Many of us have a preconceived mindset when it comes traveling. It usually involves places that appear in travel brochures, postcards, or even TV programs; then there’s the airport code, bus/taxi rides, and most likely resorts or hotels.

You then visit places of interests, the museums, monuments, art galleries, several shopping places, and perhaps even a famous eatery or two.


from various trips to Krabi, Melbourne, Mabul, Tokyo, Bangkok, Redang

There’s nothing wrong with a typical traveling experience like this, I’ve done plenty myself, and will continue to do more. But there’s a bit of a downside, unless you’re heading to somewhere you have a friend (like when I went to Melbourne and Tokyo, you’re most likely going to behave and get treated like a tourist.

Then there’s Homestay.

Homestay is inherently different from your normal traveling experience, instead of following a tour guide, you stay with a host family and truly experience life as it lived day to day in the particular place. This includes participating in the local activities, culture, and of course, tasting traditional food.

To participate in a homestay right here in Malaysia, there’s our very own go2homestay portal. The portal offers contacts to homestay programs at every state in this country.


homestay activities at Kampung Sungai Haji Dorani, Selangor

Take homestay of the month, Kampung Sungai Haji Dorani. Located a mere 1.5 hours away but a totally different world from Kuala Lumpur. Instead of the concrete jungle with shopping malls and fast food chains, it is a place with lush green paddy fields full of natural and cultural treasures to be discovered.

Instead of visiting museums and tugu negara, you get to experience the life as a paddy field farmer, try your luck in hand fishing, learn to make kite, batik, and get a taste of the local delicacy – nasi ambeng Haji Dorani (this would probably be my favorite)

To participate in homestay at Haji Dorani (or any location listed) is fairly simple. Get the contact via this list of homestay venues that have been registered with Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and just contact the person in charge. Each homestay has their individual rates and packages.

This is actually a pretty interesting concept, and something quite new to me personally, I should give it a go hopefully soon. Check out go2homestay.com for more information.

Homestay – a different traveling experience
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19 thoughts on “Homestay – a different traveling experience

  • March 9, 2010 at 4:39 pm
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    wah this is very interesting but I wanna homestay in PARIS!!!!

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  • March 9, 2010 at 4:40 pm
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    cheesie,
    you kampung girl oso should be quite familiar with this!

    eiling,
    Paris? that one everyone done it la, this style more unique

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  • March 9, 2010 at 5:21 pm
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    why so fast you blog 2day ar.. kenot keep up. I love homestay. Now a days, Msia has some excellent homestay and guesthouses that we can be proud of for sure.

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  • March 9, 2010 at 5:35 pm
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    your tweet pimped me here.
    wa! kampung, the place where i grew up…lots of nyemok and monyek lor.

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  • March 9, 2010 at 5:55 pm
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    oh… there are a few homestays in my area too! But I wonder if they are really promoting the culture, or are they just into making $$$…
    as a matter of fact, I am a bit sceptical on this concept… so you had gone for the homestay in Haji Dorani already? Was it fun?

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  • March 9, 2010 at 5:57 pm
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    cumidanciki,
    yaa, very different experience, kinda neat.

    lb,
    Hahah my kampung in Penang also got monyek!

    Leo,
    Well I think it’s a healthy alternative, you can be doing both, promoting and making some income in the mean time, nothing wrong with that. I haven’t had a chance to do that myself yet. 🙂

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  • March 9, 2010 at 7:02 pm
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    Nearly chose homestay in Sapa of Vietnam, then temptation kicked in and we ended up in hotel instead. 😉

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  • March 9, 2010 at 8:01 pm
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    J2Kfm,
    ooo I think homestay would have been quite an experience there too!

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  • March 9, 2010 at 9:19 pm
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    Haji Dorani has a very delicious Jawanese Dish called Nasi Ambeng… should try la..

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  • March 9, 2010 at 9:54 pm
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    Since you mentioned it, I can’t help but imagine you offering your place for homestay. Massive traffic jams but convenient LRT etc..

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  • March 9, 2010 at 10:18 pm
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    silventv0ice,
    ooo cool! thanks for the tips 😉

    Suetes,
    Hahahah wtf!

    Reply
  • March 10, 2010 at 10:39 am
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    I’ve participated in a homestay program before and it’s simply amazing! The experience you get there is like no other. Time to convince the other half to try this some time. 🙂

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  • March 10, 2010 at 12:22 pm
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    Love the country side, because the skies are more blue and the air are more fresh. Hmm, staying in the village might be nice.

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  • March 10, 2010 at 12:59 pm
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    Lyrical Lemongrass,
    cool! yah, get bald eagle to do it 😀

    JD,
    That’s very true, and the thousands of stars too!

    Reply
  • March 10, 2010 at 1:14 pm
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    Ur photos made me think of Bali rice field and blue sky.

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  • March 10, 2010 at 1:16 pm
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    carrie,
    aghh I haven’t been to bali though

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  • March 10, 2010 at 6:22 pm
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    i want home stay at Japan’s kampung.

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  • March 11, 2010 at 9:53 am
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    myhorng,
    Go find your uncle in Japan then! 😀

    Reply

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