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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 23, 2024

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Main issue I could see with Malaysia, ignoring the local economy, is the lack of a night life, which isn't really an issue for me with a young family.

Yeah, there are a few good bars in KL, but it's the standard SEA issue of Australia being a rich country such that the most annoying Aussie tourists/backpackers can ruin the nice places. The places that are more rich international Chinese are better, and far fewer sexpats than practically anywhere else in SEA. Food scene is excellent too, lots of great spas / hotel gyms you can be a member at. Are you white or ethnically Chinese (or something else) yourself? How do you find you're treated when working with locals as a foreigner?

I'm white and far enough off the beaten tourist track that I've literally been questioned about why I'm going where I'm going by Grab Drivers a few times. I wouldn't say I get stared at perse but have had like Mamak workers come and be very curious a few times. The family's super accommodating, which helps. Generally everybody KL-adjacent will have some English, though I'm not a huge fan of KL itself (It's fine but generic SEA capital).

Food is great, my main personal limitation is I can't really train my preferred combat sports since I'm 99th percentile for size in the West.