Homestay In Malaysia

Hello again,

I promised to write about homestay in Malaysia in my previous post, remember? Well here I am keeping my promise.
Homestay means a home occupied by a family or people living in it, and they rent it out on daily basis for tourists who wish to experience living among the locals and learn/share their culture. The homestay host will cook according to their routine and conventional daily dishes. The guests will be invited to sample the local food together with the family be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. All these were done with a minimal fees.

Since then, homestay has turned into a lucrative business for the locals. These days, homestay has been commercialised. The house owner/landlord will rent out their houses/apartments through bookings made via telephone, facebook, blog, email or any other channels one can come up with. No meals served and no other people living inside while we're there.

Prices range usually from RM150.00 ~ RM350.00 depending on the area of the homestay.
Homestay concept is something like a home away from home. One can find beds and blankets, washing machine, fridge, dining table, sofa, cooking stove and T.V.
Don't worry, cooking set were provided too such as pots and pans, cutleries and even kettle for us to boil the water. Some even provide coffee and tea for the comfort of their guests.

Some homestay would install air-condition and water heater.

Last week when we went to Kuala Pilah to send Sara to start her college, we stayed at one homestay. The name is D'Mutiara Homestay at Batu Kikir. It was slightly away from the main town (hotels were all taken up during this registration week) but we were lucky to find this homestay.

House/Homestay entrance

The owner, En Shukri, lived next to his rented homestay. Both he and his wife had been very nice towards us. It was raining heavily at about eight p.m. when he came knocking at the door to give us some bread,  mineral water and ice cubes.
I was slightly surprised by his hospitality.

The view from living room to the kitchen

There were two bedrooms in this homestay but I'd say a family of six can fit in comfortably since he provide some extra blankets, pillows and soft mattress.

Living room

One can cook and eat as if one were enjoying meals at home, or doing the laundry on our own instead of having to find a laundry shop and spend some money there. The iron and ironing board were all there, so, it truly is worth our money.

One of the bedrooms

The slight difference between hotels and homestays are, there's no room service and no house-keeping to do the cleaning for us.

So, if we're travelling in a group of 6 or 7, this type of accommodation will suit our budget nicely. 

The next time, any one of you my readers, wish to visit our country, worry not if you can't get a room at any of the hotels here. Look up at Uncle Google and you'll  find a nice place to stay.

Bye for now and stay safe everybody!

Rose

2nd.June '14