HERE IS WHAT I LIKE ABOUT LIVING IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾 & PAKISTAN 🇵🇰

Sometimes, life takes us to "unknown" destinations out of nowhere and we grow with our experiences. The more we explore these destinations candidly, the more we learn about ourselves. I've had a privilege to sail on this "unknown" journey that life offered me. 

After spending childhood in the "Land Of Pure" (Pakistan), I happened to move to "The Truly Asia" (Malaysia) and spent my teenage there. Now that I'm back to Pakistan, I feel like I'm in the best position to tell things that make each of these countries the best to live. In other words, I'll tell you about the things which I like about Pakistan & things which I like about Malaysia based on my living experience. I will not highlight any sort of down or negative side because both are my homes! 

Life in Pakistan:

Food items: Based on the reports, Pakistan is the world's cheapest country. If you have 10 bucks, it's sufficient for decent breakfast, lunch, dinner and you would be still left with a few bucks in your pocket. 

Pakistani food (along with the Indian meals) is known for its species globally and when you try food from the local markets such as; Briyani or butter chicken, you will not escape the aroma! 

In the Western areas, the delicacies have more of an Arab/Persian influence such as; Sajji! There is a wide/cheap variety of local food. Even the national dish of the UK is Chicken Tikka, which is evidence of how crazy the sub-continental foods are! Pakistani street food is incredible 

~Food stall in Lahore 

Landscape: I admire the variety of landscapes in Pakistan. The northern part is filled with 8 out of 14 highest mountains in the world including "K-2" (the second-highest mountain in the world). The second-largest salt mine in the world is in Pakistan. 

There are plateaux, plains, rivers, and deserts in Pakistan. The world's only fertile desert in Pakistan. The coast of the Arabian Sea surrounds Pakistan. Overall, the landscape of Pakistan has great potential to offer almost every sort of experience. 

If you want to get Switzerland-like-vibe, you travel to the north of Pakistan and if you feel like visiting middle eastern deserts, you travel to the south of Pakistan!

~Khewra, World's Second Largest Salt Mine

Weather: In Pakistan, there are 4 seasons, which bring variation and the weather is not the same every time. Summers come, temperatures go crazy. winters come, and temperatures hit the freezing point. And, the charm of autumn and spring is marvelous! The chain of weather helps you give a new experience after every interval of time. 

~Winter sunset in Lahore

Hospitality: To be honest, I can assure you no one can beat Pakistanis in hospitality. Whether you are a local or foreigner in Pakistan and you happen to visit any new area, the shop vendors would not accept your money; saying you are their guest.

In other cases, locals honor any outsider by providing them free services. For example, I visited one of the rural areas in Pakistan a few months back and when the locals came to know that I was an outsider, they started offering me their places to stay at or have lunch with them.

~Rural Punjab

Life in Malaysia:

Diverse Culture: In Malaysia, I was astonished by the amount of international and local cultures. Malaysia is amongst only a few mega-diverse countries in the world. In terms of local culture, there are 3 main unique groups; Malay, Indian & Chinese that are distinctive in their manner. 

Plus the intermarriages of local ethnic groups produce further sub-ethnic groups such as; Chindians (People with one of the parents as Indian & the other one as Chinese). Moreover, another famous sub-ethnic local group in Malaysia is Eurasian (People with one of the parents as European and the other one as Asia). 

Apart from locals, there are internationals from the Middle East, Americas, Europe, Africa, and Australia, that help to strengthen the cultural heritage of Malaysia. 

~With my Turkish fellow, Mutassem

Day pattern: Another thing that I found captivating about Malaysia is how perfectly balanced the day is. As Malaysia is closer to the equator, the day and night are divided with almost the same interval. 

The days are 12 hours long and nights are 12 hours long too. The sun rises at 6 am and sets at 6 pm, which makes it easier to plan the day. Also, due to this factor, the fasting hours in Ramadhan are adequate and relatively bearable than anywhere else in the world. 

~Lake Putra, next to world's largest roundabout

Skyline: Undoubtedly, the skyline of Malaysia is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The Twin-Towers roar under the dominance of KL-Towers. From the tall buildings of Kuala Lumpur to the well-designed buildings of Putrajaya, the skyline is indeed the magic of architects and civil engineers. 

These sumptuous buildings are awesome for showing-off photography skills. Kuala Lumpur's Twin Towers were the world's tallest building from 1998 to 2004. And, the Masjid Putra holds the record of being built at the world's largest roundabout. These wonderful examples of infrastructure make the skyline gorgeous.

~No caption needed

Promotions on every item: As there are tons of communities living in Malaysia, they all celebrate their main religious of cultural events together. As a result, there are lots of discounts going on from sewing machines to SUVs and everything in between. These are some SERIOUS DISCOUNTS. 

After the interval of almost every month, there are bunch of cultural and religious events of communities which means every month things have flat discounts. I bought my PS4 slim after the Ramadhan of 2018 and due to the celebration of eid, there was 50% discount on the console. I paid $250 instead of $500. 

In the very next month, there was birthday of Selangor's Sultan and again there was over 50% off all over the items including food, electronics, property, etc. I grab one LCD monitor for my PS4 this time. There are countless examples of how these regular promotions in malaysia  helped me save tons of money. 

~Genting Theme Park

VERDICT: Based on my experience, both countries are unique in their own distinct ways. Since I've highlighted the POSITIVE stuff about each country (based on my experience) this doesn't mean that there are no cons. Anyhow, generally, when it comes to earning, and education Malaysia stands ahead of Pakistan. Pakistan, on the, other out numbers Malaysia in terms of variation of landscape, and easier affordability of living costs.

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