@ OP
Not sure if you've made your decision as of yet but I would throw in my current home base of Singapore into the mix.
Now you don't read too much on here about Singapore, particularly as compared to other SEA destinations such as Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta etc. But you need to make a crucial distinction here: Living somewhere and visiting/partying somewhere are two very different things.
I discovered this in 2015 when I quit my job and decided to go travelling for a bit. Initially I had great fun making my way around SEA and EE among other destinations but after a few months I soon became very sick of hopping from one airbnb to another and dragging my case about. Travelling around the world chasing skirt is all well and good. But I found that I can only really enjoy it in small doses. That and I pull much hotter better girls on home turf anyway, leveraging connections I've built and social circle game. On top of that I valued having a decent apartment, solid routine and good social circle with lots of mates to do stuff with and solid harem of high quality girls as more important. As compared to constantly moving between hostels/airbnbs, chasing sloppy 4s off tinder or in shit touristy bars recommended by outdated datasheets just to 'get the flag' and ticking off countries just to say i've been there tho having barely scratched the surface of any.
As for Asia you mentioned the likes of Bangkok, Vietnam and Japan. For a short term visit then for sure I would recommend all three above SG. However, to live, the chaos of the likes of Bangkok and Saigon which seems endearing and 'adds character' to a place during a short term visit is just annoying and stressful for an expat living there. And the weirdness and total lack of english in Japan which seems fascinating to travellers will make integration in the short term extremely challenging.
For me when choosing your home base you want it to be as easy going as possible. As you said, somewhere to chill while you're not travelling. So you want solid infrastructure, efficiency, cleanliness, easy to work, easy to make friends, good weather etc. Basically something which makes your day to day routine as stress free as possible.
Anyway, looking at it in terms of your non-negotiables I would say the following:
- Check. Add in that you have the World's best airport a 20 minute taxi ride from the centre. As one of the most connected airports in the world. You're a short, cheap budget flight away from some of the best party places in the world (Jakarta, Bangkok, Saigon, Manila, Bali, Taiwan, HK, Thai islands etc etc) as well as directly connected to most main cities in the world
- Check. Although decent beach options are limited to the island of Sentosa it's still pretty easy to get to
- Check. It's definitely not cold thats for sure. However it can be too warm and humid which can get annoying when sweating through the front of your shirt when you go for some alfresco beers in the evening
- Check.
- Check
In addition:
- The most modern and easiest place to live in SE Asia - As mentioned above, the madness and chaos of other SE Asian cities which make them so popular with tourists very quickly get on your tits if you're actually living there. Singapore is referred to as 'boring' and 'lacks soul' but everything works, no real traffic, superb public transport, everything is clean and day to day life is very stress free. In fact it's the most westernized city in all of Asia with english spoken by everyone, it is commonly referred to as 'Asia lite'. So it is very easy to integrate into when you move there, even if you've never been to Asia before.
- Healthcare which u also mentioned somewhere. Singapore's healthcare is among the best in the world, however it certainly does not come cheap. For non emergency stuff however you can easily fly over to the likes of Bangkok where you'll receive nearly as good healthcare at a fraction of the cost
- great expat networks. Particularly if you play sports. I signed up to a football club when I got here and almost instantly had 120 mates. On top of that the club was so well organised it almost felt like a semi-professional outfit. With full kits plus shirt sponsors, games with refs and linesmen on perfect pitches, regular club organised events and beer discount deals for bars around the island.
Drawbacks:
Not everywhere is perfect so below I have listed off what I think are the major drawbacks of living in SG
- Fuuuuuucking expensive. Booze in particular. And rent if you want a decently located place. Not everything is super expensive however, cabs aren't too bad and food courts are good value also. If you land yourself a decent job then you should be covered. However which leads me onto my next point...
- Hard for an expat to get a job Depending on your specialism the job market is potentially shrinking as roles are moved out to lower cost locations. On top of that the government is cracking down on the number of foreigners working here also, making it harder and harder for them to get employment passes and forcing firms to strongly favour local talent first.
You mentioned you're in software development. Not sure if you're looking to continue that from being location independent, if so then it will need to pay very well for Singapore to be a factor. So point 1 above might be a dealbreaker. Otherwise you'll be looking for a role locally, in which case point 2 might be a showstopper.
- Mediocre nightlife & girls. As compared to the rest of SE Asia anyway. Compared to most of the west however it probably is still superior, girls-wise at least. Regardless however, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as mentioned above you have tonnes of awesome party destinations well within reach so any weekend you want to go nuts you can just book a <$100 return flight. After a huge Jakarta weekend, I see flying back to Singapore a 'return to normality' and if you want to take it easy, try get back into shape and save money, there's not much temptation here to throw you off your plan. Plus for girls, you'll inevitably meet plenty crackers when you go travelling around SE Asia and they're never going to turn down a weekend trip to Singapore. So if the local girls don't stack up to your standards you can always fly others in.
Dunno if that gives you a bit more favour for Asia. For me SG is ideal even though I do most of my partying (and pulling) in Jakarta. I can definitely see me staying here long term for sure
Not sure if you've made your decision as of yet but I would throw in my current home base of Singapore into the mix.
Now you don't read too much on here about Singapore, particularly as compared to other SEA destinations such as Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta etc. But you need to make a crucial distinction here: Living somewhere and visiting/partying somewhere are two very different things.
I discovered this in 2015 when I quit my job and decided to go travelling for a bit. Initially I had great fun making my way around SEA and EE among other destinations but after a few months I soon became very sick of hopping from one airbnb to another and dragging my case about. Travelling around the world chasing skirt is all well and good. But I found that I can only really enjoy it in small doses. That and I pull much hotter better girls on home turf anyway, leveraging connections I've built and social circle game. On top of that I valued having a decent apartment, solid routine and good social circle with lots of mates to do stuff with and solid harem of high quality girls as more important. As compared to constantly moving between hostels/airbnbs, chasing sloppy 4s off tinder or in shit touristy bars recommended by outdated datasheets just to 'get the flag' and ticking off countries just to say i've been there tho having barely scratched the surface of any.
As for Asia you mentioned the likes of Bangkok, Vietnam and Japan. For a short term visit then for sure I would recommend all three above SG. However, to live, the chaos of the likes of Bangkok and Saigon which seems endearing and 'adds character' to a place during a short term visit is just annoying and stressful for an expat living there. And the weirdness and total lack of english in Japan which seems fascinating to travellers will make integration in the short term extremely challenging.
For me when choosing your home base you want it to be as easy going as possible. As you said, somewhere to chill while you're not travelling. So you want solid infrastructure, efficiency, cleanliness, easy to work, easy to make friends, good weather etc. Basically something which makes your day to day routine as stress free as possible.
Anyway, looking at it in terms of your non-negotiables I would say the following:
Quote:Quote:
1. It is a major hub (or close enough to a hub) so that traveling domestically and internationally would be a non-issue.
- Check. Add in that you have the World's best airport a 20 minute taxi ride from the centre. As one of the most connected airports in the world. You're a short, cheap budget flight away from some of the best party places in the world (Jakarta, Bangkok, Saigon, Manila, Bali, Taiwan, HK, Thai islands etc etc) as well as directly connected to most main cities in the world
Quote:Quote:
2. Close to the ocean or on the ocean.
- Check. Although decent beach options are limited to the island of Sentosa it's still pretty easy to get to
Quote:Quote:
3. Mild climate. I don't mind cool, but would like to stay above freezing year round.
- Check. It's definitely not cold thats for sure. However it can be too warm and humid which can get annoying when sweating through the front of your shirt when you go for some alfresco beers in the evening
Quote:Quote:
4. Relatively large city/metropolitan area. In excess of a million people for sure. I enjoy the bigger city vibe, it's inspirational to me, makes me work harder.
- Check.
Quote:Quote:
5. Fairly tax friendly for both corporate and personal tax rates.
- Check
In addition:
- The most modern and easiest place to live in SE Asia - As mentioned above, the madness and chaos of other SE Asian cities which make them so popular with tourists very quickly get on your tits if you're actually living there. Singapore is referred to as 'boring' and 'lacks soul' but everything works, no real traffic, superb public transport, everything is clean and day to day life is very stress free. In fact it's the most westernized city in all of Asia with english spoken by everyone, it is commonly referred to as 'Asia lite'. So it is very easy to integrate into when you move there, even if you've never been to Asia before.
- Healthcare which u also mentioned somewhere. Singapore's healthcare is among the best in the world, however it certainly does not come cheap. For non emergency stuff however you can easily fly over to the likes of Bangkok where you'll receive nearly as good healthcare at a fraction of the cost
- great expat networks. Particularly if you play sports. I signed up to a football club when I got here and almost instantly had 120 mates. On top of that the club was so well organised it almost felt like a semi-professional outfit. With full kits plus shirt sponsors, games with refs and linesmen on perfect pitches, regular club organised events and beer discount deals for bars around the island.
Drawbacks:
Not everywhere is perfect so below I have listed off what I think are the major drawbacks of living in SG
- Fuuuuuucking expensive. Booze in particular. And rent if you want a decently located place. Not everything is super expensive however, cabs aren't too bad and food courts are good value also. If you land yourself a decent job then you should be covered. However which leads me onto my next point...
- Hard for an expat to get a job Depending on your specialism the job market is potentially shrinking as roles are moved out to lower cost locations. On top of that the government is cracking down on the number of foreigners working here also, making it harder and harder for them to get employment passes and forcing firms to strongly favour local talent first.
You mentioned you're in software development. Not sure if you're looking to continue that from being location independent, if so then it will need to pay very well for Singapore to be a factor. So point 1 above might be a dealbreaker. Otherwise you'll be looking for a role locally, in which case point 2 might be a showstopper.
- Mediocre nightlife & girls. As compared to the rest of SE Asia anyway. Compared to most of the west however it probably is still superior, girls-wise at least. Regardless however, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as mentioned above you have tonnes of awesome party destinations well within reach so any weekend you want to go nuts you can just book a <$100 return flight. After a huge Jakarta weekend, I see flying back to Singapore a 'return to normality' and if you want to take it easy, try get back into shape and save money, there's not much temptation here to throw you off your plan. Plus for girls, you'll inevitably meet plenty crackers when you go travelling around SE Asia and they're never going to turn down a weekend trip to Singapore. So if the local girls don't stack up to your standards you can always fly others in.
Dunno if that gives you a bit more favour for Asia. For me SG is ideal even though I do most of my partying (and pulling) in Jakarta. I can definitely see me staying here long term for sure
Irish