Kuala Lumpur Vs Singapore

No one likes diary style Blogs right?

A good blog has strong opinions. In light of this and coupled with my burning desire to write about my holiday I present to you Kuala Lumpur Vs Singapore.

My opinion on which city offers a better holiday and why. I’ll break it down into categories, give a score for each category and then end with my final opinion

FIRST IMPRESSION: The first thing I noticed when I walked out of the airport in KL was the smell of Gudang Garam (sp?) cigarettes and I liked it. The first thing I noticed when I walked out of the airport in Singapore was how clean the area was. Clean to the point of Sterility. I also liked it. However the local cab drivers smoking their traditional cigarettes beats the hospital like cleanliness of Singapore.

KL gets one point

AMBIENCE: Singapore is a beautiful city with great ambience, however it didn’t really feel too different from a western city, KL is a bustling place and seems somewhat chaotic but is actually well organised. You know you’re in Asia when you’re in KL. Both cities were very clean, KL suprisingly so. KL gets the ambience point

It is 2 and 0

SHOPPING: No contest here. KL shits all over Singapore on the shopping front. From the street markets to the big shopping centres. KL is at least one-third the price of Singapore and also has more variety.

3 and 0

FOOD: For a place that spruiks itself as a culinary delight I was somewhat disappointed by the food in Singapore. Don’t get me wrong it was good but was it better than that of KL? Both cities had the good and bad. I am going to give half a point each.

WOMEN: Those who know me are aware that I have a thing for Chinese woman, this fact along with Malaysia’s being mainly Muslim and hence covered gives Singapore the clear cut victory in the perving stakes.

3.5 plays 1.5

GETTING AROUND: Both cities have efficient public transport systems. At times the trains can be confusing in KL but the cabs are so cheap it doesn’t really matter. I have to give half a point to each city again.

THINGS TO DO: Singapore is very oriented toward tourism nowadays and hence has more touristy type things to do within the city. I have to give it the point here based on a tourism point of view. While there are just as many if not more things to do in KL, you have to search a bit to find them.

PEOPLE: Singaporeans seem a bit superficial and think that money is the be all and end all of life. The locals as a whole seemed indifferent to the tourists (this changed in the poorer areas) and the customer service staff I encountered seemed to all want to be somewhere else and not eager to serve the customer.

In KL it was the opposite, locals were happy to talk to you and answer questions. Customer Service staff were generally nice and willing to help you.

FINAL RESULT: KL 5 Singapore 3

FINAL THOUGHT: You may get the impression that I didn’t think too much of Singapore and you may be right. Don’t get me wrong it was a nice place and I enjoyed my stay there. It just seems to me that they are trying to be an ultra modern western type city and on the surface it would appear they are succeeding but when you look beneath the surface and get off the tourist path and speak to the locals (or when the ever talented multi lingual Linda does) you will find that everyone isn’t as happy as you’d think. It is a pretty city and there is lots of stuff to do. It just seems a very superficial and fake place. It also seems Singapore clings to its past just a little too much. Within minutes of being in the city alarms were going off citywide and the radio was taken over by the emergency system. It was a bomb drill! Um world war 2 ended fifty years ago peoples.

Again I reiterate I am not hating on Singapore here, I enjoyed it despite paying ten dollars for a coke at the hotel. I just enjoyed Kuala Lumpur a lot better. The city was real, the people were real and it was a hell of a lot cheaper. I will go back to KL in a flash but do not see myself returning to Singapore unless it is a stop over.

If you are a first time traveller to Asia and just want a little taste I would strongly suggest KL over Singapore. The people are nicer, it is cheaper and it remembers that it is an asian city and doesn't try to be anything else

I could write more and more on the subject and probably will but that will do for today