SINGAPORE: While most foreigners are hesitant to transfer to Singapore due to concerns about salaries and the cost of living, this particular person is having second thoughts because of his severe fear of cockroaches.
Posting on r/askSingapore, the foreigner recounted his recent week-long visit to Singapore for a work conference. Despite the short duration of his stay, he was struck by how frequently he encountered cockroaches.
He described his experience in detail, noting that he saw cockroaches every single day, including in places one might not expect. These included Changi Airport, where he first arrived, the roadsides, popular restaurants where he dined, and even around the hotel pool areas.
“My company has offered me a position at their Singapore location. I am beyond grateful for this opportunity but have a roach phobia at the same time,” he said.
“Does Singapore have a really bad cockroach problem? Is this a common everyday problem? Thanks in advance.”
Singaporeans admit that the city-state has a cockroach problem
Admittedly, many Singaporean Redditors acknowledged that the country does have a cockroach problem. However, they suggested that if his net worth is high enough, he might be able to choose a more luxurious or well-maintained residential area where he could avoid these issues.
One Redditor recommended selecting an apartment on a high floor, ideally level 10 or above, and ensuring it has an external waste chute access instead of an indoor one.
He added, “The vast majority of restaurants here are stringent about environmental checks due to regulations, and public transport is generally good about it (still happens on a few buses, but it’s the exception rather than the rule). Invest in a pest control service, shouldn’t be more than a couple hundred a year.”
Another Redditor, who has lived in seven different cities, shared that he has seen more cockroaches in just three months in Singapore than in “10 years of everywhere he’s been to combined.” He then offered some explanations for this observation.
He suggested that one reason might be the way food waste is handled in Singapore, where people often mix food scraps with regular trash instead of separating them. He also pointed out that hawker centers, which are common throughout the city, tend to be quite dirty.
Many hawkers don’t prioritize cleanliness because they share their space with numerous other stalls, whereas restaurant owners typically take full responsibility for maintaining a clean environment.
Additionally, he noted that Singapore’s hot climate, with no winters, contributes to the problem. Unlike places with cold winters where bugs, including cockroaches, die off, Singapore’s consistently warm temperatures allow cockroaches to reproduce year-round with plenty of food sources available.
A third Redditor chimed in and said, “You would be hard pushed to find a city near the equator with less cockroaches, I reckon, but yeah, don’t eat wherever you see a lot of them.”
Still, there were others who thought that cockroaches were really not that common in Singapore.
One Redditor commented, “One everyday??? Changi airport? Though I’m sure there are roaches but everyday? It’s been months since I last saw one in public just randomly running around… did you go to our nearby neighbor country instead ….”
Another added, “I’ve never seen cockroaches in the office and never at Changi Airport. They do come out at night though.”
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