The Oscar winner is from Ipoh. The town is still a limestone city of coffee shops, not a film set, which is why it is worth the trip.

The Daily Show correspondent was born in Johor Bahru. His jokes travel. The city is still a hot, practical place across the water from Singapore.

Crazy Rich Asians made Henry Golding familiar across the United States. He was born in Sarawak, to an English father and an Iban mother.

The director of Saw, The Conjuring, and Aquaman was born in Kuching. Sarawak's riverfront is a long way from a Hollywood soundstage.

Malacca's Dutch squares and red riverfront are the country at its most deliberately pretty. The crowds come with the paint.

Kuala Lumpur's old railway station is Moorish, enormous, and more memorable than most of the towers around it.

Masjid Jamek sits at the confluence that gave Kuala Lumpur its name. The mosque is the pretty center of that story.

The clan jetties of George Town are wooden villages on stilts. They are picturesque because people still live there.

The Cameron Highlands are cool because they are high. The bungalows and the tea slopes are the pretty part. The towns are small.

Three places people on a modest income tend to compare, and a few they should not confuse with those three.