As you may know, I recently went on holiday to Thailand and Cambodia. An amazing trip that I would love to do again. It was a great trip to relax and discover new things. But also to reflect and think.
Many of the things I saw inspired me and also reminded me of why I choose to choose
- organic,
- natural and
- fair trade products
Here are some of the reasons
Seeing how exploited parts of Thailand is.
Thailand is becoming more and more westernised. You see all the big brands everywhere. There's rubbish everywhere. You can see that many tourists have no respect to the beautiful nature that is Thailand. It reminds me of the damage many multinational companies do. Therefore I like to avoid them as much as possible.
I was so happy to choose a hotel that making the most of staying true to nature and being as eco friendly as possible. Tubkaak boutique resort has tried their hardest to not spoil the nature around and in the hotel. The reason why it felt like being in a jungle. All the materials they used are as natural as possible. Even food was local produced and I was able to have organic wine.
Local produced food
Having local produced food and how yummy it is. The fruit is beyond delicious. Mainly because it doesn't have to be picked long before ready and being transported around the world. It's picked when ready and it taste so good. And even the food is all local ingredients to what grows in Thailand. It makes such a difference and reminds me to pick local produced and in season ingredients.
Simple life of the villagers in Cambodia
I often forget how spoilt and lucky I am. I have so much. Sometimes we need to travel to be reminded of these things. In Cambodia we visited a few small villages. Firstly a floating village. They build their houses on water and the water is their life. They make their living out of fishing. They live simple lives but they didn't seem to lack anything. It was humbling experience. We chose the urban adventures tour guides because they make sure some of the money they make goes to the villages. Our guide make sure he buys something from the villagers everytime he comes there. A great example to support the small independent businesses at home.
Looking after your community
Another village we visited was a self help community. Here they help people who are less fortunate either been homeless or have disabilities. They help them to learn how to look after themselves. How to grow things and they have a market where they sell stuff. Teaching me how to care for and help my local community.
I can live out of a suitcase
Again I don't actually need that much stuff. My house is full of stuff and many of those things I really don't need. Living out of a suitcase teaches me to be more minimalistic.
Everywhere I go I can see the damage we do to our planet. I want to make as many conscious decisions as possible in making the world a little better. So it's great to be able to choose food, clothes, beauty products and many other things that can help and support independent and local people that all working to make their difference.
