30/09/2015
APPROXIMATIVE TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH
Are you looking for exoticism and authenticity ? Go to discover Malaysia. The local program "Homestay", which objective id to facilitate stays of tourists in small villages while hosted by local people, will help to to live your dream.
Go for village activities
By participationg in Homestay, you won't really work, but you will participate to some local activities, mainly playing and celebrating. In certain places, like in Kampung Sungai Setar in Penang region, you will participate to a fishing party in the paddy fields, harvest rubber of Hevea tree or fish with a rod the giant prawns - a lot more bigger than our gambas - that you could share for dinner with your foster family.
Meet the last elephants of the continent
Some other places, far from cities, are close to nature. At Kampung Beng, in Perak, you may for example spend a trek day in primary forest, see the medicine plants and even watch to the last wild elephants of South East Asia. During the evening, if weather allows, your foster guides will organize an "insect safari" where stars are animals with an incredible mimic capacity. In certain villages, you will have the opportunity to visit one of these numerous family factories, excellent in craft.
Some villages are less far and more modern. This is the case of Negeri Sembilan ones, a state of the Malaysian Federation. But one visit is mandatory : Kampung Pachitan. Very easily reached, because a railway station is there, this malay village has been founded three generations ago by families coming from Java island. They will enjoy you with traditions and dresses from Java.
Speak local language
What is the most surprising in these villages is the warmth of the welcome and the sincerity one can feel in relationship that exist immediatly at first contact. And if sometimes, the foster family do not speak a very good english, you will learn quickly some words to exchange and get on well. Even if the vocabulary is complex, the idiom itself is very easy because the grammatical rules are so simple. Moreover, on the silk road, the language used between all merchants of the world was malay language (bahasa).
Spend you time eating
When a foreigner arrives, the first word is not "hello" but "did you had your meal ?" (Jemput makan ?). The malay day has six different meals, with a lot of exotic fruits with names that sometimes do not exist in french, as are the langsat ou the duku.
last advice : do not forgot to taste the local coffee, whose beans often comes from indonesia and are burnt mixed with sugar. The whole thing is the cooled and grinded, and drunk mainly as kopi o, that is to says black and sweet. Un real delight, as you holidays
How to go
The Homestay program is not yet sold in French Travel Agencies
You should then contact a Tour Operator able to build a multi-villages program.
For the moment there is only one : RM Travels (www.rmtravels.com) who will build you a program adapted to you wishes by selecting a certain number of villages Homestay. To really take advantage of each place, it is advised to stay at least two nights in the same place. You should count about 50 euros per day and per person, everything included (ground transportation, stays full board). By train, you'll find some Homestay packages at www.malaysiarailtourism.com.
On internet, cost is between 600 and 900 € depending on dates and air transport company. The only direct flight Paris - Kuala Lumpur is the one with Malaysia Airlines for a trip around 12 hours.
