anxious from U.K.

[nikki]

we are hopefully coming to live in Singapore in July, just a few questions i wouldn't min answering please !!

1. Do we need a car, we have a 21/2 year old and a dog. does child need a car seat!
2.Where to live Orchard or Holland Village or East coast?
3. Is the Tweenies in T.V. what other U.K. kiddies programmes are there??
4. Maids are they all bad? I would need a part time maid, and perhaps someone to llok after the dog if we go away??
5.Do furnished apartments come with Cultery and Crockery
6.Are there long waiting lists for Nurseries/playgroups?
7.Shipping stuff out, how long does it take /cost?
8. Can i get Nurofen solution and Tixilix for Kids out there!
9. Is it true you can get mould growing on clothes and furniture?

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP??

[Comment]

You have asked a diverse no. of questions here so I won't try to answer them all (I don't have small children). You will find most of the answers to your questions already here on the messageboard and in the archives.

First of all, I wouldn't dream of owning a car and *not having* a car seat if I have little ones! You won't find them in taxis unfortunately, but it is inexcusable not to have your precious offspring properly secured in your own vehicle. You often see local kids in Mercedes bouncing around all over the seats and it is so dangerous. You will probably find it cheaper to bring a car-seat with you (perhaps even with you on the plane). There is a Mothercare store in Centrepoint but more expensive than the UK.

Where to live? Well, where will your husband work and how much is your budget for housing? You can get by without a car if you choose very carefully where to live; you will need to be near to a main road to use the buses and to hail taxis. MRT trains really only service the housing estates for the locals - you will only live near one if you live in the centre of town. Singapore is not a good place for people with disabilities and parents pushing strollers - the kerbs are very high and monsoon drains are not covered. Trees grow in the middle of the pavements so you have to push the stroller into the road! If you can get a car your life will be much easier as taxis can be difficult to get at certain times of the day or when it is raining. However, they can cost as much as a house in some parts of the UK!

Maids - see the dozens of comments on the messageboard. A mixed blessing but you never know you may just find a gem.

Shipping stuff out - depends on the packers you are using, how much stuff you are shipping out and if you get your own container or it is being shared with someone else (we had to share ours with someone else from our company who was also moving out). It took six weeks door to door from the UK, you may get it more quickly though if you're in luck. Costs? Ask an international mover - but surely your company will deal with this, we had to get 3 quotes.

Serviced apartments come with everything, inc. maid service, we stayed in one until our shipment arrived. Furnished apartments generally have the large items but you would have to negotiate for cutlery etc.

Better to bring a supply of favoured medicines to begin with - many brands in Singapore have the same ingredients as the UK but with American brand names.  

You can and do get mould growing on items - especially leather shoes & belts. You need to run a dehumidifier or have the aircon running a lot. Or put things in the sunshine as much as possible (not easy in the rainy season!)        

[kid things]

I think there is a lot of this info in the FAQ section on this site but to answer your questions about playschool/preschool you should be fine when you get here. You will want to sort this out once you've found a place to live. There is some flexibility for new arrivals and you will find plenty of friends/neighbours willing to offer their free advice! The quality of schools is very high and the variety very diverse so you'll be fine.

When you are checking the movers for quotes, inquire about their pet moving service. I believe dogs must be kept in quarantine for a month.

[Sharon]

Hi Nikki,
I can answer your questions about kids programmes !!!
Yes the Tweenies are on Central along with Bob the Builder, Bear in the Big Blue House and many others. This was an area I was concerned about but have no fear the kids will have their programmes !! Not many for us though I'm afraid

[richard]

Firstly, to give you a comparison, my wife and I have a 21 month old and another baby on the way, but no dog. We've been here since Christmas, and have encountered most of the items you speak of. I'll try to reply to each issue in turn:
1. We don't have a car, and have not really seen any need to get one. The transport system seems fine, although lugging prams on and off buses can be a bit of a pain. We use taxis a lot. My wife does have a problem about the child seat as we don't have one and in London we'd never let the beast in a car without one. I guess you either bring one and try to use it or adapt - its not ideal I know.
2. We live towards Holland Village in a low rise, and we really like it. Orchard was for us a bit too much high rise and centre of town. I've heard East Coast is a bit harder for public transport, but don't take that as gospel. I think a lot depends on your budget,who your agent is, and what suits you best.
3. The Tweenies appear every day...and drive me mad as they always have. You get Bob the builder etc, and quite a few Australian kiddie shows. My one seems to like a few of them, but we found that over here the telly really features less and less in his life, which has been one very positive thing.
4. Maids we're just starting with one today after quite a bit of hassle actually getting one off the ground. I'd be careful on the part time front...there can be legal issues. As most people seem happy to spout on about maids till the cows come home I suggest you view the topics on this site that are relevant. nb we found inter mares (who advertise here) to be very helpful.
5. No cutlery and crockery in our appt (which was fully furnished), but we had some coming anyway, so we didn't request any. They bought us 3 new double beds, new 3 piece suite and telly etc, so I'm sure we could have asked for 4 plates and a few utensils if we'd wanted to.
6. Most of the kiddie groups were wait listed, but we're now getting ours into some. Thats only been a wait of about 4-5 weeks, so not too bad. The help groups like St Georges are a good place to go to get advice/meet other parents
7. Pickfords cost us about 3000 quid for a full 20 ft crate...we used up about a third of one as we went for furnished appt out here. its due to arrive this weekend, having been sorted out just around Christmas. We were at fault by being slow with some paper work due to postage delays etc, so I guess it could have happened quicker.
8. Nurofen is prescription only here. Don;t know about tixilix.
9. No sign of mould on my clothes as yet, or my furniture. I have however taken the radical precaution of washing my clothes and cleaning the furniture.
10. Beer is not cheap.

[Aikon]

Nikki your reply to Q1-9
1-Yes if you get a car with Job/car seats available at Toys R us ,reasonable price

2-Holland Area for schools and playschools

3-As Sharon said yes

4-Look for P/T maid when you are settled

5-Buy cutlery/crockery at Ikea(cheaper than UK)

6-British Council Nursery has vacancies/situated at Holland Village

7-Takes 4-6 weeks for shipment to arrive from time of packing,costs for a average 3/4 bed house £2,500 up.Pickfords or Michael Gerson.Get free quote from Pickfords

8-Bring nurofen with you and Tixilix..calpol is available

9-Mould does grow alot..as said before clean clean and clean

[nikki]

Thank you all for your helpful answers.
My husband is in the process of negotiating a expat package, so will see then!
Thank god Bob the Builder is on there as my son is a big fan!!

[Clive T]

I live out east (Siglap). Transport is OK, plenty of buses stop outside the condo, taxi's all over the place (except when it's raining, but what's new) and the condo has a free shuttle to the MRT station.

Still got a car though. Tried to do without but having had my flexible trasnport for so many years it's hard to kick the habit. Also useful to transport 18mo daughter to toddler group, friends houses etc. Invaluable.

The downside of East Coast is that is a (relative to SG, not to UK) long way to the places my wife and daughter visit the most. 15-20 minute drive to Orchard/Tanglin/St Georges in normal traffic, but then at home I would drive that far to the main shopping centre/friends houses anyway.

Lots of local shops that meet most of our needs. Like the condo though. Very safe for children.

[princess Leia]

Nikki, We brought our dog over from the UK. It had to have medical certificates etc - we had ours chipped with all his information stored on that - this might be a requirement. It cost about a grand to get him over here and there is NO quarantine. He arrived within two days of leaving. Kennels keep him overnight before the flight and don't leave anything in his box as it'll be taken out in case he chokes on it. Our dog is a labrador - about two years old. He's completely mental and loves to run. Since coming to Sing. he's developed a dislike for other dogs and tries to kill any dog that comes near him. He's still good with people tho. There is noweher you can let your dog off the lead to run which is the worst thing. People have always been scared of our dog as he's quite big and they only have "toy" dogs over here. Also Malay's will steer well clear of him as they believe that dogs are dirty. In hindsight, although I love my dog dearly, I feel that it would have been kinder to him to have left him in the UK. During the day he has to be walked by a maid who comes over solely for the purpose of walking him. The first maid only walked him for 10 mins per day even tho we paid her to do an hour and a half, we now have another one who I believe is doing the same thing. Unless you're at home supervising I wouldnt trust them to do a good job. I often see maids where I live standing with the dogs in a group and not walking them. Anyway, something to think about. Good luck.

[nikki]

thanks Princess Leia for you reply about your dog. I think I will now think twice about bringing ours. She is also 2 and needs lots of exercise!!

Has anyone else brought their dogs from U.k.

[Sonia]

Nikki. We've just shipped our stuff from UK to Sing (arriving with 8 mos baby in 2 weeks)

Cost was 1,500 stlg plus insurrance for 350 cubic feet from Pickford. (got 3 quotes and they were the cheapest). Britannia and Crown were more expensive (add an extra 1000 for Crown, but then they had us moving to HK on quote... didn't inspire much confidence.

But watch out for insurrance. That's the real killer. this added 700 stlg to our bills. Pickford was very professional.. We'll see how the stuff arrives (it supposed to ahve left the UK yesterday)
good luck.

[Louie]

Nikki
I moved out here in September leaving three dogs behind in UK (yes heartbreaking it sure is!). At first I thought I might just bring one out later in the year and so looked into all the transportation requirements etc., and tried to imagine what sort of life she would have here. I visited kennels to look at their facilities and decided that I wouldn't want to use them. There are very few places where you can walk a dog off the lead, coupled with which within about 10-15 minutes the dog may be suffering from heat exhaustion. Every way I looked at it... it was wrong. What ever other conclusion could I come to but that I would be behaving utterly selfishly in bringing a dog here.

[keeyan]

To Princess Leia and Louie,

There is a fenced-in area in Bishan Park (look in street directory) off Upper Thomson area near SICC where dog owners can run their dogs unleashed. I believe SKC members gather there weekend late afternoons. Cheers.

[Louie]

Thanks for the info. Keeyan, I don't mean to be rude, but I don't really think that will persuade me to bring any of my dogs here.

[tlixl]

Dear nikki,
If your dog is a big one, U might want to think twice about bringing it here. They tend to suffer more from the heat, esp black ones. My friend keeps her lab happy by turning on the fan during the day & walking  him mostly at night, when it's much cooler.

Medium and small-sized dogs seem to do very well here. In my HDB estate at least (in Marine Terrace on the East Coast), there is ample space (incl. nice grassy areas) for smaller dogs to run around. Unleashed dogs & their owners are a common sight in the mornings & evenings. Anyway, good luck with the moving.

BTW, you don't mention what kind of breed your dog is. Some "fierce" breeds such as pit bulls are banned from entering the country, others have to be muzzled in public. You can prob find the info elsewhere on this site.