Destination for American/French family - Singapore? Hong Kong? (crime, best, life)

[cunparis]

I'm American and my wife is French (of Chinese descent), we live near Paris France. We're kind of tired of Paris, it's not the best place to raise two young kids (1 & 2 1/2). So we were planning on moving to the US. But I had this crazy idea. Since we'd be selling off possessions and moving, why not move some place new and exciting. Kind of like I did when I moved from Mesa AZ to Paris 8 years ago.
So I did some googling.

Chile sounds nice but I don't know much about it.

Buenos Aires sounds really cool, like a European city. I'd love to learn Spanish. But it has street crime (cameras, wallets, etc.) and that would be a big hassle. Also the pollution.

So on to Aisa, I've always dreamed of living in Asia. We backpacked across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos for 2 months once and loved it. Singapore is like the US but with Chinese and Asian culture mixed in. A bit humid but otherwise very interesting.

I've never visited Hong Kong but everything I've seen/read about it sounds like it'd be fun for a few years. I've met american expats there and even HK expats in the US and I've never heard anything bad about it. Nothing major at least. I know it's crowded, expensive, etc.

Then people talk about Tokyo. Gotta do some reading on that one.

Any other ideas? The main criteria is it has to be good for a family with young children. If the children would be a problem we could just go to the US until they're a bit older and then try it. But in any case I like to keep dreaming.

PS: I'd love living on an island somewhere but my wife, the Parisian she is, prefers living near big cities..

[Mooseketeer]

Vancouver is a fantastic city. Vibrant, sophisticated, yet laid back.

Great outdoors culture and yet a lot of culture too. Fantastic restaurants, beautiful scenery and fabulous wildlife.

All the people I know who live in Vancouver absolutely love it. You can be at the beach in the morning and skiing in the afternoon.

Hong Kong would be my idea of hell on earth so I can't comment. way too crowded and packed for me and I would have thought more of a young single person's city rather than for a family.

The other city which I hear a lot of wonderful things about is Sidney but I have never been.

I love Buenos Aires , there is a bit of crime but it is quite a European city in feel and is very vibrant.

[graceC]

I would go for Singapore due to the following reasons:

* Language. Most singaporeans speak English so at least the language barrier won't be that tough for you. Not so in HK, where you have to speak at least passable cantonese to get by.
* Location. Both HK and Singapore are metropolitan cities, but when you get tired of city scenes and would like to get away to beautiful beaches or countryside, that's where Singapore's location comes into play. You can get away to Australia in a few hours' flight from S'pore. Or Thailand in an hour or so. Or Tahiti, for that matter.
* Ease of getting work visa. I know in S'pore, if you're considered a highly skilled worker, it's easier to get a company to sponsor your work visa and once you get that, I believe it takes roughly 6-12 months to get your permanent residency in S'pore. Not sure about HK though.

Good luck!