Malaysia Homestay Programme – Life in the Country

If you want a break away from the hustle and bustle of city life, don't head for the beach immediately. There are many other choices besides sun, sand and sea vacations. To see how locals truly live, you need to know and appreciate their culture and heritage.

By participating in the Malaysia Homestay Programme, visitors will take part in activities such like plucking tropical fruits in an orchard and learn to play a traditional musical instrument or the steps to a cultural dance.Other interesting pursuits include harvesting local crops, visiting a fish farm, and indulging in traditional pastimes such as kite-flying and top spinning. The locals might stage a mock-wedding that showcases the local customs and rituals especially for visitors.

The Malaysia Homestay Programme which won the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) 2012 Ulysses Award for Innovation in Public Policy and Governance enables tourists to experience kampung village lifestyle, culture, agriculture and cuisine. This programme is a good opportunity for children to find out a side of life that they do not get to experience - waking up to the call of birds early in the morning and playing traditional games like top-spinning - things that are different from the city life that they are used to.

Tourists will live with a local family throughout their stay in the programme. There are homestays available in every state of the country.

The Banghuris, Sungai Sireh and Sungai Haji Dorani homestays for instance, are situated only an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city.

Visitors to Kampung Pelegong in Negeri Sembilan can savour tropical fruits freshly plucked from the orchard, while a stay at Kampung Seri Tanjung, Melaka, enables visitors to make a trip to the many Dutch and Portuguese historical landmarks there.

For a taste of island life, visitors can head to the Desa Wang Tok Rendong and Pulau Tuba homestays in Langkawi. Cottage industries such as batik-painting and songket-weaving are commonly found at homestays in the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

Experience genuine Malaysian warmth and let the homespun hospitality work its charm!

Article from Tourism Malaysia. 2012. For more information about this article, click HERE. All credits to Tourism Malaysia.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial

The Dachau Concentration Camp was set up on 22 March 1933 to house political prisoners. Located near the outskirts of Munich, Dachau was the prototype for German concentration camps that came after.

At the entrance of the camp, one can still see the words "Arbeit Macht Frei" are still reflected on the entrance gate to the camp. In English, it is translated to mean "Work Makes You Free".

 "Arbeit Macht Frei", or "Work Makes You Free"

In operation for twelve years from 1933 to 1945, Dachau served as a concentration camp for political dissidents like Communists, Jews, Poles and other inmates from different nationalities. Prisoners who were in Dachau for political reasons wore red tags, while criminals wore green.

Classification of Prisoner Groups

Dachau was split into two areas - the main camp where prisoners lived, and the crematorium where the dead where sent to be cremated.

From top to bottom: a replica layout of the camp; prisoner barracks;

and a replica of the crematorium.

Living conditions were unhygienic and were "beyond human dignity", where overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions and lack of food caused widespread epidemics like typhus to occur within the camp.

 Bunk beds where the inmates slept in the barracks

Belongings of dead prisoners were sent to the incinerator building to be burnt, or disinfected in disinfecting chambers.

From top to bottom: the incinerating room where the clothes of

prisoners were burnt; a description of the disinfecting chambers.

It is estimated that around 200,000 prisoners from 34 nations died and suffered in Dachau.

A view of the jail cells used by the prisoners.

In April 29, 1945, American soldiers liberated the prisoners. The Memorial Site was established in 1965 following the wishes of the surviving prisoners, and a new exhibition was created, following the theme of "Path of the Prisoners".

The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial stands today as reminders of the history of the past, but it also serves as a inspiration of the tenacity of the human spirit, courage, and above all; hope.