Bundala has homestays next to the park entrance and knowledgeable guides who can spot a spotted deer from a mile off and will happily park up by the pink flamingos.
Yet, so far, China's farmers have found homestay tourism difficult to develop and sustain.
Consequently, even though Toyo has a homestay contact on the island, wannabe couchsurfers may benefit the community more by staying in the cabanas.
Ms. Wagner hopes to have a Homestay Web site designed by her husband, Leslie, up and running soon (www.homestayny.com).com
During my assignment at the dried fruits company, our team had a homestay for three days with the chief operations manager's family.
It wasn't the cheapest place to stay in Candidasa (the nearby Ida Homestay had comfortable cottages for $3 a night), nor the most luxurious.
Westerners are beginning to discover this area: there's one hotel in Hoa Binh (Mai Chau Lodge, 33a Pham Ngu Lao Street, tel +84 4 3926 3125, maichaulodge.com) and several families, particularly in Ban Lac village, have embraced the homestay idea.
Success, however, has made some homestays more like guesthouses.
We were actually successful at this — we have created 8000 homestays in over 900 towns — but this stretched us thin," he explained.
Homestay owners have tossed out some traditions to meet the needs of Han tourists.
Catimor Homestay (62-813-3619-9110) has basic ronms on the Kebun Balawan coffee plantation a few miles from the village of Sempol, en route to Mount Ijen.
