The ubiquitous Thai ‘pool villa’. What is there to like?

[Antonymous]

 

I’ll stick my neck out and say that the typical Thai ‘pool villa’ is soulless and vastly overpriced.

 

I’ve lived in six uniquely designed houses in Thailand, none of them in housing estates (though one had a pool).

 

We took a holiday in Hua Hin recently and rented a pool villa for a month, which was also being offered for sale at over 10 million baht. It was in a relatively upmarket estate where there were 60 other identical houses and as far as I could tell, most were occupied by foreigners married to Thais. Before the month was up we felt depressed staying in the place (not with Hua Hin, but with the house) and couldn’t wait to get back to our own home in the country.

 

The bungalow was a typical L-shape with a big open plan lounge/dining/kitchen/office/entertainment warehouse style space and three square shaped featureless bedrooms. Cheap white porcelain adorned all the floors, walls painted white, plastic and MDF internal doors, aluminium windows and sliding doors.

 

Outside a couple of treacherous paces (due to cheap slippery porcelain tiling) beyond the sliding doors you fall into ‘the pool’ which is wedged into the limited available space between house and boundary wall. Then there’s a car port, a building to house the pool pump and just enough grass to swing a cat. All of this overlooked by neighbours on all sides and passers-by along the road.

 

Pool villas, most smaller than this one, are ubiquitous in places like Hua Hin and Pattaya. You see them advertised everywhere in English language and often on ThaiVisa at prices that defy credibility. They must be a developer and builder’s dream: small plots, simple and cheap to construct.

 

A man’s house is his castle. But who but a bagged goldfish would call these pool villas paradise?

 

Here's the thing: for less than the price of a typical pool villa set tight within a housing estate, you could build or purchase a much larger, architect designed (read: culturally sympathetic with interesting use of space and features that give the building warmth and character) house with a big garden and a beautiful view. You could even have a pool if you wanted.

 

So, cookie-cutter ‘pool villa’ dwellers and dreamers, what is it that you like so much about living in them?

[RichardColeman]

..................or simply have a bath