I must have been there on the "let the white guy in the cab week" everytime I was in Singapore (which includes once this year) If you find singaporeans or life in Singapore agressive, probably no need to bother with HK, where people are rougher (not racism related, but life is tougher there and the people far less polite). You can read a few of Volpunter's post on this forum, a HK expat, he is an extreme case and I doubt he was much of anything close to a balanced human beeing before moving to HK but HK is particulary good to stress the hell out of people, locals and expats alike. Last i checked Singapore was still the favourite location for expats in Asia, and the police there is not famous to let it go easily on agressive behaviour.
If you watch Jim Rogers' recent interview on RealVisiontv you'll see him referencing rising SingChinese nationalism.
cabs will pick you up near the airport, Orchard Rd, financial district, but once you live there and want to get a ride home from the Woodlands you are SOL Yea, the "saving face" thing got way out of hand. Every little bump on the subway became an international incident. And I could not seem to say I am sorry and "just walk" away from an incident. Chinese guy would walk up behind me, start pulling my sleeve saying "where you go la, you scared la, you don't want to face me foreigner...face me la!" This happens much more often than not. And I am also not a big fan of loud, aggressive, polluting, motor bikes whom do not like to stop for pedestrians at all. Sometimes being civil, and courteous and living with a smatter of dignity means everything in ones life and no amount of hawker chicken-rice (Chicken Rice for the Soul) can overcome the negatives. But I did find solace in very close Malay and Indian friends who probably kept me much more sane than I realize in hind site. And yes, there are very good reasons for all of the silly rules in Singapore (no spitting, no urinating in elevators, no chewing gum (which means no putting used gum on subway seats or door knobs), no switch blades for sale on Bugis Street) I could easily become a China perma bear....take the other side of Roger's trades. But I found that keeping emotions in check is a major necessity as a trader...and it was not to be in the City of the Dragon
Oh and yes the Singapore police are very good and do stop all aggression quickly...its true. But it all got a little to old for me and in the end I left. Bali could be interesting as a part time residence though
I suspect that most of the antiwhite sentiment is due to locals feeling threatened by expat competitors. Ultimately, this kind of attitude is self defeating. Singapore was built as a trading hub and if locals push out some of the wealthiest potential clients (ie moneyed westerners), they've destroyed their own future. Lee Kuan Yew was keen on integration and racial harmony for pragmatic reasons. Most people prefer to do business where they are treated well. Come to Chicago. Midwesterners treat most people with respect.
Interesting input, I haven't had life experience out of the main tourist/business areas of Singapore in well over a decade so might have missed this evolution. I'm also surprised the agression comes from the chinese ethnics, which I'd expect at most to ignore you. The only race related violence I witnessed in Singapore was in Newton Circus, when a bunch of disgruntled Malays from the part they used to call the Kampong Malayu or something similar would get up and try to beat up foreigners for apparently a benign reason. More of them would run to join the beating, obviously not having a clue of what the problem was except that fellow malays were beating up foreigners, I remember some malay guy running carrying a rubbish bin I suspect to use in the beating, than a few seconds later the cops rushing in and everyone scattering. It happened twice in not so many nights I was in newton circus (about 15 years ago) and i'd expect more this kind of behavviour from the malay who at that time seemed far less well of than the chinese, and more disgruntled. Anyway about HK, have a good look before moving there (if you haven't yet), it is ime much more stressful than Singapore, although i doubt you will face much agressive racist behaviour (if you are not a mainlander as well, who knows wether it will spread to westerners later on ) and the territory fares quite well in security matters.
I do love NYC and I do love Chicago. Luis, it was an us against them thing and at the time the Malay could sympathize. The Malay don't face nationalistic aggression at the street level but rather face a kind of outsider antagonism in the business and financial world. When I moved to Singapore I tried to become integrated in society. So I lived out in the Woodlands amongst locals and took Mandarin and Malay beginners language courses. I actually had much more in common with the Singa-Chinese financial people and their circle. I would not discourage anyone from moving there. This is just a post on my experiences that might help people in the future. Thats why these forums are so amazing. We can learn from each other and not keep making similar mistakes (especially in investing-trading). If I were to do again I would buy a flat in the city center just near the financial district and live/ work in that area. I would watch Man City footie at Clarke Quay and watch cricket matches at the Padang. I would spend my time in the evenings around the Orchard Rd and Marina Bay areas. Sunday brunch at Raffles is good. But most importantly I would move about with my close circle or business associates while not at work or at home. Luis is very correct here, there are a lot of expats in Singapore to make friends with.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...hinese-child-allowed-defecate-passenger-cabin Parents of a young toddler allowed the child to defecate on the floor of an airliner about to take off from an airport in eastern China to Singapore, according to a newspaper report. The mother of the child said the toilets were too small for her, the child and other relatives to get inside, the Shanghai Morning Post reported. A passenger on the Shenzhen Airlines flight from Nanjing to Guangzhou on Sunday said all lavatories on the aircraft were vacant at the time, according to the report. A flight attendant found the child at the back of the cabin squatting before the plane took off, the report said. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...ly_kill_the_pedestrians_they_hit_china_s.html It seemed too shocking and warped to be true: that there exists an "unspoken rule" among Chinese drivers that it is better to leave a pedestrian dead than alive if they are accidentally run over by one's vehicle. But Geoffrey Sant, an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University and special counsel at the Dorsey & Whitney law firm in New York, argued just that. Writing in Slate, he said that mainland China's "perverse" victims compensation law meant the cost of recompensing an injured but alive victim outweighed that of indemnifying the family of one who died (hey, business is business). Sant first heard about the concept of "hit to kill" when he was living in Taiwan from 1996 and 2000. He also lived in other parts of Asia until 2003.
Old thread, I know, but I was wandering about... Caning is not a permitted punishment for those older than 49 years. You're still fit to be hanged, though. But not for getting a blow job.