Project CINLOC

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.

Villa Nangka - Best Place To Stay on Gili Air
pool villa nangka gili air

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. 

Earthquake Gili Islands - August 2018
Villa Nangka destroyed by 7.0 earthquake in Lombok

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.

Building a new boutique hotel on a tropical island
Demolishing Villa Nangka

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.

Building a new boutique hotel on Gili Air
Best team ever!

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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How to set up a small boutique hotel on a tropical island

# DAY 120 OF PROJECT CINLOC

Ask me to define my love for you and I'll say its captured in every beautiful memory of our past, detailed out in the vivid visions of our dreams and future plans, but most of all it's right now, in the moment where everything I've ever wanted in my life ...
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Indonesian birthday tradition

# DAY 118 OF PROJECT CINLOC

Today our lovely Jack is turning 25! Of course we had to celebrate this special event with some traditional birthday love and a birthday cake. When it’s your birthday in Indonesia the change is pretty big that your friends or your family will smash a raw egg on your head ...
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Our mission to protect the ocean

# DAY 110 OF PROJECT CINLOC

I just finished reading the technical report of the Gili Shark Conservation Project and I’m so incredible proud of the things we’ve archived in 2018. We spent on average 2 hours day underwater every day and collected an extensive volume of underwater data. 〰️ We dropped and viewed closed to ...
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Day 107 of building a new boutique hotel on Gili Air

DAY 107 OF PROJECT CINLOC

These days we are counting two things: the days of project CINLOC and the weeks of my pregnancy. If it would be a competition project CINLOC would be definitely on the winning hand. But the funny things is that both ‘projects’ have the same due date: 1 August 2019. So ...
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Two girls and a kangaroo on Magnetic Island

# DAY 100 OF PROJECT CINLOC

I can’t believe today is day 100 of project CINLOC! So far it’s been a pretty crazy ride and we didn’t even start building yet. Turns out that designing a new boutique hotel takes a lot more time than we imagined. Bu as we (hopefully) get this opportunity only once ...
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My first ultra sound in Indonesia

# DAY 81 OF PROJECT CINLOC

There it is. A heartbeat! A very strong heartbeat that sounds a bit like a techno song. With tears in my eyes I look at the screen. I never knew I could love someone who I’ve never met, so much. My heart is overflowing with gratitude and I squeeze myself ...
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Stunning sunset in Indonesia

# DAY 76 OF PROJECT CINLOC

I’ve got something really exciting to share with you: Wendy (a super cool Dutch Magazine) asked me if I would be interested to share our Project CINLOC adventures with their readers and…. of course I said yes! When I started writing daily updates after the earthquake I could have never ...
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A Very Good Reason To Visit Wonderful Gili Air

# DAY 70 OF PROJECT CINLOC

My skin is tanned and my smile is bright. But my chest is heavy and it feels like a whale is sitting on top of my heart. Even in the sunshine my mind is sometimes still full of thunder. They say silent people tend to have the loudest minds. This ...
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Soil test Gili Islands - Indonesia

# DAY 65 OF PROJECT CINLOC

I learned another thing today; before you start building a house you need to hire a special company. This special company will send over some nice guys with some very special equipment to dig a very expensive hole.They will take a few samples, hang around a bit, have a coffee ...
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Girl on a swing on a tropical island

DAY 62 OF PROJECT CINLOC

Tomorrow it’s the first of December. The last month of the year is waiting around the corner. And I’m more than ready! You see, this year has been nothing than easy for me. This year has been anything but a walk in the park. It’s been challenging. There’s been obstacle ...
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