Do Foreigners Feel CULTURE SHOCK in MALAYSIA?

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Summary

In the video by Ben Fishermin, foreigners are asked about their experiences with culture shock in Malaysia. Despite having familiarity with Southeast Asia, the interviewees mostly report little to no culture shock. Many find Malaysian culture friendly and familiar, citing its multicultural aspects similar to their home countries. Differences in food, lifestyle, and the level of urban organization compared to neighboring regions like Singapore and cities like London or New York are highlighted. The video also touches on the ease of getting around and affordability, making Malaysia an attractive destination for those interviewed.

Highlights

Foreigners find minimal culture shock in Malaysia due to its multicultural vibe 🎉.
The affordability and ease of living in Malaysia are major highlights for many 🇲🇾.
Malaysian culture is found to be friendly and welcoming by most interviewees 🤝.
The culinary diversity in Malaysia is praised, especially in comparison to Western Asia 🎋.
Differences in urban chaos versus cleanliness, as compared to Singapore, are noted 🏙️.

Key Takeaways

Many foreigners find Malaysia less shocking due to its multicultural similarities with their home countries 🌏.
Malaysia is appreciated for its friendly people and ease of living, often compared favorably to Western countries 😊.
Differences like weather, local food habits, and urban organization are noticeable but not overwhelming 🍜.
The cost of living in Malaysia is highlighted as a major benefit for expatriates and travelers 💸.
Being more affordable than countries like Singapore or regions like Western Australia adds to its charm ✈️.
Tourists and expatriates value Malaysia's vibrant culture and easier way of life compared to their hometowns 🌟.

Overview

The video explored the experiences of various foreigners visiting Malaysia and whether they felt a sense of culture shock. Surprisingly, most interviewees noted minimal culture shock, attributing this to Malaysia's multicultural environment and its similarities to their own countries. For instance, many found the lifestyle less rigid and the people more affable compared to highly structured cities like Singapore.

Many interviewees expressed delight over the diversity in Malaysian cuisine, which they found more authentic and affordable compared to Asian food back home. The ease of living was another significant highlight, with many stating that the cost of living is much lower than in Western countries or even Singapore, making Malaysia a favored destination for expatriates and long-term visitors.

Interviewees also appreciated Malaysia's unique urban atmosphere, noting its chaotic yet charming vibe. Compared to places like London or New York, Malaysia offers a blend of urban complexity and cultural richness that is both refreshing and appealing. Thus, Malaysia stands out as an accessible, lively, and culturally engaging place for those looking to escape the high costs and rigid lifestyles of their home countries.

Do Foreigners Feel CULTURE SHOCK in MALAYSIA? Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 I'm asking foreigners today do you feel culture shock here in Malaysia so what's your experience been like um yeah you know what even though I've been living in Singapore for 13 years which is just down the road basically it is very different here in Malaysia compared to Singapore quite quite frankly in Singapore it's quite uh so when I arrive a fruit of all no I find it really easy to live here in fact I find it easier to live here than England the cultural stuff you know how do people dress what do they do um how
00:30 - 01:00 much amount of religion in their life yeah and also it's a more first world than was expecting good day my friends today I'm asking foreigners do you experience culture shock here in Malaysia I'm out here in buad bentang near the Pavilion mall and yeah let's see what people have to say hi how you doing hi yeah I'm good thanks good where you from P Western Australia ah cool yeah is it your first time in Malaysia
01:00 - 01:30 it is it is yeah okay I'm asking foreigners today do you feel culture shock here in Malaysia so what's your experience been like um not so much culture shock to be honest um I feel like Western Australia where Australia is pretty Multicultural so we've got sort of areas that are I don't know we we've kind of experienced a lot of the food and and that kind of thing so not so much okay yeah have you been other places in Asia we've done barley um B's really close to per so
01:30 - 02:00 lots of West dosies go to baliy um we've also done Thailand and Cambodia um so yeah like fairly similar in that way like you know the disparity between like the really um intense wealthy kind of areas and then the very poor kind of back streets yeah do you think the first time you came to Southeast Asia that you had more culture shock do you think maybe you have less because you've already been to Asia a little bit yeah
02:00 - 02:30 definitely I think um knowing what to expect sort of yeah prevents a little bit of that culture shock definitely what about the food here is it do you have a lot of Malaysian food Indian Chinese style food back home or is it a bit different for you here no we we have a lot of um Asian influenced food in Perth um yeah we live not far from an area that is like quite quite um big on Asian culture um my kids school um is you know lots of sort of um Asian and
02:30 - 03:00 influence students people they go to school with so yeah we um have sort of eaten like a fair bit we've got a few Asian friends that you know told us which dishes to try and that kind of thing so we we came in with a little bit of knowledge but the food here is amazing like better than Perth Asian food yeah wow and more affordable yeah 100% that's why we're here and did you bring the kids how are the kids liking it in Malaysia yeah we did we did bring the kids um they're teenagers so they're 14 16 18 um they are loving it they also
03:00 - 03:30 are loving the food I feel like 10 years ago they would have just lived on like hot chips chicken nuggets um but now they're sort of embracing like the yeah I'll try the dumplings and I'll have something spicy and yeah so they they're embracing the the whole VI six or seven years old would be like they'd be afraid to try it right 100% And we would probably be buying a lot of macers but our son said we are not eating McDonald's here he refused he was like no eating only culturally appropriate
03:30 - 04:00 food yeah that's good very good to hear that I interview so many people and they go right there to McDonald's so that's good don't do it you guys cool thank you so much for the interview yeah no worries hey man how are you hey good thanks how's it going good thank you where are you from I'm from London but I've been living in Singapore for 13 years now oh wow yeah okay what brings you to Malaysia so I'm here for work I'm sort of traveling for work uh so I work for a Malaysian company so I'm back and forth between here and uh KL and
04:00 - 04:30 Singapore quite a bit I'm out here asking foreigners uh do you experience culture shock here so on arriving did you experience any culture shock yeah you know what even though I've been living in Singapore for 13 years which is just down the road basically it is very different here in Malaysia compared to Singapore quite quite frankly in Singapore is quite uh organized clean tidy maybe a bit too a bit bit too organized here there's a bit more in K
04:30 - 05:00 you feel a bit more of the chaos that you would expect from from a city people crossing the roads in between cars uh is which is different to Singapore you're not allowed to jwalk for example and and here you do notice cuz cuz Singapore is quite cleansed in this around center of the air not not just in terms of cleaning the streets but in terms of for example you don't necessarily see homeless people uh out on the streets here it feels like a a more of a normal
05:00 - 05:30 normal City the vibe is good it's fun uh but it's i' say it's more of a a normal normal City I mean if I was to compare kl to Singapore to London where I'm from honestly it's probably apart from the weather it's probably a bit more similar to London uh than than than Singapore in terms of the the vibes okay and do you have a preference of country like for living long term if you work aside if you could choose either one where do you
05:30 - 06:00 think you prefer to live yeah so while whilst um I've got two two young kids uh 12-year old 15y old so okay with that being the case I think Singapore is definitely for now for this part of my life is a place to live it's very safe the kids can uh travel around on their own here I'll be a bit more kind of wary uh of of letting them travel around so for now Singapore for sure but when the kids are older depending on where work takes me i' I'd for sure be open to uh
06:00 - 06:30 living in somewhere like like KL and last question is there any areas like this in Singapore that are you know more lively and a bit chaotic like bu at bintang here is there an area in Singapore like that yeah there's the equivalent there is a place called Orchard Road which has got all the designer stores is very busy very Lively uh but again it's quite pristine I mean here you walk around walk around it's got all the designer shops but if you go around little alleyways you have
06:30 - 07:00 more of the kind of more local feel uh the smaller restaurants the smaller shops so it's not all about the Rolexes and H&M's and all this kind of stuff so you can you see more of that more of variety here than uh than in Singapore oh nice okay cool thank you so much man no worries no worries Hi how are you I'm fine thank you and you I'm good thank you where are you from I'm from France and I'm here for 5 months to stud that's good yes where are you studying
07:00 - 07:30 uh at 2 p.m it's a big university okay so far you you enjoy it yes it's so cool for the beginning okay awesome uh so I'm asking foreigners here do you experience culture shock so have you experienced a culture shock since arriving here so when I arrive first of all the weather is so hot here yeah and different from France um and the food also is so different um and uh the people eat with
07:30 - 08:00 their hand and it little bit shocked me yes did you try did you eat with your hands at all not uh no not yet not yet um and uh the people are so cool and nice and we are gone to penan Island ah peran island people was really cool in this island it's beautiful there yeah yes so so beautiful that's cool yes and so how are the people different than back home are the people quite different than where you're from yes are different
08:00 - 08:30 yeah they uh they are maybe chill and more I don't know how say it's okay so do you feel very welcome from the people here yeah yes I love this city have you made friends uh at school have you made like local friends uh not really local because we just start since one week okay but I met a lot of um um German and French people oh nice will you travel anywhere uh outside of KL again yes we
08:30 - 09:00 go to uh this night we go to uh lwi Island ah cool when you're going to go soon yes this night we take a bus and cool well I hope you have a good time yeah than you thank you for the interview thank you byee bye so I'm sitting here in my Airbnb I'm just editing the video and taking a little break and I stumbled on something really alarming last month close to a million Hotel guests in Taiwan had their data
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10:30 - 11:00 to get four extra months of surf shark at an unbeatable price I'm going to leave a link in the description and the pinned comment below this special deal won't come around again soon thank you so much for listening now let's get back to the interviews hey man how you doing I'm good mate thank you good yeah where you from I'm from south coast of England originally Brighton originally so you're somewhere else now been living in Texas for a long time Texas Texas America
11:00 - 11:30 representing it's rare I I don't mean many people either from America or Living in America so that's cool they sucked me in and they gave me a passport so now I'm one of you so it's for work you went to America do you know it was a combination of ransome work that's good cool cool well I'm out here interviewing foreigners I'm asking have you experienced culture shock in Malaysia so what's your experience like in that regard I don't have much culture shock out here it's similar to similar to
11:30 - 12:00 Europe and that you can walk around um it's kind of cheap everyone speaks English not really not for me no really no I find it really easy to live here in fact I find it easier to live here than England oh wow little bit more comfortable really cost of a living is much less that's the big one right yeah and people are like a little bit more cheerful yeah yeah yeah I feel that what about compared to America do you feel the people are more cheerful here no not necessarily more more cheerful here but well I shouldn't speak
12:00 - 12:30 about New York I can speak for Texas I can compare to Texas it's just a the infrastructure is a little easier here you don't need a car you can walk around there's corner stores everywhere you know it's in that respect it's easier so for me it's easier than both those places wow I interview some people and they complain about the walkability and I mean in certain areas I'd say in many areas it's quite walkable then in other areas I find it can be problematic especially like outside of KL have you
12:30 - 13:00 gone outside of KL and and walked around and what's your experience there yeah KL is not great for the walkability I thought it's still better than Texas for sure you need a car in Texas right everywhere you need a car and motorcycle or something um motorcycle and no helmet really that does that fly in Texas yeah you don't have to it's it's legal to not wear a motorcycle it's ludicrous isn't it oh wow yeah but here um
13:00 - 13:30 I think it's okay for walking you just have to find there's a lot of Highways hey so you got to find the underp passes and stuff like that yes outside of the city uh it easier cuz it's less Highway yeah it's fine for me yeah what about the food how how are you doing with the food here oh food's great you can have everything you can have Indian you can have Chinese you can have Malay uh lots of noodles lots of rice do you know the only thing I struggle with is protein cuz I quite like my exercise I quite like the gym so I'm eating a lot of protein powder I'm eating a lot of
13:30 - 14:00 cheese just mozzarella on its own are you eating the protein powder or you drinking it I'm drinking it I'm drinking it lot of lot of lot of dairy that's good know wow I'm a carnivore so I eat like I'm on a carnivore diet I should say so I eat like strictly meat so it sounds like you on the opposite side of things right now no meat for you oh I'll eat as much meat as possible but they just don't give you much yeah very much so you know it's mostly rice on noodles and then chicken yes I think that's why
14:00 - 14:30 the Obesity rates are high here it's like everyone just eats massive amounts of carbs and sugar and then like these tiny portions of meat which is to me it's the opposite I think of what we're used to in America for example right yeah I mean you go for barbecue or something and all you get is meat right you you you might get some white bread that people throw away that's true have you ever had like Malaysian food or should I say like Malay style food before you came here anything like that in Texas at all you can get it I mean I've been here before and then um you
14:30 - 15:00 can get it there but you have to look pretty hard yeah it's not like Tai or yeah um Vietnamese you got to go try and find a Malaysian restaurant you can get it you can get laxa over in Texas what about New York even in New York it's like few and far between maybe there's like two or three spots like in the city that are that you could find and seek out but like I hadn't before I came here I hadn't had it but Thai food of course it's like everyone eats Pat Thai right everyone eats Thai food in the States probably in the UK too right it's it's
15:00 - 15:30 big yeah yeah like westernized at this point yeah it's like Indian food isn't it Tha then you go to Thailand and they don't even eat pad thai you find out it's like it's not even a thing there so much it's for the westerners is it really oh I didn't know that I can't keep up with their ability to eat spice In tha in Thailand you do well you don't do well with spice no I do but just if um not TI not not like local style oh my God what about here cuz find it's a nice
15:30 - 16:00 Notch down from like Thai spicy it's Al a notch down from Indonesian spicy it's more manageable here right yeah no it's fine here yeah I don't mind it too much cool man yeah cool good to hear cool well thank you so much for the interview no worries yeah hey how are you I'm good thanks cool where you from from the UK but now live in Thailand oh nice is it your first time in Malaysia no I've been here many times used to come here on no Visa Run oh nice nice I'm asking foreigners out here do you experienced culture Shar in Malaysia so what's your
16:00 - 16:30 experience like here um my experience here is the Malaysians are very nice people very friendly very easygoing we experienced that today on the MRT needed some change and one lady was even willing to just give us the money she didn't have enough to change 10 ring it that's nice so yeah the there's no real major culture shock and I think everybody here is very friendly do you think that's because you live in Thailand that you don't experience a culture shock what if you had come here for the first time and never been to Thailand do you think it would be a
16:30 - 17:00 different thing I think in quala Luma it's like many other cities where you just go it's a mix of cultures yeah and I I think everybody here just gets along um so yeah I have no culture shocks here at all I don't think I would experience any culture shocks okay uh and last question be honest do you prefer Thailand or you prefer Malaysia I prefer Thailand uh I'm more of a beach person than a city person but I like to come here I have many very good memories of quala Luma and Malaysia so it's nice to
17:00 - 17:30 come back so not much of a Bangkok guy huh no definitely not a Bangkok guy that's fair all right thank you so much man you're welcome no man hey man how are you I'm good good where are you from I'm from Russia but I live in Bali already two years okay so I haven't been in Russia for 2 years oh nice and what brought you to Malaysia well basically a lot of Russians come here for the Visa Run so when we have our Visa expired we go here but uh recently I started to to make my
17:30 - 18:00 trips longer so I started from 2 days now it's 5 days because I want to explore more I I really like kalal lumur nice very different from Bali right yeah it's very different nice okay I'm here asking foreigners have you experienced culture shock here so what's your experience been like no I don't think so but because because I already live in Bali and I I'm actually living not like a tourist that came for two weeks yeah
18:00 - 18:30 that's why like I have a lot of experience but before maybe I'll probably have some cultural shock here yeah yeah because it's Asia and I never been in Asia before so when you first came to Southeast Asia from Russia it was a big difference yeah yeah it was a big difference what was the biggest uh thing for you do you think that that was kind of shocking uh my my experience is uh basically mostly in Bali yeah sure and I think the cultural stuff you know how the people dress yeah what do they do um how much amount of religion in
18:30 - 19:00 their life yeah and also it's actually Village yeah and I was living in Moscow for 20 years so it's very different for my mind I don't know that's why I'm I'm so relax here because I see these buildings I see this architecture I see the asphalt so I see beautiful cars is this why so many Russians move to Bali or Thailand is it is it because of the war or is it just more because of
19:00 - 19:30 escaping the weather escaping the country for some other reasons yeah I think it's both actually a lot of Russians uh visited Bal and lived on Bali before the war but yeah this situation uh was like a catalysator yeah for a lot of Russians and not only Russians and also people from Ukraine from Belarus from different other uh post Soviet Union countries sure so this is like a bit of a Haven compared to what's going on there at the
19:30 - 20:00 moment yeah sure definitely and there also a lot of sun it's it's warm here also yeah cool well thank you so much man yeah thank you sir yeah hey man how you doing doing all right how are you yeah I'm good thank you where you from USA Alabama USA nice are you living in Alabama now no I actually live in Hawaii work on a ship oh very cool so I'm interviewing foreigners out here asking have you experienced culture shock in Malaysia I just got here this afternoon so I haven't been here long enough but
20:00 - 20:30 it has been nice it's uh more first world than was expecting to some extent I've been traveling around southeast Asia so I've been seeing some third world okay what was the most third world experience you've had in Southeast Asia uh la la just the road system and getting around it was very different uh timetable wise took a ferry and the ferry only went when the got full okay
20:30 - 21:00 yeah yeah don't run on a time table nice have you tried any food here uh just some Chinese food at one of the stands any good goody uh got two things one was a beef which was good the other one was chicken and it was all right okay what was your favorite thing that you ate out of your whole Southeast Asia trip so far oh God that's a hard one I've had some good seafood in uh Vietnam had uh some prawns eggplant and that
21:00 - 21:30 Lobster and he could have beat the price that's great that was good that was at a street uh stall in Haan hoan how's it compared to the food on the cruise ship that you work oh no comparison comp no comparison food on land's much better nice nice how long you going to stay in Malaysia for uh about four more days okay then I head down to Singapore nice for a couple days and head back to Hawaii Co any plans to
21:30 - 22:00 leave koal lour are you going to stay in the city the whole time uh I'm visiting some of the local area okay that's cool man nice well thank you for the interview nice to meet another American here you too nice to meet another American yeah cool thanks for watching folks if you or someone you know would like to be interviewed in a future video of mine just reach out to my email I put it in the description below and make sure you subscribe to the channel drop a thumbs up I'd really appreciate it and I will see you in the video do you want to hear the foreigners first impressions of
22:00 - 22:30 Malaysia then I highly recommend you watch this video next