Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cmxc]

My Top 10 Reasons Singapore Beats Seoul
I moved to Singapore 3 months ago, after living in Seoul for almost 12 years.
My only regret? That I didn’t move to Singapore sooner!!!
Here are my top 10 reasons Singapore beats the pants off Seoul:

10 Better variety and selection of food!
Singapore is simply a culinary delight. There are so many variety of foods and countless food courts with inexpensive Chinese and Southeast Asian foods.

9 Greenery, parks, gardens everywhere!
It’s amazing to see trees growing on the sides of buildings and so many parks and gardens. Singapore embraces nature, whereas most of Seoul can be grey and dreary, with so little greenery.

8 Truly international populace living in harmony!
Singapore is truly international, and there is no immutable psychological barrier dividing ‘foreigners’ and locals. In addition the government takes very active steps to maintain harmony, with severe penalties for those who undermine it with discriminatory behavior.

7 Taxi drivers all speak English and never try to rip you off!
Singapore taxi drivers all speak English and there are strict regulations with regard to fares and the meters to protect visitors and locals alike from being ripped off by a taxi driver.

6 Sunny and warm weather all year round!
Singapore is almost always sunny and warm, but not too hot to be unbearable. The sun influences people’s attitudes and outlooks.

5 My spacious condo has a Swimming pool!
I lived in shoebox apartment in Seoul, and could hear the neighbors and the sounds of outside traffic, etc. In Singapore every condo has a swimming pool, and it’s awesome to go for a morning and evening swim, or just drink a beer next to the pool side.

4 Professional and world class colleagues from all over the world!
Singapore is one of the most highly sought after professional destinations in the world. The people I work with are truly world class, and represent some of the best talent on the globe. In Seoul, the usual litmus test for talent is Korean language ability. Many of the best English-speaking-Koreans leave to live and work outside Korea by choice. Many of the expats in Seoul are there because they “couldn't get a decent job in their home country”, and not because Seoul was their top choice to live and work.

3 Fantastic dating prospects with people from all over the world!
Because Singapore is such a top choice for talent, you have the opportunity to meet friendly and positive people from all over the world. From a male perspective, there are so many attractive females in Singapore, and none of them have the culturally backward mindset that plagued so many of the Korean females my friends were in relationships with in Seoul. You can easily meet Singaporeans, Chinese, Americans, Europeans, Southeast Asians, etc. etc. (and even plentiful Koreans if you are a glutton for punishment).

2 Corruption virtually non-existent, as is littering and spitting!
The Singapore government is a true meritocracy! The officials are really good at what they do and the government is super-efficient and effective. Seoul’s (and Korea’s) government is full of incompetent peasants, who are all about corruption, cronyism, and nepotism. Singapore’s government has produced one of the finest city-states in the world. Korea has produced the Sewol tragedy and evidenced comic incompetence handling MERS. Corruption multiplies endlessly in Seoul, but in Singapore nobody gets away with it.

1 DON’T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH KOREAN CRAP!
This is by far the greatest reason Singapore beats the pants off Seoul. I don’t have to put up with Korean crap! I don’t have to watch an incompetent government show toadyism to the utterly corrupt Chaebol. I don’t have to put up with Kpoop. I don’t have to pretend to like or admire Korean culture. I don’t have to massage the insecure egos of Koreans who are always asking me ‘what do I like about Korea?’ I don’t have to be asked all the time if food is too spicy for me. I don’t have to watch people hawking loogies everywhere. I don’t have to feel sick to my stomach walking down the street seeing so much freakazoid plastic surgery face or Kangnam noses. I don’t have to ‘understand our unique culture’ when every single aspect of that culture has been ripped off either from China, Japan, or the US. I don’t have to show deference to someone just because he or she was born one second earlier than me. I don’t have to fear some drunk old fart calling my girlfriend a yankee *beep* because she is dating me. I don’t have to accept it when 300 dead kids die an icy death so the captain and crew can be the first to abandon ship and drink beers while watching the ship sink. And perhaps best of all, I don’t have to put up with Korea apologists rushing to defend Korea from every justly deserved criticism. These apologists are like Cypher in the Matrix movie:

[Weigookin74]

I don't think Singapore is going to hire folks to teach English. So, it's kind of a moot point isn't it? I mean I'd love to live in Key West Florida during the winter months, but I don't think folks are going to throw cash at me to teach them English. I'd love to live in my native Maritimes in the summer, but the economy's so bankrupt that folks won't throw money at me there either.

[radcon]

What are you doing there, may I ask?

[edwardcatflap]

Pretty much agree with most of that, though anyone who complains about taxi drivers ripping you off in Korea needs to take a reality check by living somewhere like Thailand, Southern Italy or Egypt for a while.

I also really like the international feel here in Hong Kong where you don't feel like a foreigner all the time. Like Hong Kong I heard rental prices are outrageous in Singapore though. How much are you paying for your condo? Here You'd have to shell out around 2000 dollars a month for a small two bedroom apartment an hour out of the city, if you wanted access to a swimming pool. I was renting a 4 bed place in the centre of Seoul for 1500.

[edwardcatflap]

[Chaparrastique]

[Lazio]

[quote="cmxc"]6 Sunny and warm weather all year round!

Singapore is warm? I don't know what would you consider hot but 30-33 Celsius degrees year round with 70-80% humidity or more, is hot as hell for me.

[radcon]

Singapore weather sucks. Liquor and smokes are way way too expensive. Rents are oppressive. Fascist government. The local women are no great shakes and the people are passionless workaholic money grubbers- so much so that the government tries to get people date each other and work less so as to produce offspring.

[tophatcat]

[Chaparrastique]

[cj1976]

That grass is definitely greener. Right now I have a couple of Singaporean relatives living in England and more trying to join them. They would probably disagree with that sort of glowing review, having lived there since birth. If you think Singapore is some sort of utopia, then that is sad.

[Died By Bear]

Happy for you OP, may you live your life without pain and enjoy the fruit of your labor.

[PRagic]

Oh, I thought the title was literal and the thread was about caning.

[denverdeath]

Well, I've had the grand total of TWO individuals whom I've met in my life that have spent a lot of time in Singapore.

One, is a Korean "trade" dude who coughed ALL over my already sick kids in one of the apartment's elevators that I used to live in. GLAD I'm not his neighbour anymore. Hacking disease-ridden jerk.

Two, was an actual Singaporean. He was attending a movie and decided to break my friend's nose with a sucker-punch while we were watching a P/Biff film because he thought we were too boisterous. I walked around the cop shop while he and my friend were giving their own statements of what happened. Needless to say, Singaporeans, at least this one, are a bunch of liars. Anyway, glad that my friend didn't let him go after the sucker, and threw him down and pummeled him. Also, glad dude was a foreigner as the cops just told him and my friend to go home at the end of it all.

Yeah, so that, and the no chewing gum shit makes me NOT want to visit that craphole ever.

[creeper1]

Anyone teaching English in Singapore isn't going to have much disposable income.

It is the type of job (more a hobby) that the wives of international bankers or other expats do when they arrive.

If you take a look at Dave's Singapore section there is a post approximately once every two months.

Korea and Singapore are not comparable in any way whatsoever as an TEFL destination.