Following my friend's comments in an essay about Singapore, its values and the people who have left to either live and work overseas or migrate altogether, I have these comments to make:
I see at least 3 groups of Singaporeans who have migration opportunities:
1) those who are posted overseas to work, and find their own way to settle down in the host country (by marrying foreigners or getting Permanent Residency)
2) those who marry foreigners
3) those who migrate to a country because they have some kind of opportunity there, relatives or business etc.
These groups I feel are a very small percentage of Singaporeans, and it's sad, cos they make up the educated or skilled class that is likely at the top of the KBE (knowledge-based economy) food chain. They are the ones who can do a lot for Singapore, and ironically the ones with the most financial and social mobility to leave.
I want to comment on the 2nd category: namely women, now this group is more heterogenous I would say. Women, whether they come from the lower classes or the upper, have ONE asset men lack - sex. Literally. Am I saying that we have the option of selling our bodies if we don't have skills to sell? Yes. Absolutely, without hypocrisy, and this is a global product. Beauty and sex is a universal commodity and the reason why you see more Asian women in category 2 than Asian men is simply a matter of statistics and sociology. Far fewer foreign women (I am not counting domestic female workers) come to Singapore to work compared to foreign men (again, not counting construction workers). This limits the pool of available foreign women for our local men - who are additionally disadvantaged by the Western-centric notion of male attractiveness plus their own culturally-socialized reticence and lack of sexual confidence.
Therein lies the heart of local men's resentful complaint about "SPGs". It's all about market economics, opportunity and self confidence. Fortunately for the bigots and less evolved competitors, there is an available market of Third World women available for mail order or a la carte selection at affordable rates. But of course these women don't offer as attractive potential-migration destinations as White women. I know of many women who have married men from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan. It's not a race advantage that some men have, it's just a class advantage. Black, white or yellow, the man with the selective advantage is the man with prospects: migration is an option.
I personally like Singapore the more I travel and the more I talk to people.
It's not perfect (nowhere is) but it is close to perfect because it gives me a quality of life that is sustainable. How much is enough? How much until you are "satisfied"? How much out of 24 hours a day can you afford to go hiking, fishing and shopping?
People can complain about the weather, the rules and rigidity, the cost of living until the cows come home. You can go abroad and you will keep quiet about the weather (who likes snowstorms and power cuts?), the high taxes, the fact that nothing opens after 7pm and Singaporean bureaucratic efficiency that is maybe the most Uniquely Singapore thing we have besides our food.
From my research on migration, I think people who have never left Singapore don't know how lucky they are, and people who have left Singapore realise they can get the best of both worlds if they are lucky but won't dare to admit it. Ask them if they will give up citizenship as a test.
I will never give mine up, because this country is like your parents: sometimes you can't stand them, can't wait to get out of the house; but parents are the only people who are predictable enough, trustworthy enough and reliable enough to be there for you when the going gets rough.
Wait, before you laugh and say parents still think they know best, aka, PAP-style governance, I say to you, the average child sulks in his room and moans about how unfair his parents are being. The smart child tells them to their face I'm Too Old For This Shit (this is your right) and then moves out. Evolution is about finding a better way out of your jam, not marrying any old male enabler in order to get a HDB flat and most certainly not running away to Australia so you can buy a house for $100,000. Oh god, life cannot only be about property!
...but once you see the iconic corner dustbin, make a left to a yet smaller alley, Xiaoyuan Hutong, and keep going. Kelly's Courtyard, all of 9 quaint yet modern, refurbished rooms, sits at the cul de sac. 
Kelly and her husband John (above, left) are excellent hosts, being native to Beijing, they told us where to go for duck, which buses to take and pretty much answered all our questions. It helps to speak their language of course, but English can still get you far enough if you must speak it....
It's something you would never expect in the middle of congested, smoggy Beijing.
...Daniel war froh because there was free wifi.
As the sun goes down, you can sit on the roof terrace with a bottle of local beer, Yanjing (S$1), way better than Tsingtao which is not local and costs a little more
and three days later the meihua (plum blossoms) started to waft across the city
now comes the challenge...food
....minus Daniel!
Rob just beat every one.
