What do I love about Malaysia? First, I love it because it is a multicultural society just like in the Singapore and of course, the US. Its population is composed of Malays, Chinese and Indians with three major religions: Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Of course, there are Christians too. Because of this, it feels like being in three countries at the same time. That’s why its tourist slogan is “Malaysia Truly Asia.” With this mixture of different cultures, it means they have choices of three different cuisines: Malay, Chinese and Indian food. In addition, they also have Western food, Middle Eastern food and other Asian food such as Korean and Japanese food. And you can tell that they respect each other’s religion since sometimes the mosque, the Buddhist temple and the Hindu temple are right next to each other. Based on my observation, they seem to get along fine, but I read they do have some race problems too, but hopefully it is not as bad as in the US. What else do I love about Malaysia? Second, I guess, its infrastructure. For example, its public transportation is quite good. Almost as good as Hong Kong. Its subway trains, elevated trains and monorail are quite impressive. Though I have never tried using the city bus system in Kuala Lumpur, I did use it in Penang Island, and it was quite easy. And I know that some of the buses are free. Not sure for foreigners, but at least for Malaysians. As for taking the bus from one city to another, it is quite easy, and the bus terminals are like airports with gates and timetable boards for all the bus’ departures and arrivals. As for the bus themselves, they are very comfortable with an air conditioner which they tend to operate at very low temperatures. As for the taxi, I’ve never taken them, but I’ve taken GRAB, which is the UBER of Southeast Asia. Actually GRAB originated from here. Definitely it is the best. I just love it, and the price is quite reasonable. In addition, you can order food through GRAB, which I did while I was in a lockdown in Penang, another city in Malaysia, for more than three months. Also in addition, you can use it to pay some stuff such as at a convenience store, restaurant or a cafe. The app reminds me of WeChat from China, but WeChat does a lot more, but I won’t be surprised that more additional services will be added to the GRAB app. Third, being a foodie, I definitely love to eat different kinds of food and to try new ones all the time, so as I just mentioned, with this mix of different cultures, you get the best of everything. If I compare Malaysia to China, in China, Chinese food are of course everywhere, and other kinds of food are only in selected places such as the shopping mall or certain districts, but of course, China is a big country, so even Chinese food are different from each other. There are Sichuan style restaurants, Hangzhou style restaurants, Beijing style restaurants. These different kinds of Chinese food come from different parts o China. Sorry to digress, but my point is in Malaysia, Indian restaurants, Chinese restaurants and Malay restaurants are all over the place, and most of the time, they are right next to each other. And I think, for me, that’s a good thing. And of course, there are other kinds of food too such as Japanese food, Korean food and Western food, but you just have to find them, and most of them are at a shopping mall or certain districts too. And I just love that a lot of regular restaurants here are open air. It reminds me of Vietnamese restaurants which are mostly open air. Fourth, most Malaysians can speak very good English, so it is easy to communicate with the people here. Same with Singapore and Hong Kong. Compared to other Asian countries such as Mainland China, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia, it is quite hard to find anyone who can speak English, so in these countries, you really need to know at least some basic phrases in their language. Fifth, based on two major cities I’ve stayed in for a long period of time due to the lockdown necessitated by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, I feel the cities here were well planned. Everything seems very easy to navigate. Most of the streets have a pretty spacious sidewalks compared to other Asian cities such as Bangkok and Vietnam where some streets don’t have any sidewalks. And the roads here are quite spacious, not narrow, unlike some other Southeast Asian cities. Also compared to most apartments here in Asia (I am talking about the whole Asia, not just Southeast Asia), the apartments here are quite spacious, and I love that. Compare that to an apartment in Hong Kong where it is almost like living in a box. So those are the reasons why I love Malaysia. I am sure I will have more reasons why I love this country as I continue to stay here. For sure, after I leave Malaysia to go wherever I might end up going to (it could be Hong Kong, Mainland China, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan or Japan), I will still definitely come back here again for a vacation. Actually I am even considering this country as the place for me to retire. Not that I want to retire since I still want to continue what I love to do: photography, writing, filmmaking and media. It would be nice to establish a business here too.
