I think USD$180,000 is much too high to be likely, but you definitely can’t get a car for USD$20,000. Not a car buyer myself, but according to the Automobile Assoc web site, a Rover starts at S$108,000 (around US$60,000 I think).
AFAIK, the car itself isn’t expensive, but the bulk of the cost comes from paying for a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) to give you the right to own one. The government only grants a limited number of COEs it gives out each month and people have to bid for them. The price varies but on average, this piece of paper will set you back about US$13,000–20,000 maybe. Then there’s road tax, which is about US$500 a year, insurance, etc.
The COE flucates very often - it’s gotten through bidding, and so in times when economy are bad one could get it a cheap price…Once there was this man who bids at $5 and got it…
And the government promptly moved in to fix the loophole…but I think the man still got his COE.
I just checked back on this thread and WOW! I can’t moon ladies or traffic drugs, gotcha. Bummer, I will have to find a new hobby then.
Yep, car is out of the question and the weather is something I’m sure I will have problems with. I myself consider 18ºC the optimum temperature, heh.
Looks like I’m gonna live in a place called Diary Farm. Anyone heard of it?
Any specific interests? I’m into sports a bit. I’ve been playing American Football for some time as FS, SS and LB (mind you the quality of football in Sweden is looooow). Any American Football going on in Singapore? Sports is always a good way to meet people. I’ve noticed they have a lot of rugby teams there but playing without a helmet, noooooo thanks.
Any good clubs for live Rock and Roll? Love the tip regarding the Esplanade!
Can you rent Kayaks anywhere? Climbing?
Thanks again people I’m learning a lot here and the links are very useful indeed.
American Football? It’s Rugby here, I think. Not really popular, but they do have a standing national team. Basketball and sorcer are all in the rage. Almost every blocks of flat is adjacant to a street sorcer court, sorcer field or basketball court.
Diary’s Farm? If I am not mistaken, it is near a natural preservation area (Bukit Timah), which is quite out of the way (well…compared to places…) Cannot really be sure - there aren’t much farms around in Singapore…
Kayaking, yes. The coastal areas do have such. East Coast, Sembawang Park and Pulau Ubin are some of the few places that I know. I believe there’s rock climbing at Bukit Timah.
Clubs are usually located alongside Singapore River, Clark Quay. You get to meet quite a lot of expats too.
LostCause– $5? when was that? I thought the lowest was $100…
Dairy Farm-- don’t expect to see any cows. It’s a normal residential district. Don’t know anything very interesting about it.
I’ve not heard of anyone playing American football but I’m not sure-- perhaps the expat community does play among themselves. But yah, we do have rugby.
18degrees-- you’re going to have a lot of adjusting to do though if you’re lucky, you’ll be in one of those offices where they turn the air con down to such sub-zero temperatures.
Live rock and roll-- there’s a band called Jive Talking which has been around for a long time and they’re apparently quite tight. They play at China Jump at Chijmes.
Oh yes you should visit Chijmes too. It’s a lovely old building in the middle of the city. It used to be a convent school, with gothicky architecture, stained-glass chapel windows and all, arranged like a cloister around a courtyard. Now it’s been de-consecrated and converted to restaurants, bars and clubs-- very pleasant in the evenings.
Kayaks are easy to find. You can definitely rent them at East Coast Park, which is a very popular strip of park where half of the teenagers of Singapore can be found having barbeques on any given weekend. There are other places too.
I only ever spent time in the Airport, but one nice thing is that as Changi is a hub for Asia, you can get anywhere you like very easily. Take advantage of the ability to travel to places you may not get to visit again- E.g Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia…
though if you’re lucky, you’ll be in one of those offices where they turn the air con down to such sub-zero temperatures.