Guys

What is one 'Rai' - I assume it's a land measurement, so what does it equate to in Square metres or acres - for you imperials.

I'm quite interested in purchasing some land in Sukhothai for myself and Thai Wife - with a vision of biulding a house on it. I assume this is cheaper than buying an existing house.

Cheers

Here you are AndyD

Area

1 sq wah = 4 sq meters

1 ngan (100 sq wah)= 400 sq meters

1 rai (4 ngan) =1600 sq meters

Weights

1 baht = 4 saleung

1 baht (gold) = 15 g

1 tamleung (4 baht) = 60 g

1 chang (20 tamleung) = 1.2 kg

1 harb (50 chang) = 60 kg

1 karat (diamond) = 20 centigram

Linear Measure

1 niu = 0.619 inch (English)

1 niu = 4 krabiad

1 keub (12 niu) = 9.54 inch or 25 cm

1 sawk (2 keub) = 50 cm

1 wah (4 sawk) = 2 m

1 sen (20 wah) = 40 m

1 yoht (400 sen) = 16km

Volumetric Measure

1 kwian (2 bun) = 2000 litre

1 bun (50 tung) = 1000 litre

1 tung = 20 litre

1 tananluang = 1 litre

1 yok (wood) = 17.78 sq ft

1 Rai is about .4 Acre. As for buying land and then building or buying land with a house it is a toss up. The advantages of building are you get what you want in a house, more or less. The abvantage of buying land and house is you don't have to worry about dealing with a contractor/builder, shoddy workmanship or some friend saying he will look after everything for you but pocketing 50,000Bt for the trouble. Ohhhh check the title very carefully to ensure it is transferable and unless you form a company the land will have to be in your wife's name.

Later

I have a related question about some property that I found on a bank web site. Under the column called "Size" it says 0-0-90.4. Another property lists the size as 0-2-78 Can anyone tell me what these mean?

Thanks,

mandl

Hi Mandl

The way land is listed is [# of rai-# of ngan-# of sq. wah]

the first property is 0-0-90.4 or 0 rai - 0 Ngan-90.4 sq wah or about 360 sq meters.

The second property is 0-2-78 or 0 rai- 2 ngan -78 sq wah as 1 ngan = 100 sq wah, hence 278 sq wah is the size of the second property, just over 1000 sq meters.

hope this cleared it up.

CMguy,

Thank you. That makes sense. I thought it must be something like that but I wasn't sure which land measurements were used and in what order.

mandl