It doesn’t take a long drive to get from Chiang Mai’s urban hustle to a more peaceful setting. reclaimed wood village, located about 30 minutes’ ride from Chiang Mai, is home to Harmony@Huailan Home Ecolodge, a bed and breakfast run by Premruethai “Dtor” Tosermkit and her husband Peter Richards. The couple not only talk a good game on sustainability – they actively practice it in their business.
The B&B’s two charming guesthouses use restored wood and are furnished by local artisans. Electricity is provided by solar power, and the business actively practices sustainable water and waste management. The sustainable practices complement Harmony@Huailan’s wholesome setting, amidst rice fields and forested hills, five minutes away from the scenic Huai Lan Reservoir.
“Our guests are comfortable, but still feel intimately connected to nature,” Khun Dtor explains. “We hope to create a space where our guests feel this harmony. They can connect deeply with themselves, and with the beautiful nature and community around us.”
Khun Dtor was happy to explain the inspiration behind Harmony@Huailan and her other businesses; her aspirations for sustainable tourism in northern Thailand; and her advice for other tourism entrepreneurs hoping to follow in her footsteps.
What inspired you to create Harmony@Huailan? Was there a specific moment or experience that sparked your desire to build an eco-friendly B&B?
Our vision for Harmony@Huailan is a “Happy, Healthy, Healing Home with Heart.” It comes from our goal to craft a home where we truly want to live, and to share this space with guests. My husband and I discussed after COVID that we would like to live somewhere we can feel deeply connected to nature and to the local community. Somewhere we can stay healthy – in mind and body – as we start to get older.
The idea of “harmony” is beautiful: different elements woven into a balanced unity. The aim to achieve Harmony is part of our Buddhist life practice. Buddhism teaches us to practice being balanced, and to care and share with the world.
There wasn’t one specific moment or experience that inspired us to create Harmony@Huailan. It was the natural next step, where we aim to weave all of our past experiences together.
We started our business “The Family Tree” in Hua Hin 13 years ago with this philosophy. Then, we opened The Social Salad restaurant and The Family Tree House later. We tried our best to run these businesses in a responsible and sustainable way. For example, by supporting Thai community artisans and local or Fair-Trade products, by not using single use plastic or foam, etc.
So, when we decided to create Harmony@Huailan, we had to do it in a sustainable and responsible way. No other way was an option, because this is us. This is our life. This is our community and our world.
How does your background in travel and community development shape the vision behind your B&B – and your present advocacy for sustainable tourism?
I was born in a local community, so I understand and respect local Thai ways of life. I don’t consider myself to be “separate” from local people.
My travel and community experience in Thailand and overseas further taught me to respect to all beings on this planet. It taught me to respect differences in culture, traditions, ways of life, etc. Each community has their own character and beautiful things to learn about, which should be respected.
But communities also have many similar things. People enjoy smiling and laughing; to be happy and healthy. People love their families and appreciate friendship. They love to be loved. Many people are caring, giving and helping. I found out that even though we are different but we need fundamentally the same thing. We need a secure life, safety, food, house, friends, smiles, love, and people who respect us. Most people don’t like war and fighting, to hate or be hated. We need a peaceful world.
We want Harmony@Huailan to contribute to all those things. So, we built our eco-friendly guesthouse and created an eco-friendly atmosphere around us. We used reclaimed wood. We decorate our place with local crafts and arts. We use solar power. We have sustainable water and waste management. We have areas of wild flowers for bees and birds to find food, like their natural habitat. We aim for unity with community and environment.
If you were to summarise the Harmony@Huailan experience in a sentence or two- how would you put it? What can I expect to experience as a guest?
Harmony@Huailan Home Ecolodge is “Your Happy Healthy Healing Home with Heart.”
You will feel comfortable and relaxed, with plenty of space and light, beautiful decoration and a sense of peace. However, the experience is different from a luxury resort. We keep some elements of our design and gardens a little raw, so you can feel a vivid connection with nature and the local community.
Sustainability is clearly at the heart of Harmony@Huailan – for example, your use of reclaimed wood and handmade items crafted by local artisan and eco friendly water treatment system. How do you ensure your B&B maintains its eco-friendly practice in the long run?
We have taken a lot of actions to help protect the environment, and we intend to continue to operate H@H like this. However, sustainable is more than just technical. It’s about attitude.
Sustainable is a difficult idea, because everything changes over time. We are only here for a short while. Then we are gone. If we understand this, then we can accept and make peace with life more. We don’t need to be the biggest and we won’t live forever. It’s easier to live life with love, caring, compassion and harmony. And we learn about the technical solution that can help us to do it.
Sustainable is also about knowing “enough”: we may grow. We may build one or two more guest houses. But, we don’t need to grow very big. We are happy to be the right size that we can still meet our guests, as individual people not numbers.
How do you balance guest comfort with sustainability, ensuring that visitor have a cozy, memorable stay without compromising your environmental standards?
Our guest houses are very comfortable, cozy, breezy, light, bright and peaceful. We take many actions to protect the environment, and believe these make a stay equally comfortable, and more meaningful.
When guests arrive, we have a short, friendly welcome orientation, weaving “service” and “sustainability.” Guests learn how their stay benefits people and planet, through photos of the local artisans who wove the curtains and lamp shades, sculpted the hand basins, etc.
We do ask our guests to help us a little, for example by using the high quality organic soap and shampoo provided, which doesn’t hurt the microbes managing sustainable waste management!
We say “Thank you for being a green tourist while staying with us here. Do you know that these water taps, showers and toilet are water saving? You can feel comfy and happy, knowing that you helped the environment to be happy too. Thank you so much!” Feedback so far has been positive. No-one has complained yet!
How does gender equality factor into your mission at Harmony@Huailan? Are their specific ways you work to support women within the local community through your business?
We are all equal at Harmony@Huailan. We work according to ability here. When we work, we don’t have any gender separation. However, we do appreciate the important role which women play in day-to-day village life.
Women here are very active in preserving living culture and arts. Women are also very active in community work. So, it’s a pleasure to support these great women and their work.
Many of the highlights of decoration in Harmony were handmade by women artisans living in our village. For example, Auntie Aree wove our curtains by hand. Mae Thongphun wove our rattan lamp shades and hand-made curtain rings. Khun Koi, in Doi Saket, is a potter who made our hand basins.
All of my day-to-day staff are women, and our partners in the community, who run community-based tourism workshops are almost all women. I spend a lot of time with these ladies. We have good teamwork and we have created a lot of successful events together, with great feedback from our customers.
As someone who has built a thriving sustainable business, what advice would you give to others who are looking to follow in your footsteps and created their own eco-friendly B&Bs?
I will recommend to be sure that they want to do it from heart. If work comes from the heart, then it’s going to be easier. Because there are many ways to study and learn how to run sustainable B&B or running other sustainable businesses. But, each place has its’ own way of life, and each place has its own character. Search deeply to find the spirit, culture and nature of your place.
For example, mountainous areas will be different from sea areas. Buddhist, Muslim or other cultures will have differences. You will need to understand and adapt your “sustainable way” to these conditions. What are you looking for in your life which you can achieve there? When you know yourself and your destination, then it’s easier to run your business in sustainable way. It’s not difficult.
Many organisations are ready to help. Here in Chiang Mai, I joined trainings from universities, and Thai government projects, like Maejo University, the Department of Tourism, TEATA, and others. You gain new knowledge, new friends and contacts, who can help you to find sustainable ideas and solutions. Work with respect and care for people and planet, and don’t give up, then the outcome will be great.
How do you see the future of eco-tourism evolving, particularly in places like Chiang Mai? Do you have any insights on how others can contribute to sustainable tourism in the region?
There are many eco-tourism sectors in Chiang Mai already now, like accommodations, agriculture, restaurants and markets, which is really good to see. There are already many inspiring people, groups and associations doing good work, with more energy and urgency than in the past.
However, we still need to achieve more because the world is in pain now. Climate change is our world’s problem now. We urgently need to rescue the world! So eco-friendly B&B, eco-friendly business, eco-friendly way of life is a must do now. We cannot wait anymore otherwise it’s going to be too late to solve this problem.
PM2.5 is also very severe in Chiang Mai and northern Thailand. We need more business sectors and people to understand this problem and work together to help to stop this crisis. Everyone can start from yourself. We all can start from our own family. Say No to plastic, saving electricity, saving water, think carefully. Find a philosophy like the 7R’s. Reach out to networks, join trainings and events.
There is a lot of stress, and we need to practice being gentle to other people and to the planet. We need more caring, low carbon human beings! This is really important to our world now.
To learn more about Harmony@Huailan Home Ecolodge or to book a stay, visit their AirBnB page, or visit their Facebook page.
