One has to wonder what drives someone to have the desire to settle in the middle of a rice field under Thailand’s scorching sun, in the country’s poorest rural region. No matter how stunning your home, your neighbor is still eating grasshoppers, field rats, and leading a simple, traditional life, surrounded by a tight-knit community with limited formal education, more focused on local customs, superstitions and casual chatter than deep conversation. You’re isolated from familiar comforts and like-minded perspectives, likely far from a hospital in a medical emergency, and the highlight of your week is piling into the pickup for a Makro run to stock up on more supplies.