In the first of our owner Q&A series, we meet Got Daeng, a vacation rental owner who has a passion for sustainable travel…
“Depending on when guests travel to the area, they may immerse themselves in verdant paddy fields that stretch in emerald quilts to the horizon, they may see the region golden with mature rice in the hot azure summers, or may visit in the cool season where the nights have a startling crispness and a milky way of stars sparkles clearly in the clear night skies.”
1) Tell us a little about your vacation rental
Gecko Villa is a three bedroom villa with a private swimming pool, set in the heart of the rice paddies on spacious grounds in rural northeast Thailand, out of Udon Thani.
Away from the congestion of Bangkok, and a world apart from the artificial tourist destinations of Pattaya, Phuket and the like, the villa offers guests a genuine Thai experience among the rural villages of the Northeast.
A local Thai family welcomes you and looks after you during your stay, integrating you in the local community to the extent you desire, or leaving you to enjoy the villa in complete privacy: they live in a nearby village so flexibility and convenience are assured.
As a sustainable travel initiative Gecko Villa aims to generate local employment, to source local produce, to promote and preserve local traditions and customs, and to ensure a small-scale yet valuable and authentic interaction between guests and the local community, allowing both to benefit whilst protecting the environment.
Having been in operation for almost ten years, the project has ensured a higher quality of living for the locals involved, has generated local employment, and has allowed children to be educated and reforestation projects to be undertaken, whilst also ensuring enjoyable and memorable holidays for its guests – many of whom return annually. We are particularly proud of the contributions made by guests to the local primary school, and would like to thank all those who have contributed, in one form or another, to this remote community.
2) What made you buy it – was it financial, emotional, a connection with the area, or something else?
Gecko Villa was designed and constructed by locals from the 3 rural villages closes to the property. The aim of the undertaking was to create sustainable employment in the area, to avoid economic migration and the traditional breakup of families, by inviting guests to escape from the homogeneity of hotel rooms to the comfort of their own house and a private swimming pool as well as freshly cooked meals – in the heart of the countryside.
3) What’s the best thing about the region your property is in? Is it the scenery, the pace of life, the locals, the activities, etc?
Undoubtedly the area and the indigenous people! The Northeast of Thailand is known to be home to some of the most welcoming of its people: living close to the land and often spending their entire lives in the immediate vicinity, they welcome the opportunity to meet new people and to share an experience of Thai rural village life. The pace of life is very much dictated by the seasons and the natural rhythms of country life. Depending on when guests travel to the area, they may immerse themselves in verdant paddy fields that stretch in emerald quilts to the horizon, they may see the region golden with mature rice in the hot azure summers, or may visit in the cool season where the nights have a startling crispness and a milky way of stars sparkles clearly in the clear night skies.
4) What are the 3 special touches you add to enhance the guest experience?
1. Holidays at Gecko Villa include freshly prepared meals and all drinks. Whilst many guests are keen to learn how to cook Thai dishes, all are keen to enjoy their holiday to the full and not to be bound to the kitchen sink (or to the washing up!) on a well deserved break.
2. Whilst some guests simply wish to relax to the full, many are delighted to immerse themselves in the indigenous way of life and to experience the area as locals As such, we are happy to involve them in local ways of life – from gathering lotus or fishing on the lake, to planting and harvesting rice, to driving a tuk-tuk or commandeering a water buffalo, to visiting local markets and village schools. We are also happy to accompany them to local places of natural beauty or to the World Heritage site of Ban Chiang nearby.
3. The private swimming pool. This gurgling saltwater pool enjoys complete privacy, yet also offers splendid, sweeping views of the surrounding rice paddies, woodlands and plantations. Under the tropical sun, this is the perfect place for our guests to chill out and cool down with a chilled long drink!
5) If a guest had just one day in your rental what would you recommend they do for the perfect experience?
Wake up in the early morning and cycle out to the nearby forest temple to give alms to the monks in their saffron robes during their morning alms round. Return to the villa for a traditional Thai breakfast, with a pot of freshly brewed coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. Jump into our tuk-tuk and head down to the listed wetlands nearby, then take a trip on our traditional wooden longboat onto the lake. From December through February, a thick carpet of bright pink lotus flowers blooms, fishermen and lotus-hunters go about their routine and rare birds flit down to the clear waters below.
Back at the villa, enjoy a swim in the private pool before sitting down to a lunch of local specialties, including stick rice, barbecued marinated chicken and a spicy laap salad.
Travel with your Thai host to Ban Chiang to explore the museum there and to watch pottery makers at work. Wander around the local market and enjoy a cool drink before heading back to the property, stopping along the way at a large lake to collect some live tiger prawns.
Back at the villa, follow us into our organic herb gardens to identify and pick the herbs and vegetables required to make a zingy Spicy Prawn Soup, then try your hand at making this yourselves under the guidance of your own chef.
Take another plunge in the pool and relax with a cold beer or cocktail. Now dine outside under the stars in complete tranquillity. Should there be a local morlam (Isan music) festival on, those with the energy may accompany us to the village and dance to the lilting sounds of morlam, accompanied perhaps by a locally grown rice whisky before returning to the calm of the villa…
We will leave you now until the morning. Head to bed…or let the waters of the pool under the still starry night entice you for a further plunge!
To rent Gecko Villa, a 3 bedroom vacation rental in Thailand, from Got Daeng, please click here and complete the contact form.
on July 14, 2010 at 1:44 pm
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