What is Project CINLOC?
My Sunshine and I literally met under the big Nangka (jackfruit) tree which is standing in the middle of Villa Nangka. One year after we met we had the opportunity to buy this amazing place and we started our big adventure.
Our dream was to create a unique place on a tropical island. A place where every room is unique and designed with love. The beds of our villas were made out of recycled boat wood, in the bathrooms, you would find handmade ceramic tiles, each room had unique pieces of art on the wall and of course, we made sure you’re sheets & towels felt like small pieces of heaven.
In Less Than A Minute Everything Changed…
On the 5th of August 2018, a 7.0 earthquake hit Lombok and the Gili islands. There are no words to describe this experience. We lost our house, our business, our dream. Everything we worked so incredibly hard for, got destroyed in less than a minute.
What happened was a tragic anomaly but we were determined to rebuild our little paradise and come back better and stronger than ever. With the help of our friends, family, and complete strangers we raised enough money to keep providing a salary for our boys during the time we were closed.
Saying Goodbye To The Old Villa Nangka
It was not easy to say goodbye to the Villa Nangka as we knew it. The villa’s and her belongings tell the story of who we are, where we’ve been, and the guests we hosted. To see how our workers took down our buildings broke our hearts. But we had to keep on going, one day at a time and one foot in front of the other.
And one day we woke up and could really feel it; it was time to leave behind what we knew and believe something even better will be waiting for us. Because with every ending, something new comes along. And with every great ending, comes an even greater beginning.
Rebuilding Our Dream
A few weeks after the earthquake we had a meeting with an architect from Jakarta to discuss the future of Villa Nangka. At one point she asked me: “Where did you two meet each other?” I pointed out the big Nangka tree in the middle of our property and said with a smile on my face: “We met right here.” She started laughing and said: “CINLOC!” I looked at her confused as I never heard of this word before. She started to explain it:
“The word ‘Cinta’ means love in Bahasa Indonesia and the word ‘Locasi’ means location. When you put these two words together you get ‘Cinloc’ which literally means ‘love on location’.”
We looked at each other and immediately agreed that this is the perfect project name for (re)building our little boutique hotel on Gili Air.
We Are Back In Business!
We re-opened the doors of our little paradise on the 1st of August 2019. Curious how it’s like to build a boutique hotel on a tropical island? Below you find an overview of our incredible journey.
Would you like to know more about our little hidden paradise? Reach out to us and we’ll respond to you as soon as we can.
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# DAY 5 AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
