Originally Posted by
mario33
Mind you Singapore is actually sandwiched between East & West Malaysia (and Indonesia). You only need to cross the bridge (and the border ), and many actually live and work on both sides of the border. You are getting the best of both worlds; living in a world class city that is safe, clean, efficient, corruption-free, less racism etc etc but at the same time easy access to the beaches &
jungles.
In the cities itself, Singapore is actually much greener than KL. And older buildings are actually preserved compared to KL where anything old is considered ugly and couldn't wait to be demolished to be replaced by concrete highrise buildings painted over with awlful colours.
As for food, I would rate both cities equally. Singapore however has the advantage of a migrant population giving rise to wider varieties, eg I can find Penang Laksa in Singapore but Singapore Laksa cant be found anywhere in Malaysia.
I cross into Malaysia and back to Singapore several times a week, at all hours of the day, both at Woodlands and at Tuas. Trust me when I say that l commuting between Singapore and Malaysia is not an option, unless you can take being stuck in a jam for up to 2 hours twice a day in your stride.
It will never be resolved because:
1) Singapore will never open up their border, it's too much of a magnet for foreigners from surrounding (poorer) countries.
2) It's in Singapore's best interest to keep the daily exodus to a trickle so as to discourage locals from exporting their SGD.
Last week we were stuck for 3.5 hours trying to get back into Singapore. Malaysia tends to have logistics/labor issues.
In theory, this commute thing works. In practice, no way.
KL is not as green as Singapore, true, but outside of KL it's all green for hundreds of miles.
In Singapore, people tend to not use "slow-cooking". Everything has to be done fast, so money can be made. In Malaysia, people cook slowly, which means that the spices and herbs and what-nots have plenty of time to infuse the food with their fragrance.
Also, all meat, chicken, fish, veggies, everything basically, has to be imported into Singapore. While in transit, it loses quite a bit of its crispness, freshness. Spring onions in Singapore are always limp and bland. I'm not a gourmet by any stretch, but I can taste the difference.
Variety might be in Singapore's favor, but Malaysia wins on freshness and taste factor.