Today I hit the housing lottery jackpot. After a week in Thailand, we finally got to see into someone’s house today and got to stay with our first host families.

Mine has a daughter who speaks English like a native. She is visiting from her university in Bangkok primarily because of my visit. On the way to the house, she explained to me that we were going to the house in the country as they have two houses – one near her father’s school (which he owns) and one in the country near her mom’s work (she runs a tobacco farm). When we pulled up, we did a short driving tour of the farm first and then back to the house. It belongs in architectural digest. It is the picture of classic Thai style mixed with modern flair. Everything is white or wood – white marble floors in one part, teak in the other; teak doors, teak furniture, teak trim, teak windows (with a beautiful metal design in the middle). I have my own room with a king bed and a bathroom nicer than my one at home (sorry mom). Pak, the daughter, told me they built the house just three years ago, and they normally stay in the city house. Although everyone else’s accommodations sound very nice as well (Roger has his own house as his host is a contractor building small homes near his), none are anything like this.

Early in the day, we entered our first Thai house when a Rotarian from Sawankalok invited us to lunch. He owns a construction business and is currently building an agri-tourism resort on his property. His house was quite large (I think someone counted six bedrooms … each possibly with its own bath) and an interesting study in contrasts. Some things were amazingly beautiful (like the doors carved with elephants entering the kids’ bedroom) and some not so much (like the 1970s style ceiling tiles). The most amazing part was the house within a house. It looked like a traditional style Thai house surrounded by a koi pond (complete with bridge) in the middle of their house. It was one of the many en suite bedrooms and unique.

Although today was a study in Thai opulence, I am sure I will run into some houses that are not that way (much like that last hotel).

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 4:59 am and is filed under Thai culture, architecture, housing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.