Why this British expat chose Singapore over Hong Kong

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Meet Chris Snell, a Brit who used to live in Japan and Hong Kong but has been residing in Singapore for the last 16 years, working as a top manager in a multinational company. Chris shared how the lifestyle in Hong Kong differs from that in Singapore, why it’s so easy to make friends with Singaporeans, and why supermarkets in England are much better than those in Singapore. Enjoy!
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 INTRO
00:32 Moving from Hong Kong to Singapore
01:33 Why Singapore?
03:44 Being British in Singapore
04:47 Making friends in Singapore
06:13 Coming back to the UK
07:17 Money principles
10:08 Midlife crisis
15:29 Getting the 2B license in Singapore
16:53 Riding bike in Singapore
18:09 Chris' book
18:54 Comedy shows
24:20 Career principles
25:30 The meaning of life
TODAY'S GUEST:
➢ on LinkedIn: / snellysnell
➢ Chris Snell's book: www.amazon.co.uk/Idiot-Goes-E...
Hey! This channel bridges the gap between locals and foreigners all over the world. Join Max as he interviews expats, unraveling their unique stories and providing valuable insights into their lives in the vibrant places of Asia. Through engaging conversations, Max fosters understanding and appreciation between locals and the global community, focusing on cultural exchange.
If you're a company seeking sponsorship opportunities to engage our upscale audience, contact us at [e-mail]. With over 50% Singaporean viewers and a substantial number of foreign professionals (US, EU, Australia), our mature audience (35-54 years) boasts strong purchasing power and interests in an above-average lifestyle, travel, investment, and personal finance.
#ExpatLife #MaxChernov #Singapore

[@matthew1333]

this is a good man with good intentions, god bless you

[@vanhalen45]

"Acts of kindness are what should get people through the day." Did not expect hearing this today. Good.

[@hc1326]

Holding doors open for others is just common courtesy. I am a woman & I don’t find it sexist if a man holds door for me. I also hold doors open for men if I am the first to enter/exit. Just curious whether that woman is a Singaporean? I thought most of us here are quite rational & won’t go overboard with woke culture. Anyway, very happy to have Chris here with us & thanks for giving back to our community. We need more of such foreigners. I enjoyed the interview. Thanks Max & Chris

[@sophiatan5538]

Completely agree. And thank you for your and your family’s love and contribution to Singapore when you’re here. As a Singaporean, I am very appreciative.

[@MaxJoseph999]

Amazing interview. Chris seems like a great guy. Singapore is lucky to have additions like him.

[@janeloh6064]

Thank you, Singapore is blessed to have you as a family 🤗

[@ZheJin]

Fascinating chap! I feel the quality of the expat community here in SG is very underrated. There's so much we could learn from each other. Thanks for doing the good work Max!

[@lidna82]

His approach to life is what I aspire to be... writing new chapters by learning new things and just be kind to people.

[@riccino27]

you are excellent welcome to Singapore. we will love to see more people like you coming to live here.

[@Potomacstud]

This man is a blessing to Singapore

[@biot_travel]

probably one of the best interviews i have heard on this channel - talking about success as a person instead of the vast focus being on career/material

[@owl77]

We need more kind people. God bless you.

[@dennisleong7866]

This guy have a good heart 👍

[@Albert_Einstein_not]

“Has” not “Have”… jeez

[@johnnyquest6894]

​@@Albert_Einstein_notit doesn't really matter, no need to nit-pick on this.

[@rchua55]

Good man, good heart, great having you in our society. More people should listen to him.

[@amyg1073]

❤❤❤ Great interview as usual. He is so accurate to mention that spore is such a safe place with lots of green spaces. n the environment is conducive. People here are nice n tried to avoid confrontation. There are so much give n takes here, so it’s so peaceful, that children growing up here became too comfortable n contented in their lives 2:03 . Such that they may not be able to survive when they are out of the country.

[@gosikh]

Thanks for making these videos. Ordinary and yet amazing people.

[@HealthySGRetiree]

No wonder I find the name Chris Snell so familiar at the start of video. I ran the RTP 2011 Sahara too and finishing at the Sphnix

[@maylingfoo705]

That door opening incident is abnormal … it’s a gentleman act Plse carry on n spread the considerate act !

[@ksy1862]

Thank you very much Max for bringing yet another wonderful episode to your followers and new viewers. It’s always interesting to hear about everyone’s different life experiences and learn something from it through your YT channel. I enjoy watching your videos very much. Thank you.

[@amycarpio601]

Great interview, Chris 🎉

[@BY-jp7sg]

Great interview! Fascinating insight into some of the expats living in SG

[@clementihammock7572]

Enjoy this candid chat. Somehow, he gave me the old classic British mixed of BBC Documentary Hosts, Sir David Attenborough and Historian Michael Wood characters. And he mentioned "Lark", please listen to our local violin girl Chloe Chua "The Lark Ascending", and the very readable book "A Gentleman in Moscow", I simply love the novel's character Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov

[@yaruzilearn2live971]

Wow Snelly, what a colourful life you had!!

[@HCL882]

Oh I'm sporean n it's ok to open doors for ladies...we love it!

[@bananasmoothie006]

I like this guy. Leaving a legacy for your kids to have stories to tell. Nicely done.

[@ejsoh5291]

wow man of many talents!

[@matthewong1953]

He has an excellent life philosophy. I once attended a seminar and was asked this question; "what is the legacy I leave behind when I leave the company?" And it was a very thought provoking question. I realised that no one was going to remember some of the things I accomplished for the company/business in the 30+ years; and so I decided that my legacy would be the people I helped become successful! I would live on through these people and hopefully they will one day pass it on the people they helped become successful.

[@jasonlai1892]

This is the kind of expat I hope to see they take roots and become Singaporean. There is probably time for next GE. How about aiming to become the next MP with empathy, that will be awesome. What will be helpful will be someone to connect the dots.

[@singaporedan7701]

Fantastic videos as usual 👌 👏 😀 👍

[@ChirpyChat]

Keep opening and holding doors for others! Ignore that one inappropriate comment. The narrow view doesn't resonate with many women who also open doors for others too w/o thinking we're subservient to anyone.

[@christine8203]

Haha! That was my experience in HKG…not so much comments from people but I ended up holding the door for some time as no one who came right after me bothered to then in turn hold the door for the next person. Eventually after four passers-by, I un-hold 😅 the door and walked on. I thought PM Lee’s speech a good one; I think woke-ism is a major cop out to be honest!

[@Fakeslimshady]

But you CAN'T ignore them, once they get social media involved your career would be in danger.

[@limbehh8494]

Another great interview by Max and I like this humble gentleman from UK. Welcome to Singapore. Greeting from a Singaporean.

[@kwpf]

PM Lee's view about the woke culture in his final interview as a PM: "life becomes very burdensome and I don't think we want to go in that direction. It does not make us a more resilient cohesive society with a strong sense of solidarity. We must be more robust." Singapore and Singaporeans do not want the woke culture. It's really a type of mental problem if you think about it.

[@standardprocedure7017]

What precisely is the "woke culture" ? Waiting for answers...

[@OG21020]

Yes it is. The West are celebrating and upholding mental issues. Kids and teens are misled into destroying themselves only to realise it when they become adults and regretted what had been done. Kids and teens are exposed to harmful misleading material in school libraries. When teachers, instead of teaching, tried to convince confused kids into an idea without informing the parents (the mother found out in time, had a heart to heart talk with her daughter who's pre-teen and managed to save her or the daughter would have been convinced to go for medical procedures). Clueless writers who have not gone through the coils of life, writing with agendas in mind instead of good narratives. Directors / producers deliberately choosing to push agendas without consideration and respect for source materials and culture, even going so far as to try to rewrite history and historical figures. I can go on but I'll not. What's going on in the West, is not needed nor wanted here.

[@OG21020]

Yes it is. The West are celebrating and upholding mental issues. Kids and teens are misled into destroying themselves only to realise it when they become adults and regretted what had been done. Kids and teens are exposed to harmful misleading material in school libraries. When teachers, instead of teaching, tried to convince confused kids into an idea without informing the parents (the mother found out in time, had a heart to heart talk with her daughter who's pre-teen and managed to save her or the daughter would have been convinced to go for medical procedures). Clueless writers who have not gone through the coils of life, writing with agendas in mind instead of good narratives. Directors / producers deliberately choosing to push agendas without consideration and respect for source materials and culture, even going so far as to try to rewrite history and historical figures. I can go on but I'll not. What's going on in the West, is not needed nor wanted here.

[@danedao]

Having a massive whinge about every single thing.​@@standardprocedure7017

[@kentang1528]

He only know how to suck our blood and just increase our cost of living

[@gosikh]

There is a small sign near my front door. “Make someone smile today”

[@kenzone]

Very interesting bloke... a good addition to Singapore.

[@gungho9]

For the past several months, I have really enjoyed your videos interviewing foreigners living in SG. There's one foreigner who have put in roots in SG you must interview and that is Mike Kassem who is a DJ on radio Gold 9o5. He is married to a Singaporean and has a young son to boot.

[@glennchua9043]

Hi Chris, hope to see you in Siglap or Katong area where my friends and i are very frequent patronize this area. And we're mixed of English and Singaporean and other too.

[@TheCornellJunkie]

Good guy. We need more people like this

[@heavymetalrox268]

Very unexpected the woke incident in Singapore with the door, Singapore people are largely conservative/normal

[@Horus-j3f]

Only the uber westernised jiak kentang are like that

[@MaxiLim]

cool dude!

[@owl77]

May I suggest that you consider upgrading to a Class 2A motorcycle license and motorcycle? Touring on a motorcycle can be a wonderful experience, and there are many touring groups that you could join. One group that you might want to consider is Route 55 Adventure.😊

[@alastairmaxwell3041]

Good man, Chris. Is there an email for him somewhere ?

[@Hujjathullah-fz7qh]

Great conversation between two interesting gentlemen. Good contrasts of life in Singapore and elsewhere. But curious why would someone so worldlywise and adventurous to boot should be cocooned if not also totally enarmoured by Singapore though. Putting up with locals who mostly can't follow sarcasm and misinterprete "sexism". Anyway, the last eighth of the clip brims with easy wisdoms. Kudos to both ! ❤

[@OnMusicSoon1]

I think Singaporeans should get ourselves together and keep this wokeness culture away from slowing creeping into our societies. If you are that hyper sensitive about small acts of kindness, I don't think Singapore is a good place for you to work or live in. In Singapore we do a lot of compromises to keep our societies in harmony among races, languages, religions, genders etc.

[@tulipsandpeaches1834]

2:18 is that a rooftop restaurant or the rooftop of your condo? 😅 if the former, can share location?

[@daveb3987]

He’s just a chilled out entertainer…

[@ivangim1]

Hey Chris Money is not the root of all evil. It is the love of money that's the root of all evil. There is a difference. Money, we need. But money's not everything in life. Great interview. Thank you, Chris & Max.

[@rinky_dinky]

i really like this Chris ,i listened to this man , listened to his honest thoughts about money , i saw how he squirmed uncomfortably with Max's question about investment and giving very general unimformative information into "investing" then i heard about his hobbies and passion and it hit me , this guy , he is living life he isnt that type to think about finances and investing, that whole investment question was just a segue to max's sponsor

[@robocop581]

One can't think about finances and investing and live the life at the same time?

[@jonyap1724]

WELL SAID! ENTITLED OR SPOILED CHILDHOOD! We need more parents with his kind mentality.

[@hayyana]

Holding the door or giving the seats is very common in Taiwan. Giving up seats to the needy is rare in Singapore. They need to ask if they want to sit.

[@karjeecheng9024]

Not true in my experience. I am a grey-haired senior Singaporean, and I always get offered seats on the MRT.

[@matthowe5193]

bless him

[@johnnyexplorestheworld4729]

Interesting and funny guy

[@yeowchongong5608]

He seems un easy when asked about if he has any local friends… 😂 body language can’t lie

[@MasouShizuka]

As a local borned and raised here, it might be easy and comfortable but we are still humans. There is still crime, there is still flaws. So do not get complacent.

[@megapangolin1093]

Hope his kids are given scope to learn Mandarin, it is the language of the future and it will give them a huge boost in the job market, and avoid the desperate British stereotype of not being able to speak any other language. Once you learn one language it is easier to pick up others. Great for mental health too. Great interview, very real, and very honest. More people should be more open like this. Sarcasm is the one thing that keeps the British sane. You cant live a day without sarcasm, it is so uplifting..

[@CadStr]

Expat the cool way to say foreigner

[@winnersmotivationgroup9523]

Sorry if you had money ,you can live your comfort life and your children get good education ❤money is problem solver❤

[@eliso5973]

Why not? As a Hongkonger, I really want these expats to leave, we have too many expats in Hong Kong now.

[@Jason88215]

Well your view definitely does not represent the majority of HongKongers. We deeply appreciate the value that expats contribute to Hong Kong.

[@eliso5973]

@@Jason88215 it's the opposite, your view definitely doesn't represent the majority.

[@Jason88215]

@@eliso5973 How can Hong Kong maintain its economy amidst a population exodus to overseas countries? Of course we need to attract more expats - whether it be from the Mainland or foreign countries - to join our workforce.

[@eliso5973]

@@Jason88215 You should at least know that mainland Chinese are not expats, because Hong Kong is part of China. You don't know what the majority think, sorry.

[@robocop581]

Singapore has more green space? What did you do in HK, stay in your flat?

[@itsagreatday8261]

HK has many beautiful greenery hiking trails, mountains and nice and clean city landscaping.

[@XiaomiPhone-jy5sm]

It's interesting to talk about poverty in Singapore. I feel that the poverty line is set too low for such a rich nation. Most of the time, someone who fell below the line is either self inflicted (gambling, having too many kids, getting involved in a crime etc), or external factor (life long sickness, flagged as a communist and getting locked up in a smaller island, etc). So yeah, the percentage of people falling below poverty line is relatively small as compared to other bigger nations. On the other side, feeling rich is here requires a lot of wealth here. When you indulge yourself slightly into luxurious things, you are paying way higher premium for that as compared to other first world nations. They often said that the success of a city is when people rather choose to not own a car, but taking a public transport instead. Singapore has done that well, majority of people do not own cars. And guess what, majority of people do not own their home/property as well, thanks to 99-year leasehold. Everything is risk pooled here to keep poverty out of sight. In turns, it reduces evitable crimes. Now where do we find poor people to teach our entitled kids a lesson?

[@humanshieldz]

The lady who said he was sexist for holding the door was wild.

[@gosikh]

I do the same, I touch base with all my ex bosses or as many of them.

[@chandchand5355]

Don't come back lol i did 18 years as an expat in the middleeast and bermuda now back in the uk.. 8 months over it lol ready to leave..once an expat always an expat!

[@axianskin]

Interestingly, the word expat is usually used to describe westerner workers in SG. If he’s an Asian, say from Philippines, he would be described as “foreign worker”. this discrepancy is so jarring for decades. For clarity, expat or expatriate refers to a professional working for a MNC , who has been transplanted to a foreign office. Such expats are often compensated with housing allowance, hardship allowance, country club membership, paid holidays etc. But nowadays, such things are practically non existent unless you’re in the C-Suite

[@panda63725]

I have seen Koreans, Japanese Chinese, posted to Singapore as expats. Mainly because the company HQs are from these countries. Some switched to local packaged after first expat terms, as company policy. And also seen Singaporean posted as expat to China and Japan. One thing common is they are holding very senior leadership position and their family will be taken care of, such as housing and children education. So it is not true expat is based on races or skin color. Also because they are called foreigner workers simply because their role is not senior enough and the jobs are offered through agency or open markets, where as expats are internal postings, head hunted or seconded from eg. HQ. They are leading a company, department or market.

[@kevinlee3465]

You need to understand the differences among Work permit, S-pass and Employment pass. Since you mention about Philippines, not sure how many % of Pinoy working here are EP holders

[@steventay5834]

SG good to raise your kids

[@hugo9618]

brit: "my inability to speak other languages" translation: "I don't want to learn any other languages"

[@ericphua2359]

Why holding door for women is sexy 😅. That just been polite.

[@antihypocrisy8978]

The Hong Kong protests were scary. Half the city lost their wits and supported terrorism.

[@mjmf1430]

He is British, probably why he is sour over Hong Kong when the latter was returned to China after 156 years of British colonial rule, thereby ending the white men regime,whereas in Singapore there are still perhaps traces of colonial rule being “celebrated”, i.e. in the recent commission and erection of British coloniser officer-in-charge Sir Stamford Raffles sculpture.

[@dicky-duck6632]

How dare you 😊

[@Knightmare7200]

I really hope Singapore doesn't follow Europes mistakes and allow mass immigration from Africa and the middle east.. otherwise the Singapore you know now will be destroyed

[@riptyurass302]

This guy is Irish though, not British lol

[@bigfisher4354]

The guy said he is British though... I'm pretty sure he knows his own nationality...

[@Albert_Einstein_not]

Northern Irish are British

[@joshwai]

If I were in his shoes... I will definitely choose Singapore too. Why Not HK? well, there is only communist and no more democracy.

[@robocop581]

We never had Democracy in HK Dufus. That's how ignorant you are about the Territory and former "Colony".

[@CannibaLouiST]

@@robocop581 chomp chomp chomp

[@robocop581]

@@CannibaLouiST Slurp Slurp Burp

[@CannibaLouiST]

@@robocop581 chomp chomp chomp

[@robocop581]

@@CannibaLouiST La Duh Duh Duh

[@knowthetruth9804]

Mainland China now is a much better place for an expat compared to HK or Singapore

[@Lawrenc139]

OK, another highly paid westerner who probably would be happy in any of the top 10 safest countries anywhere in the world. When will this channel interview an average Singaporean who is not afraid to tell the truth about Singapore? If he was an average paid worker struggling to survive in the world's most expensive city and MILLION dollar PUBLIC HOUSING : HDB, let's see if he has the same opinion

[@tenwhite769]

You are too ignorant to be someone who has any real knowledge of Singapore. 90% of Singaporeans own a home which they bought direct from govt at 1/6 the cost of a equivalent flat in hk. And installment is paid with cpf without needing to use take home salary.