大咖福利影院

Veedushi wrote:

Hello everyone,

Would you like to share your expat experience?

HSBC Expat Explorer Survey is launching its 2016 survey so as to determine which are the best expat destinations worldwide.

If you are 18 or more and you wish to share you views about your host country, feel free to fill in the survey here:

The survey officially started on March 7 and will last until April 17. Thereafter, results will be available for comparison on the Expat Explorer tool.

Hi Veedushi. HSBC can send me a message to my inbox in online banking if they want me to participate in this survey. I have reservations doing it through a blog site.

It is a legitimate website. Though it is most likely used by hsbc as a marketing tool and a sponsor for expatdotcom which means sizeable money.
You can go direct to it from bank link here:

I am most surprised by the 2015 results though, placing Bahrain and UAE as top places to be. You wouldnt want to run amok the gender laws over there...
Singapore as expected is number 1 and Indonesia lagging behind at 33.

New Zealand seems to be a nice place, depending on your goal or step in life.

鈥淪ingapore as expected is number 1 and Indonesia lagging behind at 33.鈥�

I have to laugh every time I read a comparison of Singapore to Indonesia insofar as benefits and appeal for expatriate living.

It鈥檚 literally impossible to compare a tiny city state to a vast and endlessly diverse country as Indonesia.

Relying on woefully inadequate surveys as a determining factor in making this sort of choice is folly beyond belief.

Unless one has actually spent a good deal of time in any location they are considering to call home, then they are only throwing the dice鈥�and that is all.

And of course, this only makes me chuckle when thinking about the numerous Singaporean expats I know who are living on Bali.聽

Singapore has always been considered the ultimate place to live for professional expatriates in the Far East.

I don't mean the expats who retire or globe trot or want to just hangout out in a cool or wild place like Pattaya or Manila or Bali, but I mean those with serious and well paid jobs and who get their houses or apartments paid for with the full expat package and who live a luxury lifestyle. And your salary would probably be so high that every month or two you'd be off with your family for a break to Hong Kong, Kota Kinabalu, Bali, Langkawi, Chiang Mai etc.

Singapore is where professional expats aim to end up. They get the best expatriate package in Singapore compared to most other countries, best schools for their children, car allowance, they get free membership to the American Club or British Club and basically live a very civilised and enjoyable lifestyle. If you have never been a professional expatriate then you might not understand. Those who work for companies like Ernst and Young, Ogilvy, or even the British Council will know that being relocated to Singapore is one of the ultimate expat destinations as far as expat packages and quality of life is concerned. It is also the place least likely to cause culture shock.

As a place for retirement, Singapore is probably going to be far too expensive for most, unless you own your own apartment or condo in Singapore.

For me, I love the place. I lived in Singapore as a child for a few years in the 1950's, and was an expat there in the 1980's. I waterskied and windsurfed there, I owned a Kawasaki z650 motorbike, and I got a full expat package which also included a free flight home once a year. I travelled to other countries a lot to places like Malaysia and Bali (where I still prefer to visit for holidays rather than to live).

Mind you, now I choose Indonesia as my base but I still travel overseas all the time. If I was a professional expat and younger, I would choose Singapore, Tokyo or Hong Kong to live rather than Indonesia. But for retirement, low cost of living, and a bit of danger then Indonesia is nice.

And for the Singaporean expats who prefer to live in Bali or Australia or Canada or wherever, of course the grass is always greener on the other side, and of course they get disillusioned with the many rules in Singapore and there will always be some who prefer a different lifestyle and will refer to Singapore as a concrete jungle.

Anyway, Singapore being No. 1 is fully understandable. And Indonesia not being anywhere near the top, well we all love Indonesia as it has so many great things here, but if you look at the negative things that might affect many expats such as crime, traffic, poverty, language problem, instability, dengue, child kidnapping, food poisoning etc, then you can understand why Singapore comes top and Indonesia is far down the list of favourite places.

An interesting viewpoint, but not one that I share.聽 In my view, a truly professional expat is not one who lands a job with an accounting firm or embassy, (simply a matter of being selected and with little or no risk involved), but rather is one who starts his or her own business and is totally self-reliant.聽 And that of course, is at considerable risk.聽

While I鈥檝e never lived in Singapore I have spent considerable time there and for me, I couldn鈥檛 wait to get back on the plane and head back to Bali.聽 I find Singapore to be way too Orwellian, (1984) and almost surreal.聽 Indeed, it is probably perfect for that sort of westerner who needs the assurances that most things will be much as they are back home and who lacks any love for adventure or taste for variety.聽 And frankly, I鈥檝e never met a western expat whose main goal in life was to land a cushy job there鈥�and I鈥檓 speaking of expats I鈥檝e met in Singapore.聽 聽

I鈥檓 an art historian by education, so for me Singapore lacks most of what I crave鈥�that being a rich historical culture.聽 Two hundred years ago, Singapore didn鈥檛 exist as anything, and it is essentially nothing more than the contrivance of an English colonial tycoon鈥�viz, Raffles.

Singapore reflects nothing of Asian culture or history, aside from modern history and the effects/results of past colonial powers.聽 Indeed, even the 鈥渋ndigenous population鈥� is in fact nothing less than the descendants of Indians, Chinese and Malaysians imported for work.聽 Disneyland is fun to visit, but for certain, I鈥檇 never want to live there.聽

I'm reminded of a popular Polish wedding song..."you can have her, I don't want her, she's too fat for me."聽 聽

Having the financial wherewithal to live anywhere on the planet I would like, Singapore would be on my list somewhere around where Indonesia is on this list鈥�33 or even lower.

But as you note, 鈥渄ifferent strokes for different folks鈥濃��and just for the record, Bali is not just a place where folks like to hang out by the ocean or pool with their cocktails and laptops.聽 Quite the contrary, and self evident for those who know Bali.聽 聽

A transfer within a large corporate entity to their Singapore office is one thing, whereas a move to Bali (or anywhere else in Indonesia) to start a business or find employment is quite another matter.