Rice field Mansion Building - Does it make you uncomfortable

[EVENKEEL]

To say you live in Isaan can mean several things. You can live in a higher end housing development. But for the foreigners who follow the little lady to the rice fields and build a mega home, do you feel uncomfortable living next to the poor rice farmers? Your trip to Makro probably exceeds your neighbors monthly income. You have a new pickup, top of the line furnishings, maybe a pool. All the while watching the old ladies digging for land crabs for their next meal. Guys cutting grass for a few skinny cows kept next to their shack during rice season. 

 

Oh and lets not forget living with her extended family and possibly in your house. Oh, I mean her house. 

 

 

[impulse]

Am I allowed a good security system with lots of cameras?

 

 

[carlyai]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

To say you live in Isaan can mean several things. You can live in a higher end housing development. But for the foreigners who follow the little lady to the rice fields and build a mega home, do you feel uncomfortable living next to the poor rice farmers? Your trip to Makro probably exceeds your neighbors monthly income. You have a new pickup, top of the line furnishings, maybe a pool. All the while watching the old ladies digging for land crabs for their next meal. Guys cutting grass for a few skinny cows kept next to their shack during rice season. 

 

Oh and lets not forget living with her extended family and possibly in your house. Oh, I mean her house. 

 

 

Yeah it's great. 🙂

[KhunBENQ]

When I first visited the village in 1995 I was shocked and moved about the poor circumstances.

But much has changed incl me.

Our house from 1997 is now far from the biggest/fanciest around (no pool or extravaganza though).

Thailand is one of the countries with the most extreme difference in wealth.

And you can see that in the village too. Some live behind card box walls, others in big villas.

Thai people accept their fate. 

 

My wife is paranoid about security. Traumatized by a violent robbery in Phuket(!) in her younger years.

So all windows with massive grilles. Proper locks at massive doors.

Our dogs are not the big ones but good for alarm.

I don't feel uncomfortable but I also keep a low profile. Different from Thais who love to show/pretend to be wealthy.

 

So many foreigners having nice villas in upcountry.

Little to be concerned about.

Much more problems in Pattaya (Eastside) for example.

[KhunBENQ]

55 minutes ago, impulse said:

Am I allowed a good security system with lots of cameras?

 

 

Sure. Even village shops have it to protect from theft.

 

But don't spoil your plot with high concrete walls, barb wire,  broken glass etc.

Have one room that is particularly well locked, grilles on the window and a small safe.

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

Oh and lets not forget living with her extended family and possibly in your house. Oh, I mean her house. 

Good point!

Those are the ones that might"rob" you 😁

What is the status of your wife within the family?

Parents still live?

Older brothers?

Older sisters?

[impulse]

13 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

But don't spoil your plot with high concrete walls, barb wire,  broken glass etc.

Have one room that is particularly well locked, grilles on the window and a small safe.

 

Valid points, but mine was more of a tongue in cheek comment. 

 

One of the things I like about Thailand is that I can walk down dodgy looking areas that would scare the poop out of me back home, and my biggest fear is an errant feral dog.  

 

But I would be nervous about having the mansion on the hill.  Not that security cameras would deter a resolute thief, gang, or rapist.  They're more for catching them later.

 

[blaze master]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

All the while watching the old ladies digging for land crabs for their next meal.

 

Who is old enough to be your wife's mother.

[hotsun]

That would be uncomfortable to me, if i were living well but the people around me were struggling

[MartinL]

Twenty or so years ago, my friend built a huge house in a tiny village in KK province. Pool, a small house for his wife's mother, large grounds, the works. It now lies apparently abandoned after he, his wife and son moved to UK for the lad's education. They are very unlikely to come back to Thailand as a complete family. It seems he's too sick for that now, too skint (even before he left, he had trouble meeting financials for an extension of stay) and the family seem very happy in the new home. In that location, it seems totally unsaleable except very cheaply as a demolition project and a return to the rice paddy that surrounds it. The house was always FAR too big for the 3 of them - I think it was a vanity project in the days when he had plenty of money, built without serious thought to what they really needed.

 

I agree with hotsun's comment - I'd feel really uncomfortable in that situation

 

 

[FriscoKid]

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.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, MartinL said:

Twenty or so years ago, my friend built a huge house in a tiny village in KK province. Pool, a small house for his wife's mother, large grounds, the works. It now lies apparently abandoned after he, his wife and son moved to UK for the lad's education. They are very unlikely to come back to Thailand as a complete family. It seems he's too sick for that now, too skint (even before he left, he had trouble meeting financials for an extension of stay) and the family seem very happy in the new home. In that location, it seems totally unsaleable except very cheaply as a demolition project and a return to the rice paddy that surrounds it. The house was always FAR too big for the 3 of them - I think it was a vanity project in the days when he had plenty of money, built without serious thought to what they really needed.

 

I agree with hotsun's comment - I'd feel really uncomfortable in that situation

 

Not that I'm in the market for a mansion in the boondocks, but could he rent it out, even for a pittance?  Or has entropy taken too stiff a toll?

 

I'd rather rent a place out for next to nothing than let it sit empty and decay.  And I'm sure there are Thai people who would facilitate that for a commission.  Or some expats in the area...

 

 

[EVENKEEL]

22 hours ago, impulse said:

Am I allowed a good security system with lots of cameras?

 

 

Yeah sure, why not.

[EVENKEEL]

21 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Good point!

Those are the ones that might"rob" you 😁

What is the status of your wife within the family?

Parents still live?

Older brothers?

Older sisters?

Crime or fear of crime was not my meaning here at all. Although when I was living in the middle of no where I always had a vehicle in my name in case of my lady goes nuts. 

[scorecard]

On 3/8/2025 at 9:11 AM, KhunBENQ said:

Good point!

Those are the ones that might"rob" you 😁

What is the status of your wife within the family?

Parents still live?

Older brothers?

Older sisters?

 

Important point.

 

My Thai son's wife has an older brother and an older sister. Both her brother and sister make regular demands for: money, vehicles, land, houses and more. 

 

Son's wife is very frightened of her scaly loud abusive older brother , both have completed 3 years of primary school and nothing more and they are ignorant of any government procedures, regulations etc.

 

I don't blame son's wife of being afraid of them. 

 

A few weeks back DIL's r elder brother and sister (together) demanded she hand over her husband's (my Thai son's): bankbooks*, chanut for the land recorded in sons' name, blue books for his 3 vehicles (car, pick up, mcy).

 

She refused and quickly fled out of the house and called her husband to report what had just happened.

 

(*and they indicated they would go to the loc bank(s) and get blank withdrawal forms and they would be expecting son's wife to trick her husband into signing the withdrawal forms. 

This was an 'updated move', they had previously taken blank withdrawal forms from K Bank , then they went to another bank with the K Bank withdrawal  form which they had signed themselves and demanded the second bank hand over the cash amount written on the withdrawal form. Bank cashier refused and was threaten with violence. police called, Big brother and sister taken to local police station.  

 

 

[newbee2022]

On 3/8/2025 at 7:43 AM, EVENKEEL said:

To say you live in Isaan can mean several things. You can live in a higher end housing development. But for the foreigners who follow the little lady to the rice fields and build a mega home, do you feel uncomfortable living next to the poor rice farmers? Your trip to Makro probably exceeds your neighbors monthly income. You have a new pickup, top of the line furnishings, maybe a pool. All the while watching the old ladies digging for land crabs for their next meal. Guys cutting grass for a few skinny cows kept next to their shack during rice season. 

 

Oh and lets not forget living with her extended family and possibly in your house. Oh, I mean her house. 

 

 

Not only that. In addition you have to enjoy pesticides and fertilizer around you being sprayed to the rice fields.

[CM Dad]

I am so happy that my entire extended Thai family treats me with love and respect.  Perhaps it's because I treat them the same way.

[arick]

It's great they go past my house everyday and tell me my house is so beautiful but ties now have massive houses in isaan so stop blowing your own trumpet.

[erectem]

On 3/8/2025 at 8:59 AM, KhunBENQ said:

When I first visited the village in 1995 I was shocked and moved about the poor circumstances.

But much has changed incl me.

Our house from 1997 is now far from the biggest/fanciest around (no pool or extravaganza though).

Thailand is one of the countries with the most extreme difference in wealth.

And you can see that in the village too. Some live behind card box walls, others in big villas.

Thai people accept their fate. 

 

My wife is paranoid about security. Traumatized by a violent robbery in Phuket(!) in her younger years.

So all windows with massive grilles. Proper locks at massive doors.

Our dogs are not the big ones but good for alarm.

I don't feel uncomfortable but I also keep a low profile. Different from Thais who love to show/pretend to be wealthy.

 

So many foreigners having nice villas in upcountry.

Little to be concerned about.

Much more problems in Pattaya (Eastside) for example.

For more disparity in wealth distribution one only need go to Cambodia or Laos. I observed in Laos (2 mos. ago)  not mega mansions but mini Palazio and medium sized Palaces in the middle of farm fields.  Seem to be sprout up near a huge road project and around the time and route of the new Fast train.  Jarring, really.

 

[erectem]

2 minutes ago, erectem said:

For more disparity in wealth distribution one only need go to Cambodia or Laos. I observed in Laos (2 mos. ago)  not mega mansions but mini Palazio and medium sized Palaces in the middle of farm fields.  They seem to  sprout up near a huge road project and around the time and route of the new Fast train.  Jarring, really.

 

 

[IsaanT]

Firstly, Thais respect wealth, although it might be culturally insensitive to build a 'mansion' in a village.  They have no problem with someone being comfortable, so why should it be a problem for me?

Secondly, it might be insensitive to directly flaunt wealth with lots of shiny new things.  There are more subtle - and sensitive - ways to enjoy life.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I'd rather live in a community of genuine Thais who look out for each other and always rally round to help each other, as we do them; as a result, crime is non-existent here.  I expect these characteristics are not so prevalent in some of the coastal cities.

[geisha]

4 hours ago, arick said:

It's great they go past my house everyday and tell me my house is so beautiful but ties now have massive houses in isaan so stop blowing your own trumpet.

About 30 to 40 years ago I was always surprised seeing massive flashy  houses built a few meters back from the main road on the way to Phuket Airport. I mean, who the hell builds those mansions off a main road with all the noise and dust it brings. I didn’t understand in those days that you had to show off your money in Thailand and not hide it away as we in the west usually do. Anyone living on Phuket in those days  would have wondered as I did. 

[The Old Bull]

A somewhat outdated post. Nearly all the mansions in the rice fields are owned by Thais especially in the last few years. A couple of krauts showed up in the village and built mansions five years ago but Thais from the city are constantly building two of three every year.

[EVENKEEL]

43 minutes ago, The Old Bull said:

A somewhat outdated post. Nearly all the mansions in the rice fields are owned by Thais especially in the last few years. A couple of krauts showed up in the village and built mansions five years ago but Thais from the city are constantly building two of three every year.

I agree with the rich Thais but doesn't make my post outdated. 

 

As a foreigner IMO you have 2 choices. You can be an uncaring ahole and not share anything or you'll end up feeding all the friends at mealtime. Problem is foreigners are led to the rice fields dreaming of a grand retirement. Before too long reality sets in and by then it's too late for many. It's not to say the locals are bad people, quite the opposite. 

[8OA8]

This article reminded me of visiting rural areas in Ireland almost 40 years ago.

Middle of nowhere up on a hillside stood villas that wouldn't look out of place in Puerto Banus or Sotogrande in Spain, and their roadside entrances were built like the ones we saw on tv when watching Dallas at the entrance to Ewing's Southfork Ranch.

 

I asked  ChatGPT

In the 1980s, the people building fancy villas in rural Ireland on remote farmland were often:

1. Returning Emigrants – Many Irish people who had emigrated to the UK, US, or Australia in the 1950s–70s returned home with money saved, wanting to build large, modern homes.

2. Successful Businesspeople & Farmers – Some local farmers or business owners, particularly those involved in construction, transport, or cattle trading, invested in big houses as a status symbol.

3. Developers & Speculators – A few wealthy individuals built large homes as part of early rural property speculation, though this was more common in the 1990s.

4. New Professionals – The 1980s saw some doctors, solicitors, and other professionals choosing scenic rural locations for large homes, though this became more common in the Celtic Tiger era (1990s–2000s).

At the time, these houses often stood out as extravagant compared to traditional Irish cottages and farmhouses. Some were built with styles inspired by homes seen abroad, featuring large bay windows, brick or stucco exteriors, and extensive driveways.

 

[Ralf001]

On 3/8/2025 at 7:43 AM, EVENKEEL said:

To say you live in Isaan can mean several things. You can live in a higher end housing development. But for the foreigners who follow the little lady to the rice fields and build a mega home, do you feel uncomfortable living next to the poor rice farmers? Your trip to Makro probably exceeds your neighbors monthly income. You have a new pickup, top of the line furnishings, maybe a pool. All the while watching the old ladies digging for land crabs for their next meal. Guys cutting grass for a few skinny cows kept next to their shack during rice season. 

 

Oh and lets not forget living with her extended family and possibly in your house. Oh, I mean her house. 

 

 

 

McMansion sounds good to me.