What is solo travel? (9) Malaysia

(6) Malaysia

Malaysia is a Southeast Asian country located on the Malay Peninsula and northern Borneo Island, adjacent to Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Brunei, and is a place where diverse cultures coexist, creating a good balance of modern and traditional.

Since Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, some people interpret it as Malay + S (Sino) + I (Indian) + A (others), while others argue that it came from Malay + Singapura when Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya.

In addition, since Malaysia’s land area is more than three times that of Korea, and it is divided into two parts by the sea and divided into east and west, it can be said that the country is not connected to each other, and even Riau Island, which is an Indonesian territory, is sandwiched between the middle sea

North Borneo and East Malaysia often demand independence, and Borneo again forms a land border, so how? I don’t know if the state was formed in this way, but it is said that it can only be explained as a characteristic of a federal state.

West Malaysia is about 130,000 square kilometers, which is slightly larger than North Korea, and East Malaysia is about 200,000 square kilometers, which is slightly smaller than the Korean Peninsula. Almost 80% of the population lives in West Malaysia, the Malay Peninsula where the capital is located. 

West Malaysia, which occupies most of the Malay Peninsula below Thailand except for Singapore, the small island at the far end, and the northern part of Borneo, which is about 300 kilometers away from the South China Sea, and the entire northern Borneo except Brunei, which is a small part of it, are divided into two areas.

Most of the region has a tropical rainforest climate, but the larger northern part of the country and the PRLIS also have a tropical monsoon climate. Some high-altitude areas such as the Cameron Highlands also have a rare western maritime climate.

The official capital is Kuala Lumpur, and the administrative capital is Putrajayai, which was renamed Malaysia in 1963 when the state of Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah in northern Borneo joined the Union after British colonization.

It is known to have the highest democratic index among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and although it is mainly spoken in Tamil, the mother tongue of the local Indo-Malaysians, and Islam is practically the state religion, other religious facilities coexist with it.

In particular, Batu Cave near Kuala Lumpur is a Hindu temple in its entirety, and in Penang, there are Buddhist temples such as Kek Lok Si (極樂寺), which combines Chinese and Thai styles, and Reclining Buddha Temple, which is famous for its reclining Buddha, and Christian churches such as Georgetown Church.

Malacca, which has changed hands many times over a long period of history, has many Portuguese-style churches, so it is not Islamic. In addition, although they look different from neighboring Indonesia, they both speak Malay and believe in Islam.