Launched in 2023, Stay for Good is part of the Singapore-based Banyan Tree’s global initiative to connect its properties with local communities, tying a thread not only between the brand and its lands, but with the guests that stay as well. The experiences are short but immersive and interactive – great for both short-stay travellers as well as longer-term guests who want a taste of local culture as inspiration for what to delve deeper into during their travels.

These sustainable experiences are also available at the luxury group’s branches in Anji, Bangkok, Bintan, Krabi and Puebla.

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What better place to start than with filling the tummy? Stop one on our tour was a culinary demonstration, where we watched local purveyors make hot-off-the-stove coconut crepes for us to taste. Then we got our hands dirty (well, with gloves on) as we participated in making Thai herb rice, a fragrant concoction of grains and aromatics that got more perfumed as the ingredients were mixed together and various oils released.

All of the herbs were – you guessed it – locally sourced, and included the usual lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and roasted coconut, but also the likes of torch ginger and bitter leaf. It was a heavenly concoction; with rice like this, who needs main dishes? It tasted as good as it looks.

Our next stop was to a verdant farm, where our guide scuffled up a tree to harvest a local fruit called dokong, his knees wrapped around the trunk as he plucked the ripened fruit that dangled from branches. He placed them into our waiting hands, which were soon sticky with juice – and then, saliva, as our palms filled with leftover skins.

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We also visited a grove of rubber trees, where each trunk was lightly scored to reveal liquid white rubber spilling from the cut and following the grooves down into a bucket. The slow trickle would eventually provide a full bucket of rubber to be sold. Rubber was – and is – one of Phuket’s dominant commodities.

But the Stay for Good tour doesn’t only represent commercial aspects of the island. For our last stop, we ambled up a hill – well, some might say mountain as the terrain is steep, though not difficult to climb. Some 20 or 30 minutes later, we reached a stream that flows from the summit down over grass, rocks and land. Our guide poked at and unturned rocks until he spotted what he had been seeking: tiny red land crabs. We continued upwards and onwards till we reached the peak, with its panoramas of land and sea.

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Here, we stopped, whipping out our cameras and taking in the air, ignoring the mosquitos and heat. Indeed, we might just stay for good up here.