Thu, 28 Aug 2008
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I have decided to cancel my plans to move to Sydney, Australia due to some family problems. I won’t go into the details but my family and relatives in Singapore had a “big fight over money” with my relatives from Sydney, Australia when they visited us last month. I wasn’t around when they were quarreling but I learnt through my sister that they said they don’t want me living in their house unless I pay them the standard market rate for rental! I estimate that’s easily AUD $250 - $400 per week!
My relatives are retired and live very far away from the city. I don’t see the point of going there to stay at their place, pay them high rental fees, and be unhappy since I know they don’t want any of us there.
I thought about this whole migration thing for a while and I realised that all I want now is to move out of my house. I did some calculations and I find that it would be cheaper if I rented an office space near my house and stayed over there once in a while till I make enough money to rent a small apartment of my own.
I’m sharing the office with an old friend of mine. He wants to do some eBay business and we could share the office rent. It wouldn’t cost more than SGD $500 per month/per person if we did that. Furthermore, we could share some of our resources like PCs, internet connection, printers, network routers/switches etc.
I also talked with a few friends who have lived and studied in Australian universities about their experiences. I have a friend who is a doctor and she was trained in Sydney and Melbourne. She told me she prefers Melbourne. I have 2 other friends who studied at Monash University in Melbourne said its a nice place to live but a bit boring. I have another friend who is studying in Perth and he described the place as super boring. Perth is out of the question… I have lived there for 2.5+ years and I don’t really like the weather during summer time because it can be hotter than Singapore!
My little sister is 18 years old. She just completed her “A Levels” exams in Singapore. I think she might want to go to Melbourne to do some kind of medical course. She’s an Australian citizen - born in Perth but raised in Singapore. She doesn’t have to pay ridiculous school fees like foreign students! Lucky her! If she moves there, she could “sponsor” me to live there and I would get additional “points” under Australia’s migration rules.
One of my friends even suggested that I check out New Zealand. He told me his Taiwanese ex-girlfriend lived in New Zealand and liked the place and people very much but she moved to Melbourne to get an education and better job prospects. I personally know Kiwi and Aussie friends. I connect better with the Kiwis because when I talk to them I don’t feel like they have this “I am better than you” attitude.
From my personal experience living in Perth, I know for a fact racism does exist. Not everyone likes Asians like myself. Most Aussies are nice people but a small minority of them are very nasty. I remember walking past houses in Perth when I was little and getting yelled at with things like “Get off my land!” and “Go back to your country!”. My family even had eggs and darts thrown at the front of our house and even a death threat poster with the words “Go back to your country or I’ll kill you”.
School was tough too. Lucky for me I had a bunch of friends that would protect me in case any bullies wanted to rough me up so I never got into fights in school. I also remember a time I was swimming in a public pool and this teenager accused me of picking my nose and went on to tell his friends and they all gave me dirty looks and went “Yeewwwww”. I swear I didn’t pick my nose! Honest!
Anyway, I have a selection criteria for my new home when move out of Singapore:
I like my country and I will keep my business entity in Singapore. We have lower income taxes and its a very safe and stable place to live in. Problem is… It’s also an expensive and stressful place to live in. I just can’t see myself living the life I want to live in Singapore.
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Haha! Seems like you are looking for a Utopia. I’ve been around the block and I’ll tell you now that there’s no place that’s perfect. No matter where you live there will always be something you hate about it.
Focus on the good things and not so much on the bad.
I’ve been to Singapore and all I can say is I had a hard time getting my neck unstuck from looking down at all the gorgeous women’s rears. I don’t think I’ve been anywhere with as many perfect women’s butts as Singapore.
I was stationed out of Yokosuka, Japan in the US Navy for years and have been just about everywhere in Asia. I’ve lived in about 8 states over here in America as well. I’ve also been to Australia and it was great, but I’m a white guy so I didn’t have to worry about any race issues.
I’d suggest staying out of a place where you’ll have barriers such as race placed on you. It will not only mess with your mind and you could face higher rent and other things some racist people could try and impose on you. Plus there’s race riots happening over there. Why you would want to go there is beyond me.
Stick to your online business. Work hard, make it grow and then expenses won’t be as much of an issue.
As the old saying goes, make the most of what you’ve got & be greatful that you still have the more important things in your life right now…like your family, friends & health. I can’t deny that life in Singapore can be expensive. But that depends on the indiviuals perception & the type of life style he or she wants to live. Not forgetting their material desire. In an uncertain era that we’re living in right now, security is a main issue in everyones mind. As much as most ungreatful people like to complain about how expensive & fxxx-up our homeland is,there is no amount of money in the world that could buy the social,economical & civil defence/security that we all take for granted here in Singapore. Let’s not even talk about far off countries like US or The Middle East. Our neighbours Indonesia & Australia are not spared from all sorts of evil & they were once popular tourist attractions. I’m glad you’d finally made the right decision. Singapore isn’t as boring as you think it is…as long as you know where to look & who to hang-out with. Furthermore, you’d barely begun your journey in martial arts. Hopefully, with proper training & guidance, you’ll mature further & be a great martial artist + buisnessman.
with love & respects
—Z—
Thanks for sharing your experience…
If cost of living is not a problem (well it usually is), Edinburgh can be a really nice place. Friendly and helpful folks, full of cultural activities, more tolerance in term of races, etc. My uncle and aunt were there for several years and I had visited them once for about 3 weeks. The city is a much friendlier place than London.
Unlike US or Australia, UK is a place where you can feel less racial tension.
It is nice to stay in another cool whethered country for several years. (My dream city is Ediburgh.) But ultimately I will want to come back to my own country where chinese foods, teh tarik and roti canai are cheap and friends are abundant.
My great grandparents came all the way down from China to Malaysia and Indonesia searching for a better life.
My mother’s family in Indonesia didn’t really like the life in Indonesia because it isn’t very safe to live there with frequent riots and earthquakes. Not to mention racism against Chinese. They were not allowed to use their Chinese surname in Indonesia and they finally changed their surname to its original name once they moved to Singapore.
My Dad moved to Singapore from Malaysia by himself because he didn’t like the corruption and lack of opportunities in Malaysia. He didn’t want to simply join the family business and do what his brothers and uncles were doing. He wanted to live a life that was his own. (Sounds like Zhang Ziyi in the Geisha movie.. Hehe!)
My parents spent about 20 years in Singapore, made some money but they weren’t happy with their lives. They simply couldn’t enjoy the fruits of their labour in Singapore. So they decided to move to Perth in the mid 1980s. One of the things on their mind was if I could get an Australian citizenship, I would be able to skip my 2.5 years of military service in Singapore.
Too bad for my parents… They were unwilling to integrate into the Aussie community and way of life. They only mixed around with their fellow Chinese friends and never had any Australian friends. Their spoken English wasn’t that great and that was a problem too.
For me and my sister… It was blast! We had no problems making friends with the locals. School was actually FUN with 2 breaks per day. We were allowed to bring toys to school and play with them. After school, we would usualy invite one another to play at someone’s house for the whole afternoon.
In my opinion, if you want to move to a new place. You have to “do as the locals do”. My parents failed in that department. Chinese aren’t known to be the most polite people in the world and when you’re dealing with Australians who are one of the most polite and friendly people in the world, there will be problem if you don’t start being nice and polite.
Everyone was happy except for my Dad. As the man of the house, he decided to return to Singapore. Because I have a reference to the 2 types of lifestyles, I can tell people from my personal experience on the kind of life that suits me better.
A lot of my Singaporean friends think I complain too much. I believe they say that because they compare Singapore to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia and say we are better off and we should be grateful. I compare Singapore to Australia, New Zealand, and other developed countries and tell them our lifestyles suck and if you want to, you could experience a better life somewhere else.
I’m all for being grateful for what Singapore has given us but that doesn’t mean I must repay Singapore by living and working here all my life. I pay my taxes and served 2.5 years in the army. I feel that I have done my bit for the country and I can now leave this place to start a better life elsewhere.
The “Singapore System” is not for everyone. After spending 13 years in school, 2.5 years in the army, I feel that I’ve had enough. Life in Singapore is about work, work, work. Work hard in school, work hard after school, work hard during work time, work for free with no overtime pay after work time etc.. Nothing wrong with hard work but if it sacrifices your quality of life, then its a problem.
Yes! I do want a bigger house with a nice garden and all the material comforts that I can afford. I won’t apologise or feel sorry for wanting these things. But at the end of the day, all I want is peace of mind, waking up everyday feeling great and happy with myself and my life.
I don’t wish to deprive myself of a good life for the sake of me and my future family. I don’t want my children to grow up in a stressful environment without enough time to play freely. I don’t want them to spend more time with a maid than with me.
Just a few days ago I was asking my friend out for dinner. He told me something like, “Sorry man, I gotta work late almost every night. I have to have dinner near my office and go back to work immediately to finish my work! I’ve got no choice. Life’s like this.”.
If this is your idea of life then suit yourself. I value my FREEDOM too much to put myself in such a lousy situation again.
It’s no better here in the US. For all the talk of “the gold paved streets” most of the people in this country work their asses off and have little to show for it except debt.
Sure you can make a fortune here, but you can just as easily end up working 2-3 jobs 6 days a week.
If you want to be all laid back and lazy go to France (sorry it has to be said) where they have socialized everything and like 30 hour work weeks and complain if they have to work more than that.
I understand your frustration, but I don’t think you realize it’s the same almost wherever you go.
As far as your statement on assimilating into the culture of the nation you’re in, YOU MUST! If you want to move to New York or San Francisco and live your whole life in Chinatown you’re not going to get anywhere in this country (and it’s the same for most of the other developed countries) You’re only doing yourself a disservice by hiding in your little culturalized portion of the country you’re in and limiting your options to 1.
I understand your frustrations totally Vince, I was just as frustrated at your age, that’s why I went in the Navy. Just realize that it’s your age and inexperience talking (that’s not a put down, it’s a little hint from someone who’s been where you are). I’m approaching mid-thirties now and still don’t know where I want to settle down (I’m in upstate farm country New York right now where things are cheap).
Get a stable base of income going online and then you can move some place cheap and live off the income while you formulate a plan of attack. Moving sets you back to square 1. You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders. It’ll take a lot of work, but you only have to do it once! So put your nose to the grindstone!
I agree with you Digger. I need to build a stable base of income before I move off to another place with lower cost of living. I estimate it will take about 2 years for me to automate my business to run without me with a team and system in place. Then I’ll be able to relax a little bit, enjoy my life, and formulate my next plan of attack. Right now… Its a lot of work to do build up to that level.
One of the guys emailed me a link:
World’s Smallest Political Quiz
The ORIGINAL Internet Political Quiz - Take the Quiz now and find out where you fit on the political map!
==> http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
ACCORDING TO MY ANSWERS, The political description that
fits mebest is…
LIBERTARIAN
LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and
economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence.
Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.
Seems to fit your outlook on things.
Hi Vincent.
This time last year I was in Singapore for 3 days which was excellent, and so were the people.
I then went to Perth for 5 weeks, then carried on around the world through Sydney, all over New Zealand, Fiji and USA.
I understand your problems in Perth (I’m a white guy) but for me it is Utopia. I live in Birmingham UK which has no sunshine, no ocean nearby and everyone is stressed out.
I hope you find your utopia - I’ve found mine. It’s Perth in WA and I’m going back there soon. Good luck.
Vincent, I really hope you find a place where you can be truly happy
[...] again. I have been putting in the initial steps to get myself out of Singapore for good. My previous migration attempt failed because the relationship between my mum and his brother, who is an Australian citizen, broke [...]