Making a Run or the Boarder

Still jet lagging, so my dad and I went for another jog around Singapore around 7:30am. Today we planned to take a cab from Singapore to Mayalasia to the Palm Resort.

Since my sister didnt get to walk around the day before, we walked around Singapore and checked out the Mirlion and the Symphony Hall and then a couple malls.

Malayasia is a complete contrast of Singapore, upon entering Malaysia in Johor it was dirty and much older it was not even close to as westernized as Singapore. It reminded me of my visit to Taiwan in 2002 places not called Taipei. Our friends Towei and his wife Lily picked us up at the Taxi stand and took us to our resort hotel. Towei works in Singapore and like many Malaysians make a grueling commute of at least 2-hours 5x a week into work in Singapore. The distance separating Malayasia from Singapore is simular to New Jersey to New York City but what makes his commute terrible is passing through Singapore and Maylasia customs both to and back! Not to mention the bumper to bumper traffic. Very strict regulations are put on the number of cars let into Singapore, most commonly limiting the ammount of cars from Maylasia into Singapore. Commuting into Singapore by bus takes at least 3 hours and there is no train that will connect the two...meaning ther is NO easy or fast way to get in or out of Singapore from Maylasia and vise versa.



There were a some nice houses and developments along the way to the resort and Towei was explaining to us that they built new homes too fast and that you could buy a new home in Malyasia for $70k USD, only problem is housing prices do not appreciate and lose value unlike the US. Also Malyasians living in Malyasia can buy a house cheaper than if you were Chinese or Indian living in Malyasia...thats pretty racisit! Ends up Malyasia is a very segregated country and the Malyasians, Chinese and Indians all stick to their own community and do not interterwine....such as the government having Chinese in one school and Mayalasians in another.

Once we got to the Palm Resort in Mayalasia we were greeted at the security booth by the a huge cloud of Mosquito repelent spray...we couldnt see a thing! The Palm resort is a popular destination for people from Singapore and Thailand because it is cheap and isolated...it felt like I was far away from Singapore and in a place like Hawaii even though Singapore was probably only about 30 miles away.

Our family friend Angeline (who was getting married the day after next) and her friend Jess picked us all up and took us to dinner at a foodcourt where we met Towei and Lily. We had more chilli crab and some other great food but after dinner we were all exhausted so we just went back to the Palms Resort and called it a night.

What I learned: Mayalyasia is a segregated country. Buying a house in Mayalasia is not considered an asset but more of a liability. People living in Mayalasia working in Singapore have to put up with a commute from hell regularly.