlfriends.

My point was that he should spend a longer period of time in each. Maybe I should have said 4-8 weeks in each city rather than 2-4 weeks.

Post: #15

(06-12-2013 04:21 PM)sloopjohn Wrote:  If you can find it, I recommend getting the Peter Bogdanovic film version of the Paul Theroux book 'Saint Jack'. Lots of shots of old Singapore, which Peter talks about in the film commentary as having been torn down. I understand why Singapore destroyed so much of their traditional buildings in the push to be a first world country, but it was still an absolute shame. Old Singapore was supposed to be one of the most atmospheric and interesting SEA cities

My Dad used to often do business there in the 70s before all the old buildings got torn down. Said it was seedy and somewhat dangerous, but a whole lot of fun. Sounds like its the opposite these days.

Post: #16

I lived in Singapore for a month at a time several times three years ago. Singapore is a place to shop and work or go for the weekend. Everything else pales in comparison to Bangkok. I find the Singlish and constant talk of work to be extremely irritating.

Women in Singapore believe they are everything the men are and then some and I'll never forget one girl telling me how, "In Singapore, the women tell the men what to do." My response was, "Do I seem like the guy who is going to take orders from a woman in a relationship?" No comment from her.

Post: #17

(06-12-2013 09:08 AM)T and A Man Wrote:  What did you do in Singapore?

Singapore is a place to work, not a place to live.

Singapore is nicer in the sense the electricity is always on, you can rely on your garbage being taken away and you can have confidence in the rule of law, but really, it's the cross between Wall St and Stepford wives. A perverse utopia (dystopia) for people on this board, a convincing parody of ideal but ultimately shallow to the point of meaningless. It works however if you're in banking and money laundering, or you need to develop Asian contacts.

If getting work done is your own intellectual projects which derives your own income, not a wage, as far as fun in terms of how much and what type of fun the locals have, in terms how far your fun your dollar can buy, in terms of the quality of lizards, BKK wins hands down.

Got to Singapore again and yes, I agree with this.
Met, however, a couple of sexy little things - turned out there were from the Philippines. The Philippines will be fun

Post: #18

I have job offers in both places at the moment and am thinking a lot on this debate myself. (Although my decision will be much more based on the job than the city.)

If you have any semblance of 'game' and like Asian girls, both cities are phenomenal for women. To the OP: your choice should depend much more on the objectives and nature of your work.

Post: #19

(06-12-2013 11:10 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  

(06-12-2013 11:06 AM)RichieP Wrote:  

(06-12-2013 10:55 AM)Rutting Elephant Wrote:  T and A Man is right about Singapore. There are many, many sexily dressed girls, but they all come across as robotically sexless and conversationally uninteresting. It's no wonder the place survives on a bubble of importing illiterate "foreign talents" to do the dirty work. This bubble will pop spectacularly in twenty years or so given the space limitations unless they change policy drastically, which is unlikely.

What do you mean about the bubble of importing foreign talent for dirty work? How's it gonna pop?

Sorry to derail, that comment just caught my eye lol.

( p.s. since you're in Indo, would love to hear your thoughts on life over there, maybe anotehr thread?)

Yes this is interesting to me, I didn't catch that the first time around.

Are you saying there is a bubble of P4P Cambodians/Filipinas/Laotians/Etc in Singapore?

Or are you saying that their policy of importing foreign skilled labor is unwise and will backfire?

It's built on a "population Ponzi scheme."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-14...h-too.html

Post: #20

It's not a race.

Singapore isn't even in the running.

The fact that your best bets in Singapore will often be Thai girls should tell you something.