Should I head down south to Singapore?

I was having this thought for a long time already. From the day I started work here till now, this question always comes out everytime. Unfortunately it came out more frequently as of late.

There is something I am sensing not right here, have to somehow cabut before it is too late. I know some of you already cabut across the causeway, now I am wondering if I should go too.....

Patriotism is something from yesteryear. Gone are the days where you ask yourself what you should do for your country and not what your country should do for you.

Now recently I received 1 e-mail stating that if you have RM 3000 and a family (sole breadwinner) you simply cannot survive in KL. I did a little calculation so to speak, assuming I live in SJ and go to work in KL. Simply put, it is tough!

Petrol
Kilometers to and from work		30
RM per km		0.2
Average working days		21
		126
Kilometers to shopping/lepak		30
RM per km		0.2
Average days to lepak		5
		30
	Total petrol cost	156
LRT cost
LRT ticket (LRT only)		100
LRT station parking (RM 4*21 days, Taman Jaya)		84
Makan
Lunch at work		6
Working days		21
		126
Family cost
Parents and brother (good son)		600
Cost of Makan lunch and dinner weekend		50
No of weekend days		9
		450
	Sub-total family cost	1050
Car Costs
Road Tax (1.5 liter wira, from parents)		7.5
Servicing car (every 5k, 630km a month)		56.7
Insurance (1.5 liter wira, costs 10k, provided the insurance company such as P&O insurance dun hate old cars)		50.25
		114.45
House cost
Internet (RM 88 with line rental)		100
TNB (3 air-con in house, 1 for parents, 1 for bro, 1 for me)		350
Water (free, TQ PAKATAN RAKYAT!!!)		0
		450
	Total cost per month	RM1980.45

Oh dear, that is not even counting the following:-
Entertainment
Daily Newspaper
Insurance (our lives are so worthless)
Dating (you think can be single till die meh?)
Parking at shopping complexes and other locations when you go to site/meetings
Handphone
Toll
Toiletries
Car Loan
House Loan
Breakfast (forget makan roti, minum Milo and the like)

And to have someone saying we should change our lifestyle? Maybe we should change the country we live in or change where we live. Or maybe change the person who said we should change out lifestyle.

Ok, maybe can cut somemore, like not using air-con, not giving parents money and not using my car. But as a consultant which need to go for meetings and site meetings, you NEED a car. How about sales engineer? They too need a car to meet potential clients and bring along the brochures to let their clients see them. Using motor? Imagine how embrassing it is to tell your client "sorry sir, rain too heavy, cannot see you" or "sorry, I got motor only, cannot deliver sample board".

Can someone in Singapore/Korea/US/Australia do a cost calculation like the above to compare?

P.S: Sorry to rant so much on Hari Raya, just need an avenue to release all the negative thing in me.

Trip to Singapore August 2008

Last week spend bout 3 days in Singapore to lepak and for shopping. Took the bus there from Sunway Pyramid to Harbourfront in Singapore. The bus we took wasn't the usual express bus where it is driven by Hamilton or trying to break the KL to Singapore record though. The bus we took is the double-decker Aeroline bus. The trip to and fro costs roughly RM 160, or RM 80 per way. Quite steep compared to the regular Bas Express, but then you get comfy seats, an onboard meal and a small lounge to lepak (too small unfortunately). Plus there is a someone like a flight attendent in addition to the driver if you want anything. Oh, got on-board movie too.


The bus before departing Sunway Pyramid at 9.30 am


The onboard meal; Subway with turkey breast and ham



Stayed at the Oxford hotel somewhere near Bugis area. Within walking distance to Orchard Road and the Bugis Junction shopping complex. Our first stop was the Singapore Flyer. This is not some small ferries this is something like the London Eye, only bigger (so they claim).


The Singapore Flyer is located at Marina Bay, near Suntec City and right next to the Singapore GP grandstands and pits. From the Flyer can see the grandstands and pits under construction.


Across the river/sea/creek/bay/whatever can see a golf course


As the canopy/bubble reached the top of the wheel, can see the Singapore skyline


The Pan Pacific hotel can be seen a short distance nearby. We are higher than the penthouse now :P


After the highest point the new Casino development can be seen under construction.


Another picture of the Singapore skyline before my handphone battery went dead. I was busy snapping away when it suddenly died. Must be too much for something like an N95 where I checked my GPS location in the bus on the way down to Singapore and took alot of photos:P


After that not that many pictures coz it was then whole day shopping along Orchard Road :P From one end to the other end:P

The return trip was from Harbourfront back to Pyramid. Depart at around 6.30pm and arrive bout 11.30pm.


Overall it was a pleasant trip, with me bumping into Woon at Bugis since he had a game of Mechwarrior there. But over in Singapore I can't help but marvel just how efficient their transportation and taxis service there. Not to mention it was as clean as Japan. No wonder Singaporeans like their country so much, since their government really take care of them. Compared to here...... dunno where to start.

And things seem to be affordable too. If you earn in Sing (dollar to dollar comparison) the costs of things there are cheap. Again, compared to here... dunno where to start.

Oh, Singapore is also very very liberal. Enter their bookshops and their magazines are different. Example: Compare Singapore version of Stuff to our version, ours seem more covered up :(