No. I was in Singapore from 2012 till July this year. Yes, it's fairly expensive (particularly rent, car, alcohol and tobacco), but one can also find great cheap food everywhere, taxis and public transportation is cheap.
It gets quite a few tourists, but I don't see the attraction. On the other hand, it's an all round great place to live. But only if you're making money.
My home country of Canada is OK, but its economy will tank along with the US / EU / Japan economies in 2018 or so. I'm sure the entire world will suffer from the coming crash, but countries such as these in SE Asia are still growing, and they have much more cohesive societies than in the west, so I believe they might survive relatively unscathed, and hopefully thrive.
The sense of family and community is very striking to me here. They work in "gangs." Every task has 4 employees plus onlookers. Back in the states it's every man for himself. In my first hotel in the first week, the cleaning ladies were in the elevator riding up and down for about an hour scrubbing like crazy with toothbrushes and so happy! I had to keep going up and down and they were just thrilled to see me each time and got out to give me room when I had a big load of junk I was taking up.
I used to be in management and I was thinking of who I could have ever convinced to do this job - and so happily! It was one of my shocking moments here, as is entering a 711 at 3 am and finding 10 people thrilled to be tearing the place apart to scrub it and greeting me like their long-lost cousin.
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Yep. Just a brief reply. I find that most people thru-out SE Asia tend to be rather cheerful and content, REGARDLESS of the circumstances of their lives. Many of them earn minimal incomes, and of course, they might try every day to sell more goods or somehow earn more money.
But that is secondary. If the money does not come today or ever, it's hardly a matter of any great concern to them. (And they don't have maxed-out credit cards.)
They work happily, they relax happily, and they live happily. More cheer to them!
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