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If you are wondering where
Malaysia is in the world map, let me provide you with a general
idea. I’m sure that you knew all about Thailand and Singapore. Well,
Malaysia is right smack in the middle of them. It is a federation of
13 states in South East Asia and the country is actually a
combination of 2 geographical regions separated by the South China
Sea. One of the geographical regions is called Peninsular Malaysia
and the other one is Malaysian Borneo.
I’m not going to waste my
time taking about geographical and demographical features of
Malaysia here today. I believe you can find better information from
sites such as Wikipedia for that matter. It is my sole purpose here
to share with you one interesting fact that I have observed from my
foreign friends that have made countless visits to Malaysia in the
last few years.
At first I thought that
my foreign friends were spending their time in Malaysia by visiting
popular places such as Malaysia’s well known tropical island
paradises. Boy, was I wrong! It turns out that they were having the
time of their life by opting to spend their vacations on home stay
programmes. Yes, they found that home stay programmes as the best
way for them to get away from their mundane daily hustle bustle life
in the big metropolitan cities and find peace and tranquillity. To
the best of my knowledge, home stay programmes are quite new in
Malaysia and offered by only a handful of traditional Malaysian
villages throughout Malaysia. I can understand why my foreign
friends said that they found peace and tranquillity in such
programmes since they are implemented away from the hustle and
bustle of Malaysian city life. Life in Malaysian traditional
‘kampung’ or villages are indeed serene and care free. It is indeed
a great way to find relaxation!
My foreign friends also
mentioned that by bringing their whole families together in home
stay programmes worked wonders for the whole family. Lazy and
nagging wives, husbands and kids would be able to see with their own
eyes the hardships of life endured by Malaysian villagers which
practically have to toil very hard every day to earn their living
either on the paddy fields, rubber or palm oil plantations and of
course on their boats fishing at sea. To tell you the truth,
Malaysia is a Third World nation which is fast emerging as a
developed nation but such indication of progress could only be truly
seen in big Malaysian cities. Malaysian home stay programmes at the
moment are far away from all that and you can expect a lot of
infrastructures lacking! At the end of their stay, home stay
tourists should have learnt many lessons in life especially in being
reminded that what they have enjoyed in their actual lives are as
matter of fact wonderful blessings that many have yet enjoyed
anywhere else in the world. My foreign friends all vouched that
their home stay programmes have in fact turned their spoilt kids
into someone better! They have also seen some positive improvements
from their spouses. For some reasons, they are much more self
motivated and now looks forward to a brand day every morning!
Wonderful!
I’m beginning to think
that maybe home stay programmes could be coined and termed as a
great alternate way for us conduct outbound, spiritual and
motivational vacations for stressed out families living in big
cities or suburbs. If you find this interesting and would like to
give it a shot with the hope that it can bring order to your broken
and chaotic family, this year is the best time to do so! It also
happens that 2007 is Malaysia’s official Visit Malaysia 2007 tourism
campaign and you might have seen such promotions on the tube
somewhere. The campaign may not highlight much on Malaysia’s home
stay programmes but they do have it in their calendar. Give it a
try! I would strongly recommend opting for home stay programmes
conducted over in Malaysia’s northern states (Kedah & Perlis) or
those in the east coast states (Kelantan, Terengganu & Pahang). Such
regions have a rich culture of arts and traditions. You could in
fact take some time off to learn all about Malaysia’s colourful
batik printing, exotic songket weaving and of course learn a thing
or two about our highly guarded traditional medicinal herbs and
spices secrets such as Eurycoma Longifolia and
Labisa Pumila! Some
of my foreign friends as matter of fact have found new business
potentials here in Malaysia. They brought back batiks and songkets
back home and displayed them over at their boutiques and so far
their sales are sky rocketing! You got nothing to lose really and it
won’t as bad as what you have probably seen in that reality
television show called Worlds Apart.
Malaysia’s Home Stay programme, do give it a try!
By the way, have you ever try out any Home Stay programs before?
Please place your answer down below.
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About the author |
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Saidul A Shaari
is the principal and founder of
Sahabatul
Ventures, specializing in helping aspiring home based entrepreneurs
establish and setup their online businesses cost effectively.
An enterprising business individual who turn half ideas into real
money making opportunities.
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