East Bali luxury villa accommodation, Indonesia
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
With the building of Villa Surya it was a paramount ideal of ours to leave the natural environment as untouched as possible and as many trees in place as we could and out of the original 42 on site we only had to lose 2 to the building. These have been replanted in the meantime and along with the other 40 original coconut palms the produce is donated to the local people and their good causes. We use pure water from the local river that is fed by tropical rains on the inclines of Holy Mount Agung - the holiest mountain on all of Bali. This water is revered as magical in its abilities to heal and nurture and although we do not recommend that our guests drink it we do use it for bathing and watering our tropical gardens. Due to the long tropical growing season it is possible for our guests to enjoy year round fresh fruit from our Papaya, Banana and Coconut trees and also to enjoy watching the local rice farmers bring in and tend their 3 harvests a year. There is no need to feel embarrassed by watching them work – they enjoy a long and very slow pace of life that includes our guests at every opportunity – we may not understand each other all the time but with good will friendship is always there.
Community
We have undertaken to train and use only local people from the surrounding villages to help us at Villa Surya this assures us and our many guests of a welcome place at all the local celebrations and religious ceremonies and a true experience of coming together with the wonderfully curious and gentle Balinese people. Unlike many peoples the Balinese are very glad to share their wonderfully rich culture with all that want to enjoy it without being in any way pushy or shy.
By encouraging a gentle tourism that is in harmony with the local culture and respectful of the local customs and ceremonies we at Villa Surya want to offer an economical way to enjoy both the luxury of being pampered by attentive staff in Deluxe surroundings and also making sure that much of the money earned comes to bear on the local economy and enriches the lives of those that a generation ago were among the very poorest on the island. Poverty caused by a volcano outbreak that cause a lava flow cutting the east of the island off from access to the markets and infrastructure of the rest of Bali – this caused serious hardship but has also meant that East Bali is still amongst the most untouched areas of what the locals call the “Island of the Gods” – Bali.
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