ExpatSingapore - Amsterdam Calling

to OP
My husband and I lived both in Amsterdam (nearly 2 years) & Den Haag (2.5 yrs). Amsterdam is a fab city (we had no kids at that point), not cheap though. Nice areas to live are around Vondelpark if you got kids. I hear that there is a change in law for 'coffee shops' and there is more effort to clean up the centre (following the mainly british stag nights).

Den Haag is great for families, more quiet with nice restaurants, bars, international schools and you can go to the beach by tram or bike. Train connections are really good in Holland (compared to a lot of other countries) and reasonably priced. And people love their bikes for inner city travels...

The Dutch are quite direct ( in your face I say) and would ask you how much do you earn - after Singapore you should however be best prepared for that!

English is not a problem and you can always study Dutch (helps with the tax authorities in my experience).

Food is ok, you will eat more bread with cheese (brodje kaas) than ever before. For culinary escapes I recommend Belgium. You do however have lots of indonesian influenced cuisine.

One thing I would recommend is to get a private health insurance.

Lastly, there is a book called 'the undutchables' that gives a glance into dutch life - take it with humor.

best of luck