Culture, jungle and beach holiday in Thailand

Environment:
The creation of a waste separation station, the increased use of reusable dishes and energy saving light bulbs, and the energy saving, bundled shuttle transports we offer from our premises to Khao Lak, have all been implemented to increase the project’s environmental compatibility. During our welcome ceremony we provide an overview of the area and explain our rules to the guests, which they can also read about in our information booklet placed in the guest houses.

We give our tour guides concrete direction so that the same routes are always taken, thereby reducing the negative impact on the environment, for example during our jungle tours. Some measures have already been implemented to reduce consumption of resources such as saving and reusing rainwater. Additionally, we are in the planning process of installing a solar energy facility on-site. Before departing, every guest has the opportunity to plant a young commemorative tree in order to give something back to nature.

Community:
Our project is an aid project for tsunami orphans and people in need. Its aim is providing children with a new perspective and introducing them to a self-determined life. To this end, the school strives for a type of tourism which is ecologically acceptable, economically sustainable as well as ethically and socially just.

Tourism represents the main source of income for the population of southern Thailand. The incorporation of a guest area, which opened in May 2007, into the school thus suggested itself. Here, far away from the areas of mass tourism, visitors have the opportunity to become acquainted with everyday Thai culture and the residents and children. Furthermore, the goal of the institution is to design the vacation infrastructure as sustainable as possible. Among other things, the employees are trained specifically to this effect. At the same time, the guest area figures as an important pillar of financing for the project and provides excellent learning potential to the youths regarding the subject of sustainable tourism.

By means of our encounter activities and our culture courses we give our guests the opportunity to attain realistic insights into the life, the traditions, and the stories of the residents, as well as to intensively explore Thai culture. Our focus is to encourage culturally sustainable travel turned away from mass tourism in which tourists have the opportunity to get to know the genuine features of the land and its people. In our basic culture courses "Intercultural Thailand" and "Do's and Don'ts of Thailand", visitors learn customs and traditions as well as polite greetings and behaviours.

Our language course offers the essentials for communicating with the locals while our restaurant’s chef Na shares her tips and tricks of traditional Thai cuisine in our cooking course. To gain a "little" perspective, the children of the aid project show and tell our guests about the area as tour guides for the day in our "Be a little guide" project. Our guests also have many opportunities to travel in the area by experiencing the hustle and bustle during a trip to the local market in Na Nai, and becoming familiar with a sensitive part in history with a visit to the village of Nam Kem and the tsunami memorial. Our field trips include meals at local traditional restaurants and shopping opportunities at the local markets, which support the local economy. We make sure that almost all products are purchased from around the area such as our bamboo-furniture made in Na Nai and the locally-made drinks and snacks offered in our mini bars.