Mark Carroll's Journal

Over several days I got to spend time in the cites of Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. These are some of the thoughts that the travel left with me once I got back to Taguig.

First, for such an itinerary, do it by air. Maybe renting a car works too but, goodness, the land causeway between Johor Bahru and Singapore is a pain both ways. One is crammed onto buses and must wait plenty in immigration, definitely not the most pleasant of experiences. An aspect complicating the short bus journey, between exit from one country and entry to the other, was that they take cash or payment cards for the bus fare, except international cards tend not to work (nor in many ATMs) or, if one first manages to get cash from a money changer or an ATM, it's probably in apparently unacceptably large denominations.

I have mentioned how I often don't recognize the English spoken at me here in Metro Manila. Singaporeans imagine that they speak good British English but, in various regards, it's challenging to an outsider. Rail signs on Singapore's rapid transit are also in Chinese and Tamil. Malaysian identity seems rather more fiercely nationalistic, especially favoring Malay, the lack of inclusiveness is part of the story of why Singapore and Malaysia parted ways. Sure, Filipinos are also proud of their country and heritage but their government also backs English in various ways, perhaps they feel more self-assured.

It's interesting to taste the different characters of the cities. Islam felt strong in Kuala Lumpur and the museums are well worth visiting, including the Islamic art museum. Johor Bahru felt a bit more like Manila, a bit of organized chaos in the air, I also noticed more Hindu temples around, even a Gurdwara. Of course, just as the US once occupied the Philippines, both Malaysia and Singapore had the British, though I noticed American influence in Singapore too. Despite the US/UK influence, another strong taste in Singapore was that of authoritarian central planning, it reminded me a little of what could be done behind the Iron Curtain. Waiting in line to enter Malaysia, they played the Azan over the public address system whereas, in Singapore, at one point I heard Westminster Chimes.

For light rail or subway, an annoyance in Singapore was that they've ended whatever those tickets were one could buy at the machines, instead one swipes a payment card at the barrier, on entry and exit, quite a fuss when one has children in tow and must use a separate card for each passenger, also for tourists the question of per-transaction fees; it also doesn't accept AmEx. So, we developed a tedious ritual of distributing acceptable payment cards and shepherding people through. Kuala Lumpur was easier, one could specify one's journey to the machine that provides plastic tokens that one can then distribute. There may have been alternatives but none were apparent.

The Singapore zoo is very good, macaques are hardly unusual here but I also got to be in the same space as tamarinds, lemurs, sloths, mousedeer, wallabies, fruit bats, etc., though was happy enough to simply be there with them rather than attempting to say hello. Separately, the aquarium seems to nicely demonstrate how many different animals can coeexist without promptly eating each other. Though, both are a bit of a pain to reach from what one might consider to be downtown.

Singapore's vehicle license plates seemed tantalizing carriers of information. Many followed a common pattern and the first letter of those strongly correlated with the vehicle type. I wondered what clues the other characters offered.

SE Asians seem to love their indoor malls. Johor Bahru's seemed oddly bereft though, reminding me of what happened to many of the US' city malls years ago. R. attributes this to the pandemic's influence on tourism, perhaps there will be more shoppers from Singapore now restrictions continue to be lifted. The historic central market in Kuala Lumpur was also far emptier than R. remembers.

Both Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have both a Chinatown and a Little India. I tended not to favor many of the Chinese food offerings as I was avoiding pork and shrimp and slimy, squidgy lumps. Plenty of what I ate was South Asian or from more toward the Middle East or Mediterranean.

Since my return, I still appear to be pointing at things with my thumb, it apparently being rude to extend one's finger in that manner. At least I am good at switching between standing on the left or right of the escalator, perhaps the countries' US or UK influence shows through there.