For all of you looking for a homestay in Beijing let me share my experiences with you. I first found honey homestay (googling) in beijing and talked to a Chinese guy named Mike and I originally decided to go with this one. Even though it was 9000RMB/month (1150USD). When I arrived it was not a homestay but one room of an apartment that they rent out to guests and at the time there was no other tenant. And my bed consisted of a mattress put on the floor I also found out that a 2bdrm apartment in that area would go for 3000RMB/month. After that bad experience though I found 2 Canadians in Beijing who organize cultural exchange homestays in Beijing. They charge a 200USD fee for 6 months and then the family you live with agrees to host you for free. I have been living with the Li family in Haidian for 2 months now and it has worked out great, my chinese is improving everyday. I think the website for the free stays is www.chinahomestay.org . I am not sure but if it isnt right I will repost. The advice I have for all who are searching for homestays is do your research carefully and look at the price carefully too. Good luck!
Reply to this We also made the bad experience with f****** Mike! We just paid 2000RMB/Month, but at the end he was really agressive and unfriendly and we moved out because we feared for our lives.
Please let everyone know that this is the worst homestay around the world I guess. Its too expensive, its to far away from city centre and Mike ist a time bomb! Just his wife is a nice person who can not be blamed for her husband.
This sucks! You can live cheaper in a hotel in city centre!
Ma Aini
Reply to this a more reliable home stay and meeting like minded locals is through the hospitality clubs like http://www.couchsurfing.com/
Reply to this I had a wonderful homestay experience, I guess I was just really lucky. After a lot of searching and price comparisons I went with Lotus Educational Foundation. I got hooked up with a sweet apartment right next to Beijing Language and Culture University. I stayed there for three months- one month one on one tutoring and two months at BLCU. I had an experience of a lifetime and it was great for my Chinese. If anyone is thinking about homestay in Beijing then Lotus is the one to go with, in my opinion.
I've heard a lot of bad stories about homestay experiences but I had a great one and I think most other people who used them were pretty pleased too. And the cost was manageable and the staff accommodating... great program overall.
Reply to this I too had a great Homestay Experience in Beijing, but it was with a smaller company I think. It's called International Homestay China (www.inthomestaychina.com). They were recommended to me by a friend, and they went out of their way to make sure I had absolutely everything I needed. I stayed for four and a half weeks and they picked me up from the airport with my name on a big sign, personally escorted me to the family's home, gave me a phone, a map, and even introduced me to some local restaurants around the families home. It was really amazing how comfortable they made me feel; I felt like a celebrity! There was no pressure about money and their prices are really fair I think. I paid 4,500RMB for everything. I think that's fair?? Oh, and I actually got to meet the family on skype before coming so we didn't have that awkward first impression to make
While I found that the actual family was a very important factor in the experience as a whole, the company was what made the initial transition a breeze. I think it is a Chinese guy and a young American guy (James and Tripp) who operate the company, and they are both very nice. If you're coming to Beijing, I highly recommend you look them up; they were great, and I think they do all sorts of services like visas, apartments, language classes, etc. www.inthomestaychina.com is their website.
P.s. Probably a stupid question, but does anyone have any Olympics tix?!!?
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