After living for about one year each in Malaysia and in Turkey,
the time has come to make a video that compares these two wonderful countries.
So of course the food is different right?
In Malaysia there are a lot more dishes that use rice and noodles,
while Turkey is a little bit more meat heavy.
But beyond the differences in what makes up a typical diet in Malaysia compared to Turkey,
there are differences in the role that food plays in the culture and everyday life.
For example food in Malaysia plays a much larger part of socialization,
and what I mean by that is if you are hanging out with
friends you will probably be eating something.
In Turkey food is less important but tea is the dominant form of showing hospitality.
For example just going into say a mattress store
to look at mattresses you might be offered tea in the store.
In Malaysia non-halal food items like pork and alcohol are usually
in a separate area of the grocery store that is staffed by non-muslims.
Turkey seems to be more strict with pork, it is very difficult to find anywhere here,
but much less strict on alcohol which you can find just about everywhere.
Another difference in food between Malaysia and Turkey is breakfast.
In Malaysia you might eat fish for breakfast just like you would for lunch or dinner.
In Turkey a traditional Turkish breakfast will be made up of about 10 or 15 small plates
of small portions of cheeses breads jams olives and a lot more as you can see here.
And finally there is much more variety in the food in Malaysia while in Turkey
finding International Food is more of a challenge.
We saw and ate at several Turkish restaurants in Malaysia,
but in Turkey there is only one Malaysian restaurant that we know of,
and unfortunately it was closed when we went to that Malaysian restaurant.
But we're planning to head back to Malaysia soon and
our stomachs are already getting excited about it.
In Malaysia it is pretty common for a family to live in a high-rise apartment building,
many of these approaching around 20 or 30 stories high and there could be
up to a couple of hundred units in the building.
The building will quite often have a swimming pool a gym a
common area or lobby and security personnel.
Living in a building like this would be fairly common for a middle-income family in Malaysia.
Now in Turkey there are apartment buildings like this too,
but these are likely above the middle income category
and more into the luxury housing category,
especially when you start thinking about a building with a pool and a gym.
What is more common in Turkey for middle-income family especially
in our neighborhood in Izmir where we live,
would be a building that is about four or five stories tall and has
maybe five to ten units available in the building.
The building might not have an elevator so when you need to move
furniture into your apartment where there is is no elevator,
you can actually rent a portable elevator
to have your furniture lifted up to the apartment's balcony.
You will find both shopping malls and outdoor markets in both countries,
but in Malaysia there is more of a leaning toward the malls and less toward the outdoor markets.
There are some outdoor markets in Malaysia often called wet markets
where you can buy fish and meat and produce,
but in Malaysia there are an abundance of shopping malls.
Many of these malls have a full grocery store they have multiple floors of individual stores,
they usually have a massive food court and also some type
of entertainment venue such as a movie theater.
In Turkey there are malls like this too but not as many as Malaysia,
and in Turkey it is more common to find pedestrian zones that are lined with stores.
And the stores tend to be a little smaller in Turkey and bigger in Malaysia.
For example in Malaysia there is a store called Mr DIY that sells a little bit of everything:
school suppliesö hardware kitchen suppliesç
And there are stores like that in Turkey too but
it's more common to find small family run stores that focus on one type of productç
Here you see a tiny little store that just sells items you might want to buy for a birthday partyö
and here is a store that only sells different types of food containers
Fasten your seatbelt and get ready to be terrifiedö I'm going to talk about driving nextç
And let me just say that we ourselves have not actually driven in either Turkey or Malaysiaö
we are not brave enough for thatö
but as pedestrians the behavior of drivers is very important to usç
I'll talk about driving in Turkey first and from the point of view
of a pedestrian in Turkey I would describe the driving as frightening!
And it's those scooters that we really need to watch out forç
There are scooters zooming on sidewalksö scooters going the wrong way on the road,
scooters running red lights.
Our biggest threat to injury and death in Turkey isn't from natural disasters, isn't from disease,
our biggest threat is getting run over by a scooter until we become as flat
as a gözleme. So that's turkey now how would I describe the driving in Malaysia?
Frightening! the drivers in Malaysia do not respect pedestrians.
And as the scooters you got to especially watch out for.
They will run you over until you become as flat as a roti canai.
I sound like a broken record don't I?
So yeah the drivers in both Malaysia and Turkey are not always courteous,
but believe it or not there are places in the world that are worse.
I'm looking at you India. I'm looking at you Vietnam.
So here are a couple of tips to make being a pedestrian less horrifying in Malaysia and Turkey.
Look both ways when crossing the street even on a one-way road,
and never assume a driver is going to stop or even slow down for you.
So anyone thinking about living in a new country
needs to at least have a rough idea what it's going to cost there right?
Well both Malaysia and Turkey are fairly inexpensive for a
foreigner from somewhere like the United States.
A typical apartment in Malaysia might be in the 500 US dollar range,
whereas in Turkey it might be 400 or lower.
But like I said in Malaysia the apartment will more often come with a pool gym and security.
Food prices are fairly similar, maybe a little bit higher in Malaysia,
more of the food in Malaysia is imported while in Turkey more of it is produced within the country.
The price for public transportation is similar in both countries.
Owning a car is cheaper in Malaysia and petrol or
gasoline is at a much lower cost in Malaysia compared to Turkey.
But alcohol is cheaper in Turkey.
Overall based on our personal lifestyle we think the two of us could comfortably live long-term
in Malaysia in the 1300 to 1500 range per month,
while Turkey might be a few hundred dollars less than that.
Okay for the rest of the video I'm going to quickly name a category
and then briefly tell you which of the two countries we think wins the prize. Here we go.
Communication - Malaysia definitely wins
this category it is easier for us to communicate in Malaysia
because English is widely spoken there.
Internet speeds - Malaysia's internet is super
fast. Turkey's internet is definitely slower but still fast enough for us.
Public transportation - this one is a tie
both Malaysia and Turkey have great transportation systems
both within cities and also between cities.
Safety - we think both countries are generally safe from crime so this category is also a tie.
Weather - we prefer the weather in Turkey because you get four seasons
and Malaysia the temperature is hot all year long.
Immigration policies - for Malaysia unless you
are applying for residency through the state of Sarawak
the amount of money you need to qualify is completely ridiculous.
Turkey's immigration requirements are easier to
meet but the rules have been changing and are also becoming more difficult.
Healthcare - completely adequate in both countries
but Malaysia rates higher according to the World Health Organization.
Economic stability - Malaysia easily has the stronger economy right now.
So there you have it, we love both countries love the people in both countries,
and we would not hesitate to recommend either
Malaysia or Turkey to someone who is thinking about living abroad.
Alright please hit that subscribe button we've got more videos from
around the world including Malaysia coming soon.
Thanks for traveling with us!