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id everyone have a good Idul Fitri? Eat too much? Regain whatever pounds you'€™d shed during Ramadhan? Congratulations, you'€™re one of many.

Many of us also took the time to travel. I spent my Idul Fitri with my family across town, hitting the road with Dad after the seemingly endless family reunions were finally over. In a few days we were lucky to explore Garut and Tasikmalaya, growing cities just a couple of hours from West Java'€™s capital Bandung, half a day from Jakarta.

A road trip is always fun when the stops bring out something different from your humdrum life. Dad had mentioned a small village in Tasikmalaya that shuns electricity and modern amenities, so after staying overnight in Garut'€™s most famed lake village Sampireun, and eating goat stew for breakfast (don'€™t ask), we headed further on the Nagrek passage. I'€™m glad we made that trip.

Kampung Naga is actually not too far from civilization. It is nestled in a valley along a busy intra-city passage, unlike the Baduy, where you'€™d have to trek much further inland.

The only challenge to reach it is the 400-plus steps down to the valley sans handrail.

When you finally reach the bottom, as most visitors do, you'€™ll see a small dam on your right, the last modern fixture before entering the village. A fixture that, as the village leader rather begrudgingly remarked, was imposed on them by the government to help irrigating farms.

Yes, Kampung Naga villagers are happy to use their own hands, plus a little help from buffalos, in plowing, seeding and harvesting their rice fields twice a year. Nor do they use modern tools employed in fishing or raising livestock.

The only source of energy in the entire village, comprised of 113 stilt wooden houses and huts, is a kerosene-fueled lantern, while cooking is done over a stone burner lit by chopped wood.

Judging from the hearty lunch served to us that day, upon which I feasted shamelessly, the organic farming and fishing methods are doing wonders. My third helping was solely to savor their mouthwatering nasi liwet (rice seasoned with lemongrass, turmeric, ginger and Indonesian bay leaves) with tasty fish crackers. Thank God I ate three platefuls since the 439, or was it 453, steps all the way to the top awaited us afterward.

Panting breathlessly, we managed to stop by a small kiosk on the top to purchase Kampung Naga'€™s organic rice. I read the label and that'€™s when it struck me.

For all the shunning of modern technology and resources, the villagers aren'€™t exactly behind in modern thinking.

The rice bags are packed adequately and labeled with sufficient information including the farmers'€™ contacts for placing orders, though the village leaders gently reminded me that as farming was done organically they might not be able to handle large standing orders.

Kampung Naga is already a step ahead of similar villages I'€™ve visited. Not only is their heritage living self-sufficient, their products happen to match the growing modern market for organic-based lifestyles. Besides us there was a bus full of foreign tourists that day trekking up and down the village, and they appeared charmed by the organic farming, animal husbandry and sugar-making.

It'€™s very different than, let'€™s say, Desa Sade in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, which I revisited earlier this year. There doesn'€™t seem to be any sustainable economic
activity stemming organically from their traditional lifestyle, which was probably why, especially when compared to my first visit in 2004.

Originality was almost gone and progress was hardly noticeable as the village was littered with plastic trash, animal droppings, teen moms and stalls peddling general Lombok souvenirs not exactly native to the village.

Desa Sade now looks like some gaunt, old doll covered in kitschy tribal getups preserved just so tourists would still swing by, while Kampung Naga retains its self-sufficient lifestyle for natives that, as a result, draws outsiders.

Were there not souvenir stalls in Kampung Naga? Sure, I saw two. But they sell self-resourced knickknacks without telltale touristy traps, something they do on the side to appease a visitor or two. I bought a cute miniature stilt house for Rp 50,000 (US$3.71) near some kids crafting kites with their moms yelling them not to fly the kites later on newly-seeded fields.

I'€™m no social scientist, but I suspect it may have something to do with education. Kampung Naga has no schools but kids are free to pursue education outside the village, which, by the way, could make them potential athletes, what with trekking up and down those steps every day.

A lady manning a kiosk upstairs even mentioned that a grown-up Kampung Naga boy works overseas. Desa Sade, by contrast, forbids girls from pursuing education outside, while the village only has an elementary school.

Again and again, at the end of the day, what primarily matters is how one can provide for oneself and one'€™s family. And what can pivotally change how one provides for the better, as I keep discovering, is education.

Not everyone has to be an urbanite. One can choose to live traditionally, provincially or even reclusively. But what one cannot afford to do is shun education. You walk away from education, you get marginalized from civilization. Perpetually lost is an entire generation. The different tales of Kampung Naga and Desa Sade may just be another form of glaring proof.