House

[KC 71]

I have noticed some really big houses being built lately

I know they are cheap by western standards but it does make me wonder where the money comes from !

Am i wrong to stereotype or is it from yabba ?

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[DonaldBattles]

The population in Chiang Rai is more than doubling every 5 years. Young educated Thais are moving here and starting up small businesses for a better quality of life. Drug laundering continues at about the same fate in the last 20 years but this is super big money. They use it to buy land and then backfill it. The large amount of new roads under construction along with the new SEZ in Chiang Khong will cause the population to increase. I have noticed a lot of people switching to growing pineapples and strawberries which are not controlled by the government mafia. The new 6 lane motor way from Chiang Khong connecting to the new roads in Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai and Bangkok will bring a lot of Chinese tourist. The current big time construction of the ring roads should be finished in 2=3 years. The motor way to Chiangmai and the railroad from Chiang Khong will take longer.

[villagefarang]

I am not sure if it is possible to stereotype the entire region. At lot depends on location and the ethnic makeup of those living there. For example, most of the big houses where I live have been funded by foreigners, asian and western, as well as a few Bangkok Thais. Other areas might attract other asian nationals, Chinese, Korean or Malaysian. Corruption and drugs no doubt play a role but I doubt anyone knows how much. It seems like we have more affluent people looking for an escape from Bangkok or business opportunities here in Chiang Rai and as the population grows, so will the number of larger houses but it will always be a relatively small percentage of the overall housing market.

[villagefarang]

My guess would be that drug money flows toward short-term bling in the form of cars, jewelry, gambling and girls. Building a house is something which takes longterm planning and attention to detail which is usually lacking in people looking for short-term profit.

[sceadugenga]

I suspect that the drug industry has been around the Golden Triangle long enough for participants to build any number of houses over several generations.

We're not talking street corner dealers here.

[Adventurer1]

The population in Chiang Rai is more than doubling every 5 years. Young educated Thais are moving here and starting up small businesses for a better quality of life. Drug laundering continues at about the same fate in the last 20 years but this is super big money. They use it to buy land and then backfill it. The large amount of new roads under construction along with the new SEZ in Chiang Khong will cause the population to increase. I have noticed a lot of people switching to growing pineapples and strawberries which are not controlled by the government mafia. The new 6 lane motor way from Chiang Khong connecting to the new roads in Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai and Bangkok will bring a lot of Chinese tourist. The current big time construction of the ring roads should be finished in 2=3 years. The motor way to Chiangmai and the railroad from Chiang Khong will take longer.