Hi everyone! I will be visiting Thailand for 3 weeks to visit my parents and see the progress of my RB40 Villa project, which is my ultimate goal. I wrote a post about this project 12 years ago. The ultimate goal is a long-term project that you can work on for the rest of your life. I thought I needed to do something after I retired early from my engineering career. Life turned out to be really busy with a baby. I hadn’t made much progress on the RB40 Villa project until this year.
The original vision was to build a rustic family compound on the beach. There would be 10 small cottages where I could host friends and families. I would also rent them out to guests. There would be a large garden, a communal dining area, a barbecue area, an outdoor pizza oven, a yoga area, a pool, and other places where guests could relax and recharge. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, I don’t have 10 acres on the beach. This type of property is hard to find. I had to scale back my dream significantly.
Bang Saen
Fortunately, my family has a property in Bang Saen Beach Because my mother grew up near here. This is a coastal town in Thailand. It is the closest beach to Bangkok. Many families go there for a day trip or a weekend. However, the beach is not nice. The water is cloudy and sandy most of the year. There is some plastic trash in the water and around the beach area. However, the trash situation has improved a lot over the past 10 years. There used to be more trash everywhere. They now have a machine to pick up trash. I am sure there is a beach cleaning crew as well.
You have to head south to enjoy the beautiful beaches you see on social media. There are few foreigners on Bang Saen Beach. Most are Thai.
Here is a picture of the walkway.
Food stalls are spread out along the beach walk. They also have chairs and umbrellas for rent on the beach. I didn’t like the arrangement of the umbrellas on the beach, but I guess you need them because of the heat of the sun. Thai people tend to avoid the sun as much as possible. I think the palm trees provide really good shade. This beach area is about 1.6 miles long.
On Tuesdays, the government bans all commercial activity on the beach. Vendors had to remove everything and vacate the place. This is great. The beach gets much more beautiful every Tuesday. I also think this beach is now a national park. No smoking or drinking alcohol is allowed on the beach.
Overall, Bang Saen is not the best beach town, but it is not the worst either. The cost of living is cheaper than Bangkok and Pattaya. Seafood is cheap and plentiful. It is a local tourist town.
Delicious seafood
Every meal I have with my father feels like an eating competition. He loves to buy huge quantities of food. I think he is making up for his poor childhood. There is a small fishermen’s market near the pier in Bang Saen. Fishermen sell their fresh catch in the morning to restaurants and vendors. If you are lucky, you can buy some very fresh seafood. Often, all the seafood is already sold out. The companies keep a portion of the catch.
Grilled oysters – we gutted the oysters and ate the rest of the meat. It was delicious.
Grilled Squid – I made this squid myself! We dip fresh seafood in a hot chili sauce. They call this dish Nam Jim Seafood. It’s so delicious.
Mantis shrimp – These were delicious. The meat was tender and flavorful. But the shell was hard to remove. My dad bought 4 pounds of mantis shrimp from the dock. They cost about $5 a pound.
Street Food – There are many street side restaurants near me. My dad ordered pork satay, duck rice, roast pork rice, and wonton soup.
Ice Cream – Fresh coconut ice cream with young coconut meat. The ice cream vendor stopped by our shop and we asked him for some. It was delicious and very cheap, less than a dollar.
beach hut
This property was overgrown with vegetation and trash from 40 years of neglect. My father had to clear the land and build from scratch. He actually spent 6 months on this project. The property looked like an overgrown jungle earlier this year. You can see what it looked like behind the fence.
After clearing the land, my father applied for a permit to build a house. Then he asked to build a wooden house. Traditional Thai wooden house is built like prefabricated houses. They built the wooden part in 3 sections and transported them here. Then they assembled them on site about a month ago. We also had to pour the foundation. The soil is very sandy. A concrete foundation is suitable for a wooden house, but you will need piles if you build a larger structure.
And here is the house so far.
Originally, there was supposed to be a bathroom in the wood section. However, my dad said a wet bathroom would ruin the wood. So he’s adding a concrete section in the back. This will be the kitchen and bathroom. Unfortunately, the contractor is taking longer than expected. The bathroom isn’t ready yet. That’s why the RB40Jr and I are staying in a hotel for now. My dad has been using the temporary bathroom at a nearby construction site.
It’s a very beautiful place. There’s a breeze all day and night. The house is two blocks from the beach, about 500 meters. I think it will be a beautiful beach house when it’s finished. We can build more structures on the property later. However, the property is very small. Maybe we should start a garden soon. If we don’t plant something, the native plants will take it over again. The weeds are already chest high in some areas.
The budget for this project was $60,000. I sent the money to my dad last year. My dad has spent about half of the budget so far.
Well, that’s all we have to say about the RB40 Villa. I think I should rename it the RB40 Beach Shack. It’s too small to be considered a villa. However, I could live here quite comfortably when I grow up. The cost of living in Thailand is still very low compared to the US.
Do you have a big, long-term project?
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Passive income is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. They have several projects across the USA, so check them out!
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