- The Tao experience is a five day experiencing the islands,
the culture, and the people.
It starts in one spot, which is a tourist town,
and you get dropped off on another tourist town.
In between we offer pretty much
what these tourist towns don't have.
The experiencing the rawness of the islands,
diving into the experience.
(water splashing)
(wind blowing) (birds chirping)
- It offers travelers a chance
to get in access and experience the islands
in their most kind of basic raw form.
Unmediated by sort of this idea of dictated idea of luxury,
of a tropical paradise in terms of a hotel or resort
that has all the creature comforts of home.
A traveler's experienced of a place
when they deeply connect with the culture
and the people from there.
(gentle music)
- The people on the boat, the crew plus the guests,
is a community for five days.
There are meals to be taken together.
They, we take showers together.
We sleep on one floor.
Even them, they feel like they're part
of Tao family for five days.
And I think that's what also makes them happier in the end.
Like it wasn't just a tour or that they've paid for
because they went to this exotic place.
No, it's camaraderie.
They experience all that.
- We don't build and overdevelop build big cottages
that offer this creature comforts
that you have from back home.
But we build and design huts
that connect the traveler directly
to that natural environment.
So you're sleeping in an open sided bamboo hut
is just a simple curtain, no walls,
and you can basically fall to sleep
with the ocean breeze and the sound of the waves.
And it's a unique experience for the guests.
After sunset and nightfall,
and there everybody's enjoying dinner on the beach.
And then if you walk a little bit away from the camp
down by the seashore, look up,
and there's a sky full of stars.
Where you shower is exactly how they shower
and bathe in the islands,
which is directly at the water source.
And a menu full of fresh food that is actually harvested,
so you can really see the from the farm to the plate.
(gentle music)
(water splashes)
(people cheering)
From nose to tail, from the fishermen
to being grilled just on the beach, just the freshest fish.
We all talk about it and you hear about it,
but, you know, it's rare
that you get a whole full five day menu
of that kind of incredibly high quality ingredients
that are just, you're just eating the landscape
as you go in the land.
(gentle music)
- It's the basic-ness of how we do things
that I think contributes to this life changing comments
that we are getting.
Like who would even thought
that nowadays we survive without television.
We survive without microwave.
And when they go home they're like,
why do I even have this?
- This is the raw experience that everyone is looking for.
Unmediated, unplanned.
Not fake for anyone to experience
but it's just our, the raw culture.
What we offer the island way,
where we sleep, what we eat,
what we do in our daily lives,
this is what the travelers are wanting, you know?
We invite you to see and experience our community.
We invite you to taste our food.
We invite you to really take part of what this culture is,
the islander culture.
(kids chattering) (gentle music)
For us, we paved the way for responsible tourism.
We make sure that each villages,
each family that we go to
or it's, you know, benefits from it.
Less of development and more into making sure
that we spread the whole economy of tourism
to the people that lives in this region.
(gentle music)