“Cycling is a great way to get around as many old areas are turning into one-way streets – so it’s actually more practical to go on a bike. Another reason is being able to take in the finer details and go for a closer look. If you’re in a car, you tend to whizz past things – like people carrying baskets on their head in Kampung Baru, or why there are cigarettes in the shrine of the deity ‘Datuk Kong’ (or Na Tuk Kong).

It's also fun to stop and chat with the locals. For example, we were once cycling through Kampung Baru and came across a ‘Cukur Jambul’ (traditional Malay hair-cutting ceremony for babies). From a distance, the festivities made it seem like a wedding – plus, we had never seen a Cukur Jambul until that day.  We observed prayers from the Quran being recited before the hair-cutting ceremony, followed by a time of feasting.  

There’s a lot to keep up with as changes keep occurring. For instance, many old Hainanese cafes have disappeared and been converted to modern hipster cafes. That means the elderly Chinese people who used to gather at these cafes after their tai chi class, no longer do so. 

Of all the Kampung Baru houses, I found Puan Napsiah’s home was deteriorating most quickly. I noticed her roof leaking every time it rained, especially during the monsoon season. At one point, she asked for my help to gather some canvas banners – and I realised she wanted to place them on the roof to prevent water from seeping in. It was then that I decided to channel some of my tour proceeds towards repairing her 100-year-old kampung home.

The trigger to turn my passion into a business came when I had a bicycle accident while commuting a few years ago. That made me desire better bike infrastructure for Kuala Lumpur. So I thought, what better way to make the government realise the value of good bike infrastructure than to show that there's revenue to be generated from a business like mine?”

Read our Weekend of Good guide to Kuala Lumpur for more travel tips and ideas.

Find about more about Bike with Elena.

“I wanted to do something where we could partner with customers to contribute to society. One day, I came across a video about a guy in New York who was a banker, but had quit his job to open a pizza parlour (Rosa’s Fresh Pizza) where he introduced the ‘Pay It Forward’ programme. So I was inspired to try that concept here in Malaysia. 

We thought it would just be a small wall of vouchers. We didn’t expect that the whole wall would end up being filled with them! There was even a time that we stopped collecting new vouchers, until we had distributed all the meals to people in need.

I hire [ex-offenders] to work in kitchen roles...When I sit down with someone who wants to change, that look in their eyes is compelling enough. 

Although I was not an ex-offender, I made many mistakes in the workplace in my early years. I once made a big mistake and absconded for a few months, but my boss kept a lookout for me and invited me back to work for him. That made an impact and I thought if this man could give me a chance, I should be able to do the same for someone else.  

There was a man who walked into Charlie’s Cafe one Saturday and asked, 'Sir, can I get a meal from you? I’m jobless and I need a meal… actually, I need two. One for me, and one for my son.' 

I said okay – no questions asked. Then he said, ‘Do you remember me? I once came here and bought a Pay It Forward voucher. But I made some bad decisions and am now in debt.’

Initially, he wanted to hide outside to have his meal but I told him not to do so as I wanted him to sit in like a customer, and eat like a customer.

I look back on this encounter and am glad that someone in his situation knew Charlie’s Cafe was a place where he could seek help in a time of need.”

Read our Weekend of Good guide to Kuala Lumpur for more travel tips and ideas.

Find about more about Charlie's Cafe.

"The house feels empty when there are no guests staying over – that’s how comfortable we’ve gotten with having tourists staying with us.

We were the first of the two families who agreed to be a part of the homestay initiative. It was a financially difficult time and we were struggling to make ends meet and have even one meal a day. 

There were some others in the village who cautioned us against going forward citing that this may be a ruse for ‘outsiders’ to steal our houses from us. We were concerned but we didn’t have much else to lose and wanted to be hopeful for the sake of our two children.

Eventually, tourists began coming to our village and started staying with us. Our means to provide for our children gradually began to improve. The homestay has offered us immense exposure to people as well as cultures that are unique and different from our own.

Some tourists who stayed with us have helped my kids with their homework, especially in English and Maths. My children have benefited in so many ways from having tourists from around the world and within India stay with us. They’ve become confident. They speak more comfortably in English. They are better informed about things as they happen around the world, because they get to interact with the guests.”

Read more about Friends of Orchha

Meet Kusum and Havi of Friends of Orchha

“These kids (her team of massage therapists) keep me grounded. They are my spiritual teachers. 

One day at the end of their work-shift, I was checking-in with them on the tips they had received. One of them had had three clients and received 500 rupees (US$7.30) in tips while another had five clients and received 100 rupees (US$1.45) in tips. Out of my own maternal need to offer comfort, I reached out to the second one and said, 'Don’t worry. I know you work hard. Tomorrow will be a better day.'

And much to my surprise, she turned back to me saying, 'You worry so much! I’m going to split this 100 rupees between a talk-time recharge for my cell-phone and a chocolate bar. That takes care of my needs for today. What else do I need?'

Where else can I learn this from? They are very intuitive and their understanding of their surroundings is far more nuanced than ours as abled-bodied individuals. They show me every day how not to get carried away by anyone or anything. 

Today, each one of them takes home a salary every month, not including their earnings through tips, that allows them to contribute towards the expenses of their families and also set some aside as savings. As a team, we go on outings, celebrate birthdays and look out for each other.

Even after all this time, I still get very excited when a celebrity or well-known personality comes in for an appointment at Mettaa. Then one of my therapists will tap me on my shoulder, reminding me that this is just another client. They are a lot more accepting of everyone irrespective of their background or appearance.” 

Read our Weekend of Good guide to Mumbai for more responsible travel tips and ideas! 

Find about more about Mettaa Reflexology.

“I used to work at a garment factory within Dharavi before joining Reality Tours and Travel (RTT). I was a supervisor and would watch small groups of people, mostly foreigners, being taken through Dharavi. I speak fluent English, so I went and met with the team at Reality. That was around five years ago and that’s how long I have been working as a guide here.

Forty-two per cent of Mumbai lives in slums and somehow the only picture that gets painted is about despair. I have lived here and spent my entire childhood in Dharavi. I hadn’t known life here to be one of despair! If anything, it’s one of hope. I have grown up watching everyone around me work hard and make the most of their day to earn an honest living wage. I used to think that it was the same even outside of Dharavi. That everyone was enterprising and always working.

Things have changed personally for me (since joining RTT). I now have a full-time job as a tour guide. I get to meet people from all across the globe. I have the opportunity to be an ambassador of my community and to some extent, even the city because I am the touch-point for the people who are a part of our tours. In turn, I am also exposed to different perspectives and worldviews. This isn’t something I would have had the opportunity to avail of at my previous job.”

Read our Weekend of Good Mumbai guide for more Mumbai travel ideas 

Find about more about Reality Tours and Travel here

“When I moved back to India in 2009, I was concerned by the mall culture taking over and homogenising the local character. I was motivated to create a place that would serve as a reminder of the unique local identities I wanted to promote and protect.

That led to the birth of ARTISANS’, which continues to be driven by this goal of sensitising the consumer to the story and the context of the artisan and their community. 

I owe it to my education in design which pushed me to think of solutions for larger socio-economic problems from a 360-degree perspective.  

As a social enterprise, we go beyond the product - the technique, design and material used - to talk more about the individuals and the communities where these arts and crafts were born, how they once thrived and now struggle to survive with the onslaught of mass production, cheap imitations and replicas masquerading as originals. 

We were the first to launch the artisan entrepreneurs from Kutch in western India, who in a bid to keep alive their tradition, have begun to design for the urban markets. The feedback they receive from ARTISANS’ is an important part of the design cycle. Likewise we’re mentoring women from a village in northeast India who lead the design development by guiding them on costing and market-readiness of the products.  

ARTISANS’ is about creating a marketplace to support livelihoods and the living heritage in as sustainable a manner as possible.”

Read our Weekend of Good in Mumbai guide for more Mumbai travel tips. 

Find about more about ARTISANS' here.

“I pursued biology as my major when I did my degree course in university. During field work, I had an epiphany while observing wild gibbons calling on a huge tree at dawn - I would promote nature and nature conservation and live free like the gibbons! My thinking was very idealistic, considering that eco-tourism was in its infancy, but I decided to go for it and enrolled in a guiding course to get my green badge under the Ministry of Tourism.

At the course, I met the person who set me on this eco-tourism journey. Ahha was a Semai man from Ulu Geroh, a quaint orang asli village in Perak. He could only write and read very little - a facilitator had to read for him the exam papers - but he passed the licence course. His fantastic attitude was an inspiration to the rest of us.

Visiting his village soon after, I understood why Ahha was so driven. He was one of the earliest who saw the link between tourism, community and environment conservation. It was his kampung (village) where the biggest flower, the biggest butterfly were thriving. He understood how tourism, done right, can play a role in keeping away loggers and other threats to their way of life, and improve their living standards. 

My heart broke when Ahha died suddenly in 2009. But his spirit lingers on to inspire me to continue promoting a love for the environment.

How can we as tour guides make sustainable conscious choices? We can make a difference, starting with choosing the locations where we send our customers. I’ve stopped promoting destinations where there is over-tourism because it can negatively impact the natural environment, and encourage my customers to choose lesser known but more pristine destinations run by individuals who are mindful about not polluting the area, such as Ulu Geroh. Using local guides and patronising locally-owned restaurants and accommodation will keep the profit in the community.

Travelling today is no longer about sightseeing, but life experiencing. I tell my customers to leave their way of living at home, and observe and experience the local culture way of living. The villagers I’ve met are great teachers. From ingenious animal traps to beautiful houses – you’ll be amazed how they can create things using common sense and the simplest materials in the jungle. They have an intuitive understanding and deep appreciation of nature and conservation ethics, something I hope to instill in my guests."

Read more about SEMAI and Ulu Geroh

Meet Insan from SEMAI

“We are a family that survives on farming. We consume what we grow. If there is a surplus, we sell it in the market, but that’s quite rare. It is tough because our survival depends on rainfall and Orchha is a drought-prone area. 

When Asha ji met and spoke to us some years ago suggesting the idea of a homestay, it made sense, though we were a little sceptical. But some other families had already been hosting tourists and it seemed like it was helping them — financially, at least.

I don’t speak English. So I used to be very uncomfortable around our guests in the beginning. It was all too new for me. I didn’t know what to say. Over time, of course, that changed.

Hosting tourists gives us an opportunity to earn without being entirely reliant on our land. We enjoy having people staying with us from different parts of the world. It’s an opportunity for us to learn — like how most non-Indian guests though prefer non-spicy food, whereas our local cuisine is on the spicier side!”

Read more about Friends of Orchha

Meet Kiran and Surendra of Friends of Orchha

"Tourism in Ulu Geroh started in the late 90s, when some researchers from Malaysia Nature Society visited us and explained that the presence of the Rafflesia flower could turn Ulu Geroh into a tourism attraction and provide an additional source of income. We villagers had a meeting and subsequently formed SEMAI. The acronym is not only the name of our tribe; its meaning reflects our eco-friendly lifestyle and philosophy.

In the early 2000s, I got involved in eco-tourism activities as a guide. Ulu Geroh has one of the highest concentrations of Rafflesia in the world, as well as the Rajah Brooke birdwing butterfly, so these are our top two tourism products. 

When we have big groups, I bring in guides from other villages to help out. The biggest group we’ve handled so far consisted of 130 people from China – I had to hire 30 guides to take them on the trails!

Daytrippers usually come just to see the Rafflesia flower, but we started offering homestays after a corporate sponsor funded the construction of chalets in Kampung Batu, where the original Rafflesia trail started. You can learn from my fellow villagers how to do weaving from coconut leaves, set up simple animal traps, cook using woodfire and bamboo stems. These activities are not just for show, but things we still practise every day. When a visitor opts for these activities, my people also get to work and earn.

Other than provide an additional source of income, eco-tourism has enabled us to have a stronger voice to oppose activities that are harmful to the community, such as illegal logging. Overlogging will destroy our precious natural resources, from dirtying the river to clearing our forests. For the Semai, the consequences are especially devastating because the jungle is our primary source of livelihood. Our diet consists of fish that we catch from the river, petai and ferns from the forest, and we rely rotan and bamboo to build our houses.

Some years ago, together with our friends from Gopeng such as MyGopeng Resort, Nomad Adventure, etc, we submitted a petition to the authorities to stop illegal logging activities, and happily, we succeeded. That is the best thing about eco-tourism: it has brought the community in Ulu Geroh closer, and made our environment a better place.

Read more about SEMAI and Ulu Geroh

Meet John of Nature Inspired 

“People with intellectual disabilities have the same rights, hopes and expectations as any other individual, with gifts to offer, experiences to teach and hopes to fulfill. We believe with the necessary support and given opportunities, our members can develop career growth. Therefore, we tried our best to create activities that would bring out their skills and abilities rather than focus on their limitations. 

One of our greatest breakthroughs took place when a graphics designer joined us. During her eight years with us, she created many of the visual charts and aids that we currently use to work with our members. We noticed that the members responded well to creative stimulation and since then, we have welcomed many more artists to work with us. 

There was a fine arts student from Canada who encouraged our members to enter the world of arts. An Australian artist worked with two of our members on paintings, which we auctioned and were able to raise RM70,000 (US$16,865). Then there was a soapmaker who was so inspired by what he saw that he shared with us his soap formula, which led to one of our biggest projects – producing 6,000 pieces of soap as door gifts for a Penang multinational corporation. Success stories like this keep us going and boost our members’ morale. We can do more, and we want to do more!

We have discovered so many hidden talents in our midst. One of the guys can freehand-draw batik designs, another girl discovered a flair for oil painting. Many who join as apprentices have progressed to become skilled workers and in-house trainers. We run workshops where our talented members share their skills with outsiders who wish to learn craft-making. Recently, we introduced an artist residency programme [at a living facility next door], so artists can spend more time with us. 

There are more things that we want to do. In the past, we’ve held back because of staffing, but after struggling for years with staff who come and go, we decided to change our approach and find talent in-house. That way, we can help them chart a career path and integrate them meaningfully into society.

When visitors come and see the work they do, they see how talented they really are. This is what we want to achieve – for people to see their abilities, not their disabilities.”

Read our Weekend of Good guide to Penang for more travel tips and ideas

Find about more about Stepping Stone Work Centre