Final Thoughts

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Singapore sits on the end of a peninsula that it shares with Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia. Nestled in the middle of Southeast Asia, Singapore and Malaysia get overlooked in favor of the larger, more influential countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. These two neighboring countries laying in the South China Sea might be incredibly close, but the contrast from one island to another is startling.

Malaysia and Singapore are, put together, a melting pot of all of Asia. From Korea and China, to India and Pakistan, all of Asia is represented in these tiny countries. Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and everyone in between is represented in some capacity. But Malaysia and Singapore are completely different.

Where Singapore is clean and polished, Malaysia is rough around the edges. Singapore is glamorous, Kuala Lumpur and George Town are messy. Singapore is artificial, Malaysia is authentic. In Singapore, the streets are spotless, everyone looks happy, and the buildings are beautiful. In Georgetown, people were yelling. In Kuala Lumpur, there was some trash on the ground. It felt more real, like actual people were living there. Singapore felt like a dream or a fantasy that is impossible in real life.

In the United States, Singapore is regarded as a beautiful, clean, and exclusive city known for the incredibly wealthy of the world. The movie Crazy Rich Asians (2018) definitely perpetuated that stereotype. But I found that Singapore really does live up to the name. The architecture was modern, and everything seemed perfect, not a hair out of place. Malaysia was not another story, but it was a different chapter in the same book. Kuala Lumpur is a city developing. It's not at Singapore's level, but in the next couple of decades, it will get there. The plans are already ready, it's just time for execution, which we saw at the Petronas towers.