The Singapore Forum

BoD wrote:

Kooky wrote: Honestly, I loved and miss mine (and the open air bathroom...oh and that tub )
quote]

And the impromptu bathroom 'water feature' when it rained?

At least we didn't have termites there. Most of all, I miss the space. We got rid of 3 sofas and a few other things and still have furniture at Tas's place

Is that what it is! They need to get a new artist!

Ah yes the termites. Those were the days.

All the new woodwork and the walls have been treated, the garage floor has been drilled and treated, the soil under the house and the deck has been treated and the condo has installed termite 'traps' in the garden. If that doesn't stop the buggers, then I don't know what will

Like others have pointed out, most kitchens here are in some way 'open' to the outside. Both places we've lived were open air if you left the back door open where the open air part was -- laundry area is also back there. But there is also a door to close the kitchen off from the rest of the house which serves a 2 fold purpose -- 1) the kitchen isn't air conditioned, so if the aircon is running in the next room you don't send it all outside and 2) keeps cooking smells out of the rest of the house (at least a bit).

As far as roaches go, interestingly, when we lived on the 10th floor of a condo we got them every time they fogged the garbage chutes -- they'd come scrambling up the chutes and get in. I hated it! Now that we're in a semi-d house, we haven't had even one. Ants - yes. Lizards - yes. But you really can't get rid of those 2 things. We're able to keep the ants at bay just by keeping things clean and getting the garbage out daily, but even one small slip and they turn up in droves. Just the little tiny ones - sugar ants. The one time I started seeing big ones I had pest control out & they found a huge nest of them out in back behind the house. Since then, all has been fine and that was probably nearly 4 years ago now.

Fat Bob wrote:

Satellite wrote:.... the double red arrows pointing upwards indicate condos.

you mean the thing that looks like a big house with a small house in front of it?:D

I laughed....

I would actively choose to have a kitchen like that if I could, love them.

BoD wrote:Lizards and Geckos? Monitor lizards and the odd Komodo dragon?

monitors lizards only outside, inside we once had this one:



it's called the green crested lizard, but when under stress it turns nearly black... which was what it was when we found it in our house.

BoD wrote: If that doesn't stop the buggers, then I don't know what will

napalm?

we now have an open air kitchen and are on a low floor, we need to be more diligent about cleaning up, a/c in the kitchen? where?

we've been very lucky about roaches *touch wood* but also as said, it is the tropics

as for orchard road, trust me it gets dull quickly and as FM pointed out vivo city is 10 mins away with everything you could ever want,a nd I am sure there are lots of gyms out west.

lizards and ants, no matter what floor, they are there...

I only live on the 5th floor and I think I've not turned on my A/C in over a month. Windows open + ceiling fans = no problem.

Morrolan wrote:

BoD wrote: If that doesn't stop the buggers, then I don't know what will

napalm?

You know.. I suspect not.

BoD wrote:

Morrolan wrote:
napalm?

You know.. I suspect not.

that's.... concerning...

T2K wrote:I only live on the 5th floor and I think I've not turned on my A/C in over a month. Windows open + ceiling fans = no problem.

10th and 2 years.

Ground floor, so AC on most of the time except at night when the bedroom ceiling fan goes on. I see a cockroach about once every four months ( although I know they're around in their millions) and a gekko a couple times a month. I keep the sugar ants at bay with those plastic Combat thingies you can buy in Cold Storage.

You probably don't get many gheckos as they all live at my place

Agree with everyone. Clementi or Dover or Pasir Panjang are the ones you need to be looking at. Agents always give you the run around if you are a new expat. Prices are NOT what they are telling you.

Pinklepurr, taxis have to take people to where they want to go. I never tell a taxi driver where I want to go until I am sitting in a taxi (years of living in Seletar and Pasir Ris ) and then tell them. If they say no, then I tell them to start driving or else I call company. Dont let them hassle you or your friends.

Aliya wrote:Agree with everyone. Clementi or Dover or Pasir Panjang are the ones you need to be looking at. Agents always give you the run around if you are a new expat. Prices are NOT what they are telling you.

Pinklepurr, taxis have to take people to where they want to go. I never tell a taxi driver where I want to go until I am sitting in a taxi (years of living in Seletar and Pasir Ris ) and then tell them. If they say no, then I tell them to start driving or else I call company. Dont let them hassle you or your friends.

Yep I agree too, those are all great areas. Also no need to go into Orchard if you don't want to, there is plenty out of the centre to do all you need.

Aliya, I thought you would have had experience with taxis like that being out in Seletar. We learnt a few tricks and they got home most times, but it was still a pain when it was busy and they got picky. I couldn't believe they refused and would not move when told the destination. Twice they had arguments and ended up getting out of the cabs. I think the thing is when you live near Chinese Gardens or the like it doesn't feel like it is that far out that you would get an argument and so for a long time they fell for this trick by the cabbies.

BoD wrote:You probably don't get many gheckos as they all live at my place

Get a cat

Lichtgestalt wrote:

BoD wrote:You probably don't get many gheckos as they all live at my place

Get a cat

Tried it. Now we have geckos with no tails.

And barfing cats, I would think.

baloo wrote:

Fat Bob wrote:
you mean the thing that looks like a big house with a small house in front of it?:D

I laughed....

I'm sure I will laugh at you at some point also....

canuck wrote: as for orchard road, trust me it gets dull quickly and as FM pointed out vivo city is 10 mins away wi..

Agree ... I lived near orchard road and did't like it at all. I had to dress up everytime I needed to go to the shops. The shops were expensive and didn't have the range of things that I normally get. There are no public libraries nearby there as well. Always the same old .. centrepoint...taka...etc. And when it was time to go out, we didn't really want to go to orchard as we go there every day!

Lili Von Shtupp wrote:

Lichtgestalt wrote:
Get a cat

Tried it. Now we have geckos with no tails.

Precisely! We have a house full of tail-less geckos.

Lili Von Shtupp wrote:

Lichtgestalt wrote:
Get a cat

Tried it. Now we have geckos with no tails.

Gay cats? None of ours survived although they weren't eaten ... at least not when we saw it

I witnessed an Agent trying to sell my place to some people. It certainly was a learning experience. I couldn't believe the blatant lies, half truths, and missing information he answered all the questions with. I do think he was annoyed when I jumped in with a truthful answer.

Lesson learnt for me, where ever possible, ask the owner/current tenant directly about any questions you may have, they are either less likely to lie or won't be so good at it so you'll be able to suss out bullshit information.