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| Ion Orchard, Singapore. Photo by my friend Brian. |
The 2014 list of most expensive cities to live in has been revealed, and Singapore is at the top! I can’t believe it! Paris, Oslo, Zurich and Sydney are among its peers. You can read more about it on BBC.
So what’s so expensive here, you might be wondering. Not the food. That is pretty affordable, you can get meals for around S$5 or less in a hawker stall. The utility bills are also not that high, compared to the Philippines, anyway.
It is the most expensive place in the world to buy clothes, apparently. School tuition fees and hospital bills are astronomical if you’re not a citizen or PR. I once went to a hospital and they wanted to admit me for a night but when I was told it would cost S$5000 minimum, I said, I was fine, really, thank you very much.
Housing is quite costly. Some families can’t even afford to rent out an entire flat for themselves. The rent I pay for a room I share with someone else can pay for an entire flat back in the Philippines.
Cars are very expensive too. Singapore is a micro-country, so they do their best not to overcrowd the streets by discouraging people from buying cars by keeping its costs and taxes high. I don’t have any close friends here who owns one, actually. Below is an interview of the Fast and Furious stars where they were asked to guess the price of cars in Singapore. They were so shocked to find that they cost about twice as much compared to USA.
I suppose the price to pay for a clean, efficient, safe, and modern city is high, but worth it, in my opinion. There is no such thing as a free lunch, after all.
I heard about this as well. Would love to pop over to Singapore for a weekend while I"m in Hong Kong!
Yeah – housing and cars tend to be the culprit over here along with energy bills. I think this will happen over here transport wise, as it's becoming very congested.
Public transport in Singapore is awesome! I must say, as a tourist I found it very expensive
Singapore actually has a good idea w the transport thing. There's less traffic here. (Compare to the Philippines, I mean.)
Oh yes, it is quite expensive here compared to other Asian countries, no?
I heard about this as well. Would love to pop over to Singapore for a weekend while I"m in Hong Kong!
Singapore actually has a good idea w the transport thing. There's less traffic here. (Compare to the Philippines, I mean.)
Oh yes, it is quite expensive here compared to other Asian countries, no?
Public transport in Singapore is awesome! I must say, as a tourist I found it very expensive
Yeah – housing and cars tend to be the culprit over here along with energy bills. I think this will happen over here transport wise, as it's becoming very congested.