It is truly an odd feeling going from one extreme to another. In what sence? City’s. Coming from Semporna to Singapore. The two city’s couldn’t really be any more different if possible. Well I suppose one could have had horrible food. Lets cover some differences:

Smell
Semporna: Walking down the street you might have half a block where the smell in the air doesn’t make you gag. Literally gag.
Singapore: Walking down the street your nose is engulfed usually with the smell of insence or goood ol fashion Chinese food.

Cleanliness
Semporna: I’m not quite sure if this city is aware of garbage cans/bags/anything really. Trash is everywhere, probably why it smells so great. You can not go anywhere without trying to avoid stepping or swimming into trash.
Singapore: It would be a rare sight to see even a cigarette butt on the ground. The city is so ridiculously clean you almost need to take your shoes off to enter the country. I saw a lady picking up trash to the point if there was anything even smaller than a penny, it would be picked up.

Language
Though under this topic traveling to most countries I usually don’t expect anyone to speak any English.
Semporna: Very difficult to order or get help from anyone. Taxis know only enough to get the destination off you, if your lucky anyways. It’s very rare to have a menu in english. It’s rough in general just to communicate to anyone.
Singapore: I would say about 90% of the population speaks English and the majority of them speak it well. People are friendly and very willing to help out. (To be noted maybe people in semporna are friendly too, just when you can’t talk to them its hard to know)

Rules and Regulations
Semporna: Not sure if there are any. Seems like you can do most anything, aside from a few “No spitting” signs in the hotels. Smoke if you got ’em.
Singapore: Your legs get chopped off if you walk the wrong way. Well maybe thats an exaggeration, but not by much. There are so many rules in this city that I’m sure it would be close to impossible for a local to know them all. You can perdy much be fined for anything you do, smoking in the wrong place, spitting, J-walking, littering, peeing (in non-designated areas), pornography. Forget about stealing or dealing drugs too, thats just plain ol DEATH. NO JOKE!

People
Semporna: Kids run around in bare feet, probably due to the lack of shoes. Clothes are torn and ratty. A fair amount of people just really look dodgy. Like “I’ll Chris Brown Yo Ass” dodgy. All are quite dark Malaysians. Begging is everywhere, mostly from the young but from the old as well
Singapore: Snappy dressers. Clothes and styles are all up to date. The majority of people, men and women, dress sharp, like business casual. You feel ok to ask anyone for directions. The population in quite a mix of races. Begging is non-existent.(In the areas I saw anyways)

Goods and Services
Semporna: I’m really not sure where some people get things from. There is the odd supermarket and then just like “dollar store” type shops. For how many pimped out ride there are in the city, (like 1 of every 5 cars is pimped out) I’m not sure at all where they get the parts from.(Again not sure why they pimp them out either cuz there isn’t a single evenly paved road anywhere.
Singapore: The city itself is just a massive shopping mall it’s self. I have never seen a place where ever other street, if not ever street, has a mall at least the size of Guildford mall. They have malls dedicated to Electronics, Sports, High end goods, and anything else you can want. Truly Truly amazing. oh and how can I forget the plentiful amount of street malls, which are in every district.

Food
I’ll save the most important till last. Here is where the two hit almost equal.
Semporna: Great food. Everything from fried noodles to great rice dishes. For the type of food, taste was amazing. Price was right on par too with the average dish costing around $2 Canadian. The Lack of Starbucks was made up by the local restaraunts serving “Kopi” coffee almost french press style. Very tasty. One of the only downfalls, Menus were not in English so if ordering anything different, you have no idea what it is.
Singapore: As well as shopping this city has food everywhere you turn. Just as good and Just as cheap. (Providing you stay away from restaurants) The “Hawker Stands” are like food court like malls just for cheap and good eats. Dim sum, Noodles, Rice, Fruits, Drinks, all can be had here for prices between $2-5. The two edges that Singapore has over Semporna: 1) Variety of ethnicity’s of cooking. I did have some fantastic tandoori. 2)Menus are all in English and usually have pictures.
All in all Fantastic food in both places that can be had at all times of the day.

Singapore Was an amazing city, just a shame I only had a day and a half to see the sights, sounds, and tastes of the city.

Next time.