I laughed a bit when I read that paragraph. Because I am sure it is the current/future dream of most of the people on HN to work for a big internet company in Silicon Valley. Which of course means long hours with your free time spent talking about work.
The fact is that in "international" cities like Singapore, London, Sydney, Paris etc people do work long hours and in their spare time often talk about what they are spending the majority of their life doing. It's completely natural and par for the course.
There's a big difference between Singapore and London. In many other countries, you can move between cities to find the place that fit you better. From London, you can go to say, Manchester, Edinburgh, or even the rest of EU is open to you.
In Singapore, you can move between neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods are more or less the same. Once you've lived there for a while, you go to the same place that you've been to hundreds (or maybe thousands) of times after work. It all got really really boring after a while. The typical (expected) long working hours in the society doesn't help either. All you do is work, eat and sleep. And shopping. After 10 years, I too left and would never return.
I don't get that feeling from most of HN articles. In fact, just the opposite. HNers are leaving these companies for places that fit better. It's one thing to have crunch time to get an MVP out the door but if you're still doing that a month later something is wrong.
I've worked in London, Paris, and Miami. Only in the US do we work long hours and then continue to discuss it outside of work.
The fact is that in "international" cities like Singapore, London, Sydney, Paris etc people do work long hours and in their spare time often talk about what they are spending the majority of their life doing. It's completely natural and par for the course.