As I sit here now at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, *shockingly* still alive, the Thailand chapter is coming to a close. Here are some of my thoughts and insights from the past eight months that I’ll take with me as the journey continues.
Month: May 2022
KL exists in the context of Malaysia’s big, traditional, rugged, chaotic, and complicated melting pot. Against this backdrop, the city stands out as a singular, epic unifying pillar of modernization. It’s the kind of city that all metropolises in SEA could aspire to become more like. It’s clean, comfortable, well-connected, modern, and futuristic, yet it still retains chaotic, fast-paced, and multicultural flavors. A truly fascinating place.
Penang’s buildings are colorful and stately, and the city has an incredibly European feel to it. Among the arches and walkways, however, one finds uniquely Asian, Malay, and Penangite flairs. All the text is in Bahasa Malay or occasionally Chinese, tiny shops sell knock-off goods at tiny prices, restaurants sling noodles, strong coffee, and fish, and here and there you pass an ornate mosque rather than a church.
With all the rotating exhibitions and continuous construction of increasingly tall skyscrapers, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Singapore is in a constant state of flux and development — an endless one-upmanship with ever nicer, more beautiful experiences repeatedly being built and discovered anew.