“Islands are like a microcosm of the world. So if I chuck rubbish or sewage into the sea around Tengah Island, we’ll see the impact really quickly. We’ll see the coral reefs dying. And if that happens, we’ll see the fish population decrease. We might stop seeing turtles coming to nest.

It dawned on us that people in towns and cities need to care about what’s out here, or the environment is going to get destroyed really fast. That’s when we started to think about how we could reach out to Mersing, the nearest town to us.

So my team and I came up with the idea of opening KakakTua, a guesthouse and community space in Mersing town, where we can run programmes to upskill locals, and so on, so they can benefit economically from the tourism that comes through Mersing.

Currently, 500,000 tourists visit the Johor islands and Tioman every year, but Mersing hardly benefits from that. Tourists literally get out of their car or taxi at the jetty, look for their boat, and off they go. And that’s a shame because the locals don’t get why the tourists come here – and they don’t see the fragility of the marine environment.

Practically speaking, KakakTua is also a benefit to Batu Batu, as our guests who arrive later in the day can choose to stay a night at KakakTua – and we’ll give them a little guide on where to go around Mersing town. Where the nice seafood restaurants are, where they can eat nice ikan bakar, perhaps even visit a nearby kampung. 

And then the next morning before setting off to Batu Batu, they can have roti canai at Rasa Sayang or head to Sri Mersing kopitiam for homemade custard tarts, boiled eggs and coffee.

The more we spend time in Mersing and hear stories from locals like Mr Lim Poo Ker, the more meaningful the town becomes. For instance, I never noticed the old Chinese medicinal shop until he pointed it out. And there’s the goldsmith – which has been around since 1935!

We believe that increasingly, tourists are looking for authenticity. And what’s authenticity? It’s looking into the soul of a place. Looking into the lives and listening to the stories of its people.

So we hope to create a really nice ecosystem of people who actually want to protect Mersing’s heritage, and then start working together to protect it.”

Meet Zam of Batu Batu and Poo Ker of Clean & Happy Recycling

Read more about Batu Batu

“Decotourism is about ‘travelling with purpose.’ It means minimal ecological footprint, substantial economic impact to the communities visited, and the mutual exchange of knowledge and culture. You come as a guest, and leave as family.

Our Lio identity can be summed up as lika, iné and oné: we are a people of one hearth, one mother and one house. We invite travellers to experience this through daily activities such as tending the garden, picking coffee, feeding pigs, or planting rice. Meanwhile, we also visit ancient villages, megalithic gravesites and hot springs.

Lio daily life is based on five relationships. The first is with God, which we call Du’a Gheta Lulu Wula, Ngga’e Ghale Wena Tana—Heavenly Father and Mother Earth. The others are relationships with the ancestors, nature, fellow humankind and the self.

Inspired by Joko Widodo’s 2013 presidential campaign,  the idea [for RMC Detusoko] popped one evening with friends around the bonfire, and started off as a literacy movement facilitating book donations from Java to local schools here. Over time, this developed into Remaja Mandiri Community (RMC, or Bahasa Indonesia for “self-sufficient youth community”)

I spent 2014 to 2015 studying Ecotourism Management in the US, and 2016 to 2017 in Ende working as a facilitator for Swisscontact’s rural community-based tourism and solid waste management projects. During that time, I remained active with RMC, and eventually moved back to Detusoko in 2018.  

My partner Eka Rajakopo and I started an English course, which children paid for by depositing recyclables in our waste bank. We had no donors, so Eka and I allocated part of our incomes to provide for RMC operations. That’s when we realised we needed a clearer direction. Hence we defined our four programmes: informal education, sustainable agriculture, social enterprise and Decotourism.

In five to ten years, I see RMC as a full-fledged training centre for local youth, and a business catering to international markets. Underlying this is the hope for our youth to return to the village and farm. Farmers are our future. It’s time for our youth to develop our own value-added products and services, and let our work do the talking.”

Read more about Decotourism

“Middle school teachers complained to me that some of their students could hardly read. This surprised me— it was common in my 1990s childhood, but the fact that this was still the case in the mid-2010s bothered me. There are more kids now, but the quality of education and social progress here [in Taiftob] hadn’t improved.

Having worked in Kupang and Yogyakarta before, I collected books. I opened a library [in Taiftob] so that kids here can read. And I wrote a proposal telling people about my dream to build a gathering space for local children to engage in creative collaborations.

In July 2016, I was helping my father harvest loquats and guavas at the end of the season. The name Lakoat.Kujawas came to me in an instant. These fruits tug at my childhood memories. This name represents the hopes of a village child to live a better life at home, carrying the happy memories things like loquats and guavas make.

I intended Lakoat.Kujawas to cater to children. But in 2017, parents approached me. ‘Dicky, we want to join. What fun our kids are having with all these English classes, dance classes, and wonderful activities!’

I wasn’t prepared for an adult Lakoat.Kujawas, but came to understand why these parents wanted in. We, Orang Mollo, are a people of the gathering. We called our gatherings elaf. Elaf is about celebrations, coming together and fostering interpersonal relationships. It’s a moment where people meet and hear the spoken word, tales, and genealogies.

Harvest thanksgivings, and rituals held in wellsprings and rock towers make the space in which cultural knowledge is transmitted intergenerationally. When elaf is missing, the stories of our people lack the space to tell them.

I never imagined Lakoat.Kujawas becoming a travel experience. But as our work archiving our cultural knowledge came together like pieces of a puzzle, we came to realise that we have stories, values and philosophies that outsiders appreciate. 

At Lakoat.Kujawas we continue to grow and nurture the spirit of solidarity and collaboration, which are increasingly scarce. Our spirit is not project-based — it’s an elaf spirit that restores our cultural spaces with dignity."

Read more about Lakoat.Kujawas

"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

“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

“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

"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 

“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.

“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.