Submitted by Riley Hazel the 2024 Spring program in Singapore, Republic of Singapore…
This Wednesday I decided to go to Johor Bahru, Malaysia, the city of Malaysia that connects to Singapore. I had off and wanted to see Malaysia at least once, no matter where I go. Johor Bahru was an interesting city, mainly known for its shopping and food experiences. I did a little cafe hopping and shopping at the local mall but it surprised me the differences between Singapore and Malaysia only just across the border. For one, Johor Bahru is a lot less clean than that of Singapore despite it being on the border. Wherever I was walking, the streets were a mess and had a lot of trash, but while I’m used to that in most American cities, the air was also terrible too. It was not only very dry, but also smoggy. The cafe’s and where I ate, however, was an entirely different experience than I would experience back home. Most of the cafe’s I went to were both a cafe and clothing concept store. The food choices vastly differentiated than back home, such as having jackfruit cheesecake. The cheesecake is not your average New York style cheesecake, but genuinely a cheese cake that was both moist and crumbly. The baked goods in that country were almost all homemade which made it by far better than back home where msot goods are delivered already made. The mall was filled to the brim with not only shops, btu massage parlors, hairstylists, and vendors separate from stores. It was almost a free for all in there with there being so many stores of the same kind being right next to each other. The Asia obsession with gacha, a by chance figure or toy game, was crazy in Malaysia too with the mall having a collection on each floor. That is one main thing I wish we had back home, but I don’t believe it will be so for a while as that culture isn’t really well known. The people are a lot more reserved as well, barely interacting or even looking at you unless they were a shop keeper. Conversation between strangers is never seen and often is forgotten if you try to converse with a stranger. By far, Johor Bahru, Malaysia was a very interesting place filled with a diverse culture of Malaysian, Indian, and Chinese. Very much so, the culture from Singapore can be seen carrying over into Johor Bahru but not as much. (Submitted on May 3,2024)