Good evening Singapore. You're listening to the third episode of Sleepless in Singapore. Today is Sunday the 4th of February 2024 and I am in Africa. I am Julian and I am glad you're back for this episode where I am not going to talk about a trip. I'm pretty sure you already wondered, is this guy talking about another trip every single week? But even I am not traveling that much, so this is going to be the first episode where I'm going to talk about something else. And that something else is going to be how I came to Singapore, why I came, and when I came. My story of becoming an expat. So, please make yourself comfortable, lie down, and let my voice be your guide to a restful night.

The first time I ever came to Singapore was in 2012 and it was on a vacation. We took in Bali actually. So on the way to Bali we decided to stay for I think two days in Singapore. And on the way back we stayed for two days in Kuala Lumpur. Actually it might have been the other way around. But doesn't really matter much. Of these two days in Singapore, I only remember that it was shortly before or after the Formula One race, that it was very hot, that we walked around the city for a bit during the second day, and that we needed a lot of rest and stayed in the hotel room for quite a bit. And the other thing I remember is that we arrived in the evening, came from the airport, and didn't really know what to do. We were walking around, we were expecting a bustling city like Kuala Lumpur, but we couldn't even find a place to eat. It was maybe 10pm and we were staying quite central in CBD. And we were looking for the famous hawker stalls and we couldn't find any and eventually when we found one it was closed. So my first impression of Singapore was, this is very nice and very clean, but where is everyone? Where are the people and where do the people eat? Or in short, I thought it was a little bit boring. Today, of course, I know I was just in the wrong area and I didn't look at the right places and I didn't have anyone local back then to show us where to go. So I guess it's a good thing that eventually I gave Singapore a second chance.

The second chance I gave Singapore was much, much later, after my long trip around half of the world at least. That is going to be a story for another podcast episode, or maybe for many episodes. But in 2017, I decided to travel the world with Philip, my little brother. And that whole journey was from, starting from Ketsch near Heidelberg in Germany, where I was born, to China and beyond. and one of the stops we had or actually I had because Philip took a slightly different route in the end was Singapore and that second time Singapore was actually a lot of fun and that was mostly because my now Singaporean friend Hema, a very nice lady I met in Cambodia when I was looking at the temples in Cambodia, she invited me and the other friends we made in Cambodia to come over to Singapore. And she invited us to stay at her place. And for two and a half days on my very long trip, I stayed in Singapore with her and she showed us around. She showed us where to get food. She showed us where to get food at night. She showed us where to find the interesting stuff. She showed us all the sights. She showed us the nature. showed us all the sights, she showed us the nature. So we had these like fully packed two days and they were amazing. I really liked Singapore that time. And because I liked it so much, a couple of weeks later, still on my big, big trip, I booked another stopover in Singapore to stay another, I think, two nights and kind of repeat what we'd done the first two nights. And again, I really liked Singapore. Back in that day, I had no idea that I would ever live here. I never even thought about moving here. But I liked it enough to come back two or three times. I mean, Singapore is very convenient when you travel anywhere in Southeast Asia. I feel you either go through Kuala Lumpur if you fly a lot of AirAsia or you go through Singapore. And I came back to Singapore a couple of times on trips I did in Southeast Asia. And every single time from then on, I really liked Singapore.

And then eventually on one of these trips that must have been 2018 or so not a hundred percent sure I actually met my back then girlfriend and I had a long distance relationship for about almost a year or so. Back then I was a freelancer working for German clients mostly. So during the week, usually I was at client sites, at client offices. And more often than not, on the weekends I was traveling. And even though it sounds crazy, during that time, in that year, I was flying to Singapore at least 10 times. I got very lucky, because I didn't mind flying economy with one or two stops. I just picked the cheapest flight I could find and I went to Singapore and I spent the weekend or I spent a week and then I flew back. And then I flew back. And during that time I got to know Singapore still not like a resident, but I got to know it from a different perspective than only as a tourist. And I started to like it even more. I started to see how convenient it is. I started to see the good sides of sometimes being a bit boring. Which in my opinion is, it is very organized. Everything is working. The MRT system is world class. Banking works great. world-class banking works great you don't need a car to get anywhere because even if you don't want to take the MRT taxis or Grab or back then still Uber I think was working excellent and is not very expensive. I found all the little gems you don't get to see as a tourist, like the secret restaurants, the secret tips of the friends. I got to see that there is actually nature and that you actually can just walk along the coastline for five hours if you want to. So yeah, during that time, I really started to like Singapore even more.

And then there was a defining moment in my life. Like I mentioned before, I was a freelancer at that time. And I'm an IT consultant, right? And I was sitting at my very good friend Christian's jacuzzi. And we might have had a beer or two. And we were talking. And we were talking and I was complaining to him a bit that as a startup founder, it is quite difficult sometimes. Because before you even make money, everyone wants money. And I don't want to get into all the details because this is a positive podcast, but I was just annoyed and I was ranting a bit to him about how you have to pay taxes before you even actually make that turnover. turnover. How you have to give money to like at least five different organizations for everything from collecting garbage to I don't know what. And let's be honest, as an IT consultant, you can imagine how much garbage I produce. Zero. So I was complaining to him. I still remember that we were sitting in this jacuzzi, talking, having our beer. It was quite late at the evening. And Christian said, like out of the blue, he said, Why don't you just move to Singapore in general? You're there 10 times a year. And you like it there. And you like to travel. And we kind of laughed it away as a silly idea. And it took four more weeks or so for this thought to manifest in my head. And then I did some very careful googling, and I found this company, Paul Hype Page Singapore, and I wrote them, and I told them who I am, and I told them about my very small company, or my being a freelancer in Germany, and thinking of founding a company in Singapore. And they told me that is actually not a problem. If you're serious about it, if you want to found a new company in Singapore, we can help you with that. You need to prove that you can make some turnover, that we can find some clients and so on. And actually, the fee they were charging wasn't, it wasn't big enough for me to give up immediately. I thought, okay, if this is the maximum I have to lose, I think it was around 2000 US dollars or something. I thought if this is the maximum I have to lose, I am willing to try. And so they asked me a bunch of questions, create a new business plan for the new company and all that stuff. And I could do that, of course. And they wanted me to transfer some money on some account so that there is a proof that I can afford running a company here. And I don't know, I had to bring some paperwork. If anyone is interested, please contact me. I liked the process back then. I like to talk about it. I'm very happy to consult you on it if you have similar thoughts. So we got some paperwork done, and long story short is, I think about two weeks later, I had a brand new company in Singapore. It's my company, my consulting company, the Hanzo Group. And I was its sole owner. And everything was set up. And they called me, and they said, you are free to start business from now on. And I said, that's great, thank you so much. And they answered, okay, so how are we going to proceed with your visa? And I never really even thought about getting a visa. I just thought I had a company here because it might be easier to run a company from here.

And they said, yeah, but you also should apply for a visa because now that you have the company here, you can be the company's own employee. And then you can actually stay here for more than, I'm not sure how long I can stay here, 90 days or 60 days as a tourist. But anyway, they said, if I become a proper visa holder, in Singapore it's called an employment pass holder, then I can officially not just travel here and look after my company once in a while, I can be an official employee in Singapore. And I hadn't thought about it before, but it sounded a good thing.

And for the second time I thought, okay, what is the worst that can happen? What is the maximum I can lose? And turns out the risk was relatively small. So I said, let's try. And I transferred them the fee I believe it was another two thousand or so and again there was some paperwork involved I had to bring my birth certificate I had to bring some documents from school and from my professional training. But then again, within a couple of weeks max, the visa got approved, employment pass got approved, for one year only first, but good enough.

And they told me I can pick up my EP card whenever I want to. So I picked up my card, and that was end of 2019, I think, or beginning of 2020. I picked up my card. I opened a bank account and then I had the idea I love to travel. I love Singapore.-50 living situation. I'm gonna be in Singapore for a bit. I'm gonna be in Germany a bit if I need to see my clients. I'm gonna be in Singapore a bit again to run the company here. That sounded like a great solution in my head.

So I looked for a place at OUE residences. I'm not sure. OUE, the two OUE towers in Orchard. And I got that place and I moved in with nothing much more than like one carry-on suitcase and then I actually had something to do in Germany so I flew back and then I was traveling around a bit. I remember being in Bangkok. And then I came back to Singapore. And I only wanted to stay for two weeks or so, or three weeks.

And then, in the first half of 2020, I'm pretty sure you all remember what happened. There was COVID. And Singapore was very strict about COVID right from the beginning. They had very strict, very good policies in place. And one of the policies was no traveling. So I was sitting there in my new place, only a couple of weeks old. And I still had my 50% Singapore, 50% Germany plan in my head. And I had to make a decision. Do I go back to Germany but then risk not being able to come back or at least it's going to be very difficult to come back? or do I stay and take care of my business from here and see what the time will bring.

And well, what the time brought was that COVID went on much longer than anyone anticipated and I went through the whole lockdown in Singapore which was 10 weeks and it was a strict lockdown they did it right from the beginning for 10 weeks I was in my small new place and I was only allowed out to go shopping or to go for a walk, like do sports. And that turned out to be one of the best times of my life. I know that it was a difficult time for many people. And I understand why. And of course, I never wish for COVID to come back. And'm just saying for me personally it was a great time.

Business was slowing down a bit because all the big companies were pretty much involved with themselves and to see how they can make it work. So I had more free time, but I also had a lot of time to focus on myself, to decide where I want to go, like not physically, but in a metaphorical way, to decide how I want my life to be. I got very healthy during COVID, or at least during the lockdown. I started to do some sports. I started to meditate. I started to play with that idea of creating a meditation app for the first time. Which then much later, thanks to the incredible input and ideas of my friend Lars, I eventually did. I started to get up early, very regularly. I was up at 6. I stopped smoking. I didn't drink at all. I had a very organized and good day and until today I believe it was very good for me personally and for my mental state and for my physical state.

Anyway, how did we get there? Talking about my arrival in Singapore. I still consider that lockdown period my arrival in Singapore. So, after the lockdown, everything opened up again, slowly controlled, but it opened up. And I remember that was also a very good time. Finally seeing the few friends again I have here, finally being able to go out. As much as I liked the lockdown, I also liked being able to go out and do things again. But the one thing that wasn't allowed, or at least was very difficult for quite some more time, was traveling. So I stayed in Singapore without ever going out of Singapore until I think end of 2021.

Which now sounds like a very long time ago again. But I remember back then it was also a very long time from the beginning of 2020 travel or get out of Singapore. I kind of became Singaporean. Not so much by choice but because I had to. And also I know I am not Singaporean, I'm still German. There are people, friends, who keep telling me that I am not Singaporean or not Asian just because I live here. But I feel Singaporean. And when I say I became Singaporean not so much by choice, then that might be true. But I love that I am and I love that I am here now.

And I love that I am allowed to stay. And I'm very happy here. And now that I am here and now that I also decided I want to stay here and that I reapplied for my visa extension for a couple of times and that went I also really start to have my own friend circle. I'm starting to have my own hobbies that are related to Singapore. I have very interesting projects I have launched or I am launching or I am going to launch. I have this little podcast that's got Singapore in its name. We have this project with my friend Joel together called the Kampong Social Club, which hopefully soon you will all see.

I obviously have my fiancee Nat here who has her job, who is working here. And I think all that says I have my life here. This is my life now. And I love my life, I love it here, I love my life here in Singapore. I believe this is one of the greatest cities, if not the greatest city in the world. And if you know me, you know I sometimes cannot stop talking about it and I sometimes cannot stop advertising it. But if you're not tired of it yet or if you have questions about it. And I am also very happy to consult you or even your business on what they can do, what you can do or what they can do in Singapore. Please let me know. know.

So yes, this is very roughly the story of how I got here and how it was first arriving here. And I'm pretty sure eventually there will be another episode with maybe a little bit more specific things. What you have to do when you arrive, where you go first, how to open a bank account, how to collect your employment pass, how to do all the organizational stuff, like how it works to find a place here, the thing with the one-year or two-year contracts, the fact that you have to handle your landlord and your agents right. There are many, many things I learned that are very different from Germany and many things I'm very happy to talk about and many things I think that can be valuable for other people who are thinking about coming here as well.

But getting too long for now, so I will put it up in another future episode. And once that episode exists, I will link to it from the overview of this podcast episode. All right, so much for Singapore and my arrival. And now let's see what Tom Sawyer is doing tonight.