Illustration for TIME by Cheung Lai

There's no place like home--especially when you're a stranger visiting a strange land for the first time. Traditional Asian hospitality has made homestays a popular alternative for travelers who wish not only to trim costs but to experience life as lived in a family setting, with the chance to see how people eat, sleep and relax. The only rule of thumb is to be considerate. A private home is not a hotel, so don't look for maid service, or even much privacy--the expectation is that you are there to participate in a cultural exchange and spend time with your hosts, who are putting themselves out for very little money.

Japan offers more than 300 minshuku, or small family-run inns. The Japan National Tourist Organization distributes a list of recommended minshuku on its website (www.jnto.go.jp, under "reasonable accommodations") or through its main Tourist Information Center in Tokyo (tel. 81-3-3201-3331). The rates are $35 to $50 a night, and guests are asked to provide their own towels and stow away their bedding in the morning. In return, they receive comfortable accommodation, home-cooked meals and the promise that they will be made to feel part of the family.

In South Korea, homestays are called minbak. Korean Homestay (http://homestay.andyou.com) is a Web-based service that matches visitors with families around the country. The website was launched in August 1997 and arranged its first homestay a month later. It lets prospective guests read about host families online and then apply for stays, preferably with at least two weeks' notice. For a nightly fee of $30 a person (or $50 per couple), your host will pick you up at the airport, make you breakfast and act as your tour guide. All hosts speak English, and some speak other languages as well. You may also be able to use the household's facilities (phone, fax, Internet, washing machine). The website also offers local etiquette tips (leave your shoes at the door, please), testimonials from satisfied guests and hosts and a bulletin board to post queries about other homestays around the world. WAWO (www.wawo.co.kr), another Korean Net-based homestay service, costs visitors up to $25 a day (children under seven stay for free). The Korean National Tourist Organization recommends both firms plus a third, LABO, which advises prospective homestayers: "Be open to the hearts of your host family, who will make you feel at home." Who could resist? LABO also charges reasonable rates and accepts applications by fax, letter or online at http://www.labostay.or.kr.

The Malaysian Tourist Promotion Board is also getting into the business of linking foreigners with locals in some truly off-the-beaten-path parts of the country. Click on the pull-down menu on its homepage (tourism.gov.my) to find out how to stay with a fisherman's family in Pulau Ketam, with farming families in kampong villages in Sepang and Penang or at Tanjong Balau, a village accessible by ferry from Singapore. The most you'll pay is $74 a night, and your hosts can also take you along as they work on the rivers or in the fields. Contact the nearest Tourism Malaysia office (or call 60-3-293-5188) for more details. And one last hint: bring a gift and be tidy. Your mother would be proud.

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Other organizations offering homestays