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Thirty years ago, when I first came to Singapore (which became my home for almost two decades then), three things surprized me:
- The climate. Constant high heat and humidity literally struck me. Every time I left the (at the time not yet common) airconditioned enclaves, I had problems breathing and felt like hit by a sledgehammer. But that feeling subsided and after a few months, I avoided aircon (it makes you sick!) and travelled everywhere on bicycle (yes, even in full sunshine!). Our body adjusts easier than expected!
- The language. Despite being fluent in English, I struggled to understand the locals. "Can do lah" isn't the Latin word for candle and "on the light" doesn't indicate something on top of the lamp. Again, I got used to it after a while - although my now wife (she's from Singapore) still cannot stand my erratic usage of "lah", "meh", "wah" and other local end-of-sentence particles.
- The food. Excellent and cheap eats of an amazing variety are ubiquitous. Singapore's invention of the hawker centre (to centralize formerly unhygienic street stalls in easier to control locations) really deserves its UNESCO World Heritage status!

Thank you Beppi

What really struck me in Singapore is

1. Cleanliness. It does feel like the most clean urbanized place on earth
2. The discipline in general public. We have all noticed that during Covid how 99% people followed the rules( and still following) for safe distancing etc. and one of the main reason SG did cope with covid19 so well
3. The solidarity- the magnitude of volunteering and solidarity activities and participation of general mass in it , is just astounding.

100% agree with Beppi...  I'm an Aussie and have spent quite a bit of time in SG with my SG wife and will be there full-time soon..
The whole city is vibrant, clean, safe, cosmopolitan, accessible.  The food choices are amazing - and cheap.  Love our local hawker and experimenting (for me) with different cuisines.  We even have a hamburger stand with owner from New York!
Climate takes some adjusting - but hey, shorts and slippers every day is just fine. Must keep hydrated.
We also ride our bikes everywhere we can. We have foldies and mountain bikes - so do PCN and jungle trails.
Crime rates very low and most people seem to be at peace with one another.  I enjoy that fact that there are several races living in our block. The head of our owners group in our block is married to a Japanese and most other ethnic groups are there.
Future prosperity is pretty much guaranteed with very competent governance / leadership that seems to get the balance right in terms of what's good for the people and what's good for the economy.
Finally, location. Smack in the middle of the two hemispheres, so max 12 hours flight to anywhere 
(But, I haven't even started to deal with the usages of "lah", "meh", "wah"     )