Antony’s Life Blog

What is the relation between "the richest man in the world" and "the inventor of blue energy"? Both of them are from Indonesia. No… no… I’m just kidding. I’ll come back to this topic later.

Let’s start with another story first. Every day, each time I read news about my home country, Indonesia, I feel sad. The country is facing a lot of problems, politically and economically. The government has recently raised the fuel price, which makes many people unhappy.

The story continues…. Two "crazy" Indonesians have tried to make fun of the problems in the country.

The first person is Achmad Zaini. He claimed to have ~2,000 billion USD, which should be enough to develop the country for the next 36 years. If his claim were true, he is 30 times richer than Warren Buffett (the current richest man the world according to Forbes).

The second person is Joko Suprapto. He claimed to have technology that turns sea water into fuel. Wow… amazing, isn’t it? Even Indonesian president, SBY, has visited him and gave full support to his research. Unfortunately, it is just too good to be true.

Oh boy…. what’s next?

Recently, there was someone left a comment on my old posting, Three Reasons Why I don’t Like Living in Vancouver. He said that it’s better for me to leave the city. It doesn’t need people like me. In a way, the comment is correct. If I don’t like the city, why am I living here in the first place? The reason why I live in Vancouver was because I got a job in a big company back in 2005. That’s why, I decided to relocate from Singapore to Vancouver, Canada.

After living here for about 2 years; I realized that I hardly survive here (as I mentioned in my previous posting). The housing price is not affordable. There was a statement from RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) recently about housing’s affordability in Metro Vancouver:

RBC released its latest housing affordability index the day after a major report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities warned that the unaffordability of housing is becoming an economic issue for Canadian cities, and Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan said too many families here are having to choose between buying food or making the mortgage.

This one is more even interesting:

By the bank’s measure, it would take 75 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s median income of $60,000 to afford an average two-storey home, which carried a $619,892 price tag.

Is it only me who feels very hard living in Vancouver? I copied some comments from Vancouver Sun readers below.

Housing costs have more than doubled in the past 7 years, with no end in sight. At this rate, it’s almost impossible for a young couple to afford a detached single family home and have any sort of life. (KarenL)

YVR is out of reach for people making less than $100K per year. Even for a family with $150K per year income it’s almost impossible to buy a house… (POLLO)

I’m a new physician, netted about 300k last year and still, I’m not prepared to buy a home in Vancouver. It is all the greedy investors who snatch up all the homes that drive up the prices. (JIM)

Why didn’t I leave Vancouver then? There was an unfortunate that I had 2 years contract with my company. If I leave the company before 2 years; then I had to pay some amount of money.

What’s my next plan after 2 years? I have a plan in my mind already; but couldn’t disclose it now. I need to prepare everything first; because I don’t want to make the wrong decision.

Many people here in Vancouver keep asking me, why I don’t like living in Vancouver, Canada. They keep telling me that Vancouver is one of the best cities to live in the world. Where else can we have a good quality of life as in Vancouver? Where else can we see mountain surrounding with beautiful lakes? May be I am not a “normal” person because everybody seems to like living in Vancouver.

I keep asking myself this question, why I don’t like living in Vancouver. I’ll try to give five three reasons here. I know many of you, especially the ones who love Vancouver, will not agree with me.

1. The living cost is damn expensive. As an example, take a look at the Canadian housing price chart here. Vancouver housing price is twice more expensive than Toronto and 2.5 times more expensive than Montreal. Do people in Vancouver receive more salary than other Canadian cities? Check Canada Salary Wizard from CanadaVisa.com and you will find the answer.
2. It is a city for retirement. There is nothing wrong with this except that we cannot put a high expectation on our career, especially in the high-tech industry. There are only a few high-tech companies in Vancouver. This is a problem for me because I make my living from the high-tech industry.
3. Health system is bad. I am not sure whether this is a problem all across Canada or only in British Columbia. From my experience, the waiting time to see a doctor in Vancouver can take weeks or even months. Last time, I had a dermatofibroma and it took me 3 months to make an appointment for the surgery. Before that, I met 5 other doctors and none of them were able to cure my disease. No kidding… 5 doctors in Greater Vancouver area!
   Another problem is the concept of family doctor. Here, we can only see our family doctor. We cannot go to another doctor without recommendation from our family doctor. How about a new immigrant? It is getting interesting because most of the good doctors here do not accept new patients any more.

Why am I still staying in Vancouver now? When you have a family, you have a big responsibility. Believe me, relocation is not as easy as when you are single.