Green Postcards

Sarinbuana Eco-Lodge Gives Guests Their Own "Eat, Pray, Love" Experience, Part 2

See yesterday's post for the green-skinny on Sarinbuana Eco-Lodge's extensive environmental and community work!

Address: Mountain Retreat, Mount Batukaru
Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia
Telephone: +62 817 471 5916
E-mail: ecolodgebali@yahoo.com
E-mail is the best way to contact the lodge.

Jungle House (for up to 5 people): Includes breakfast, drinking water, and natural soaps. Three bedrooms (one double, three single beds, all with mosquito nets), one bathroom (with hot shower), dining verandah, small fridge, wireless internet. Prices depend on season. $90 - $101 for one or two people; $101 - $106 for three to four; $117 - $125 for five.

Orchid House (for two): Includes breakfast, drinking water, and natural soaps. One bathroom (queen with mosquito net), outside garden bathroom with hot shower, verandah, garden exercise area, lounge and dining room, wireless internet. Prices depend on season. $83-$94 for one; $88-$105 for two.

Rumah Manis (Sweet House, for two): Includes breakfast, drinking water, and natural soaps. One bedroom (queen with mosquito net), outside garden bathroom with hot shower, sun verandah, and lounge room. Prices depend on season. $83-$94 for one; $88-$105 for two; extra bed, $19.

All bungalows have either mountain or costal views.

Village Homestay: For those of you on a tight budget or simply wanting to have an ultra-authentic Bali experience, stay in this two-room (both with single beds) homestay above a village warung (supply shop). The  mountain views and local buzz will make up for lack of hot water. $7.50 per night -- includes breakfast!!

Volunteer Opportunity: If you've got mad teaching skills, an interest in Bali, and three months to spare, the lodge is looking for a volunteer tutor for the lodge owners' two children and local Balinese youngsters. February-April and April -June positions available. In return for your tutoring genius, you'll get free room and board and an up-close-and-personal exposure to eco-tourism. Go here for more details. 

To get ready for your Bali trip, Linda suggests picking up the aforementioned Eat, Pray, Love; Collapse by Jared Diamond; and The Natural Guide to Bali by Anne Gouyon. And don’t forget to load up your ipod with the sounds of Bali before you go!
 

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Sarinbuana Eco-Lodge Gives Guests Their Own "Eat, Pray, Love" Experience, Part 1

If you are one of the many, many people who have picked up Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love recently, you are probably (like me) dreaming of a trip to Bali . (And India, and Italy, but we’re talking about Bali today.) Let me suggest that after you make a pilgrimage to Ubud to have your palm read by Ketut, you head a hour and a half southwest to the Tabanan region to find Sarinbuana Eco-Lodge nestled in the slopes of Mount Batukaru.

The winner of  Wild Asia’s 2007 Responsible Tourism Awards, Sarinbuana Eco-Lodge provides a home base for the environmentally conscious and the perpetually curious. If you’re ready for a challenge, try a day trek to the summit of the mountain or through the neighboring rain forest with a local guide. Or stick closer to the lodge with tours of the grounds’ organic gardens, “food forests of cocoa, vanilla and coffee,” and local temples. And if that’s not enough activity for you, take a motorbike or car trip to see traditional villages, rice paddies, temples and hot springs.

Manager Linda vant Hoff, who owns the eco-lodge with her husband Norman, says guests should not miss out on the many opportunities to interact with the Balinese people and their beautiful traditions. The lodge can organize workshops for you on everything from Balinese cooking, traditional medicine & costumes to making coconut oil, temple offerings or kites.

Of course, if you like to turn the hamster wheel in your head off during your vacation, you’ll find plenty of opportunity to find peace in the outdoor garden showers (available in the Orchid and Sweet houses), the bamboo tea house, essential oil massages (for just under $7), or swim in the lodge's natural waterfall pools.

Sarinbuana’s three low-impact cottages are all built in the traditional Balinese style, partially out of local trees from the eco-lodge’s property. Energy-saving techniques (solar garden lights, efficient bulbs, torches for night-time lighting) are used throughout. Vant Hoff says they don’t have enough sunlight hours, waterflow, or wind to use current renewable energy technologies, so they keep their energy use as low as possible. They offset their energy use by planting new trees and vetiver on their grounds. Nutrients are harvested from the resorts wastewater to grow bananas. The lodge gardens are designed following permaculture principals.

Guests can order traditional Balinese and Western meals made from produce grown right outside their doors ($3-$7). The lodge has extensive organic gardens with over 90 edible herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits. You can even catch your own dinner in local fresh-water fish ponds or take part in the cooking of your evening meal.

Despite all these eco-accomplishments, Linda is most proud of the 800 hectares they were able to establish as a “No Take” zone (any kind of harvesting is prohibited) through the cooperation of the local village and a grant from Seacology. The grant also led to several other community improvements, including a new meeting hall, computers for the school, and a village office. The lodge’s commitment to community extends to its staff: It hires only local people and trains them in environmental management, housekeeping, English, and other skills necessary for sustainable tourism.

Stay tuned for accomodation details and reading suggestions from Linda tomorrow!

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The Pimenta: A yummy eco-destination in southern India

Quick test: Indian buffet.

If your mouth is watering just at the sight of those words (I’m salivating while typing them), then look no further for your next dream vacation.  The Pimenta on Haritha Farms is a “farm-stay” in the southern India state of Kerala, an hour southeast of Cochin (or Kochi), the state’s economic center. Don’t let the “farm-stay” bit dry up your tastebuds: There is no stable-shoveling here (though you can witness some elephant training, if you wish). No, the Pimenta offers four cozy cottages snuggled into an organic spice forest; three meals a day of  decadent, fresh, vegetarian Indian food; and the opportunity to live on an authentic Keralan farmstead.

Jacob Mathew, co-owner of The Pimenta, says that the best way to experience Haritha (“green”) Farms is through the food. They offer 3-day and 7-day cooking adventures that include step-by-step preparation lessons, plenty of local cultural activities (visits to a pineapple market, curry powder facilities, tea farms, local temples and churches, etc.), and, of course, plenty of good eating. 

Kerala is poor by global standards, but enjoys a low cost of living, long life expectancy, and literacy rates. The Pimenta helps support its local region not only by bringing in sustainable tourism dollars, but also by providing demand for its local crops through its focus on Keralan cuisine.

The traditionally built cottages use a solar-powered water heater and bio-gas in the kitchen. Sky lights and CFLs keep the bungalows lit and the energy bills low. They’ve also been planting native food, fruit and spice plants on the grounds to help offset their small carbon footprint. Pimenta uses ayurvedic soaps and household cleaners derived from traditional Indian herbal wisdom. In the future, the farm wants to incorporate more solar power and install a water-harvesting system. Mathew plans to continue replanting native Indian polyculture crops on the grounds formerly given over to rubber plantations.

Haritha Farms hopes that the wafting scents of ginger curry and masala cauliflower -- not to mention their eco-efforts -- will lure tourists off the more well-trod vacation routes of the Southern Indian coast. Diffusing those destination crowds can help alleviate some of the country’s eco-pressure – and introduce world-travelers to a flavor of southern India they might never have tasted.

Basic all-inclusive rate: Includes lodging and all meals. $75-$90, single; $100-$120, double (that’s $50-$60 per person, per night!)

Three-day cooking residency: Includes lodging, all meals, daily cooking lessons, and local tours. $505, single; $725 double ($362/pp); $1010, triple ($336/pp). Nightly rates work out to $112-$168/pp.

Seven-day cooking adventure: Includes lodging, all meals, daily cooking lessons, and local tours. $1010, single; $1440, double ($720/pp); $2000, triple ($667/pp). Nightly rates work out to $95-$144/pp.

Special Economy Packages: If you’re a college student under 30; a prior guest; an organic farmer or environmentalist; a nature or environmental writer; a fellow eco-tourism provider; or a member of Green Peace, the Green Party, or another ecological institution, e-mail Jacob about special economy rates.

Contact The Pimenta for exact rates. Listed rates are valid until the end of May 2008. Prices go higher November through January, so get traveling!

Address: Kadalikad Post -686670, Kerala, India
E-mail: harithafarms@gmail.com
Phone: + 91 485 2260216 or +91 9249124206
Mobile: +91 (0) 9447302347

Whether you get to The Pimenta by plane, train, boat, or bus, the staff suggests passing the time by reading The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, which takes place in a Keralan town of Aymanam.  You should also load up your ipod with some classical Indian music. Try this collection of South Indian classical music:  

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Gecko Villa gets green in northeast Thailand

Gecko Villa provides simple luxury and a carbon-light vacation by using the best of northeastern Thai traditions. This 3-bedroom, 3-bath villa, founded in 2000, is nestled among organic gardens and rice paddies 25 minutes southeast of Udon Thani in the Isan region. The buildings are made from pradoo, a local and sustainable tree, and built in the traditional raised Thai style to maximize ventilation. The villa uses long-life fluorescent bulbs, low-flush toilets, rainwater collection and natural filtration/sterilization methods. The pool is treated with local salt, instead of chlorine, to minimize chemical usage. The villa plans on installing solar panels when Thai taxes are lifted on solar equipment and helps offset its current energy usage by reforesting an 8-acre adjoining property.

Charles Coleman, founder of the project, is most proud of the way the villa has been able to impact the local community, located in the poorest region of Thailand.

One of Gecko Villa's main achievements has been preventing the typical separation of families and the migration of parents to Bangkok or further afield in seeking unskilled employment far from home," Coleman says. "Traditionally, young children are left with aging grandparents, as parents seek temporary work in the capital, returning only for the rice harvests. Gecko Villa has enabled several families to stay together, promoting stability and a secure, local and individually empowering source of employment."

This model of local employment and local reinvestment (through reforestation and donations to local schools) has proved successful. Gecko Villa was able to open a second property, Green Gecko, to continue bringing sustainable tourism to the region.

The villa has also been encouraging the community to handle waste in a eco-friendly way, including re-adopting traditional practices (such as using banana leafs as wrappers instead of plastic bags.) Owners Bongkot and Euang Podaeng encourage guests to glean eco-wisdom from the locals, whether it be through taking Thai kickboxing  (muay Thai) lessons with a local champ, learning how to create traditional Thai dishes from the villa's own organic produce gardens, or participating in the rice growing cycle.

Coleman's favorite way to enjoy Gecko Villa is alternating between relaxing by the swimming pool and visiting the rural villages that most tourists never discover. He suggests guests should make time to help in the rice fields or visit a local school, then relax with a traditional Thai massage ($10/hour). If you journey to Gecko Villa between December and February, he recommends visiting nearby Nong Han Lake to see the pink lotus flowers in bloom.

All-inclusive Gecko Villa rates (all meals included): $183/night for 1-2 people; $230/night for 3-4 people; $283/night for the entire property (sleeps 5-6 people). This last rate is an incredible deal: $47 per person for lodging and authentic Thai meals prepared for you all day long!

Splurge option: Stay in the brand-new Green Gecko, all meals included, for $230 per night for 1-2 guests or $280 for 3-4 guests.

Address: 126 Moo 13, Baan Um Jaan, A. Prajak Sinlapakom, 41000 Udon Thani, Thailand
Phone: +66-81-9180500
E-mail: info@geckovilla.com

See visitor reviews of Gecko Villa.

To get ready for your trip, Coleman suggests checking out Monsoon Country by Pira Sudham.  "[It's] the novel for which Pira Sudham was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature," Coleman explains. "Much like Pira's own life, it follows a poor farmer's son from the North-East to Bangkok and as an overseas student in England. In this novel you will get an insider's view of Esarn. Starting in 1954 and ending in 1980 it covers a period of of immense change in Thailand, the clash of Western and Thai values, the student movement and the military repression of the 1970's.”

He also encourages future guests to check out mor lam, which he describes as "the lilting, lively, traditional Northeastern music, evocative of the location and its irrepressibly fun-loving people in the face of the historical poverty and hardships of the area."  Try the two-volume compilation album, Molam: Thai Country Groove from Isan, to start, then also check out the cooperative project a group of singers from southern Laos did with a Brit electronica artist, Jah Wobble: Molam Dub

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