This whole trip is about understanding the lifestyle in Singapore and whether we could live there. Thus after the city, the housing, the shopping and the transportation, this trip would not have been complete without a little visit to Carrefour.
Yes, Carrefour, the supermarket like in France (and many other countries).
Christophe, who's living in Singapore for 9 months now, kindly offered to take us there. Not only because being French he anticipated some of the products I might need or miss, but also because it's cheaper than the local chain Cold Storage which is the shop for expats (i.e. more expensive).
We patiently browsed through the aisles checking the products available and their prices. We noted down the prices of the majority of products we tend to buy regularly. It's actually a very unusual collection of products as one can find products from almost every country on this planet. The difference is price. If you buy local it's cheaper. If you buy imported it's more expensive. The further away it comes the more expensive. Very logical.
After careful accounting the outcome was that more or less we would spend the same on grocery shopping as we do today. We will have to make some adjustments as some products are simply not there (Cote d'Or chocolate is one and I'm already planning to fill up my suitcase with as much as I can) or products are new to us therefore the opportunity to experience (e.g. some tropical fruits).
There is no company shop in Singapore center which means we will have to pay full price for our cleaning products. There again whether we buy the local brand or the one imported from the US, it's up to us to choose to pay simple or double for laundry detergent. That's probably the biggest hit in our grocery budget.
We also inquire about delivery. In a world without car, I don't see Wolfram carrying all the bags in the bus. It's quite simple: just spend 150S$ and delivery is for free in a given time period, on your doorstep, no limit in quantity (so we can order 100 bottles of Diet Coke). If total amount is less than 150S$, it will cost 8S$ for the delivery. Once again, manageable.
Re-assured. We shall survive.
But again finding food is not difficult in Singapore. It's basically everywhere. What is difficult, is to decide what to eat. Like they say: "too much choice, kills the choice".
Yes, Carrefour, the supermarket like in France (and many other countries).
Christophe, who's living in Singapore for 9 months now, kindly offered to take us there. Not only because being French he anticipated some of the products I might need or miss, but also because it's cheaper than the local chain Cold Storage which is the shop for expats (i.e. more expensive).
We patiently browsed through the aisles checking the products available and their prices. We noted down the prices of the majority of products we tend to buy regularly. It's actually a very unusual collection of products as one can find products from almost every country on this planet. The difference is price. If you buy local it's cheaper. If you buy imported it's more expensive. The further away it comes the more expensive. Very logical.
After careful accounting the outcome was that more or less we would spend the same on grocery shopping as we do today. We will have to make some adjustments as some products are simply not there (Cote d'Or chocolate is one and I'm already planning to fill up my suitcase with as much as I can) or products are new to us therefore the opportunity to experience (e.g. some tropical fruits).
There is no company shop in Singapore center which means we will have to pay full price for our cleaning products. There again whether we buy the local brand or the one imported from the US, it's up to us to choose to pay simple or double for laundry detergent. That's probably the biggest hit in our grocery budget.
We also inquire about delivery. In a world without car, I don't see Wolfram carrying all the bags in the bus. It's quite simple: just spend 150S$ and delivery is for free in a given time period, on your doorstep, no limit in quantity (so we can order 100 bottles of Diet Coke). If total amount is less than 150S$, it will cost 8S$ for the delivery. Once again, manageable.
Re-assured. We shall survive.
But again finding food is not difficult in Singapore. It's basically everywhere. What is difficult, is to decide what to eat. Like they say: "too much choice, kills the choice".
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