A TikToker traveled to Malaysia and posted videos challenging misconceptions about the country. They went so viral he now feels like a local celebrity.

• Travel TikToker Alwin GC began posting videos about his three-month visit to Malaysia.
• Alwin shared that Malaysia defied many of his expectations, and was much safer than he thought.

A TikToker who has been posting videos about his travels in Malaysia has gone so viral he said he's gained hundreds of thousands of followers and people stop him in the street.

Alwin GC, a travel content creator with 744,000 followers, has been documenting his travels around the world since mid-2021, and first arrived in Malaysia in August 2022, telling his followers about his impressions of the country over the course of his initial three-month visit.

On September 26, Alwin shared that Malaysia defied many of his expectations in a TikTok video. He said that the "biggest shock" he experienced while traveling through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital city, was how nice people were, saying that he feels extremely safe in the area.

"Even in Thailand, I didn't feel as safe as in Malaysia. But the crazy thing is, I thought it would be the opposite. I thought Malaysia would be a little bit more dangerous and I would have to be careful more, but I am in KL right now, and I feel like I can go pretty much anywhere, and nobody's gonna rob me," he said.

The Global Peace Index 2022, a ranking of the safest countries in the world measured against a number of factors, including societal safety and security, places Malaysia as the 18th safest country in the world. Thailand has the 103rd spot on the list.

Alwin also said he was shocked by the amount of urban development he could see in the city.

"Look at these roads," he said while pointing the camera at a highway in the city. "It just looks like a European country. I didn't expect this at all. I feel like I am in the Switzerland of Southeast Asia," he added.

According to a 2015 report by the World Bank Group, Malaysia had the fourth-largest amount of built-up land in East Asia in 2010. In 2022, Bloomberg reported that Malaysia's urbanization rate has nearly tripled since 1970 and that the country's urban population grew from 3 million to 24.4 million from 1970 to 2020.

In subsequent posts on his TikTok account, Alwin has continued to encourage viewers to visit Malaysia and challenge preconceptions. Many of his videos about the country have received over 1 million views.

On October 29, Alwin made a video saying that shortly after he first arrived in Malaysia, he gained 100,000 followers in a single day when one of his TikToks about his first impressions of the country went viral, receiving 6 million views.

He said that he has since gained many more followers and has developed a positive online reputation among Malaysian TikTok users.

"Nobody knew me. I was a total stranger. And then, I just don't know what happened. The whole country saw one of my videos, everyone started following me, everyone started engaging with me. It was crazy," he said.

"I became recognized everywhere in the streets. Everyone knew my face. In about one to three days, my life was totally different," he added.

Alwin said that he loved being in Malaysia so much, that he wanted to visit a second time, posting a video about his re-arrival into the country on December 29 after leaving at the end of October to visit Vietnam and the Philippines.

He has since filmed vlog-style updates about his second trip to the country, visiting new areas and eating new local cuisines that he had not tried previously.

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