Malaysian Memories

With our time in Thailand coming to its first end I thought that I'd muse on how it compares to Malaysia and Singapore.

One of the benefits of visiting former British colonies such as Malaysia and Singapore is that certain things are very familiar. There is no doubt that independence is better but their history makes travelling pretty easy, although linen trousers are optional.

English is very widely spoken. In some places it is the common language as the local people’s native tongue is not Malay, particularly on Borneo.

The power sockets are the same as in the UK so there is no need for any adapters. Crossing the road is easy as they drive on the same side, so you don’t need to learn to look in a different direction. They may also drive on the left in Thailand (unlike Laos) but crossing the road is far from easy.

The only big difference that you need to get used to is that on escalators you stand on the left. Mind blown!

Some things are obviously different. Firstly is the heat, the strength of the sun and the constant length of the days. Being equatorial, it’s quite odd to see the moon directly above you and satellite dishes are also aimed straight up.

Being an islamic country, alcohol is highly taxed and so not cheap (unlike in Thailand and Laos). For example, Lou we bought a very expensive imported Mikkeller beer in a crafty KL bar that cost about £15. Although craft beer in Chiang Mai was expensive by Thai standards, it wasn’t that crazy.

Smoking is fairly rare in venues in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand although it does occur in some bars. Durian (a foul smelling large fruit) appears to be more of a taboo.

It is much easier to get around in Singapore and Malaysia than in Thailand. This is thanks to good metro systems, buses and mainly Grab.