Bali Homestay

Bali Homestay Program has run since 2001 from a single family compound in Jegu village, Tabanan, where Wayan and his wife Nyoman host guests inside their own ancestral home rather than separate guest rooms. The rice barn, or lumbung, at the centre of the compound is the main gathering space, used by the family long before it became somewhere for guests to sit and talk. Six family members live and work here, and guests join them rather than watch from a distance, helping in the rice fields in season, or sitting in on Nyoman's kitchen, whose Balinese cooking has been served as far afield as Kuala Lumpur.

Programmes run from a short two-night stay to a longer trip combining the homestay with a crossing to Sukamade beach to see nesting turtles, and a hike up the active Ijen volcano in Java. Wayan guides guests around the village, pointing out plants used in traditional herbal medicine, while Nyoman teaches Balinese cooking and how to make a daily offering, or canang sari, by hand. Money from the programme has gone toward refurbishing village houses and supporting the local school.