La vie est un long fleuve tranquile

Soi Dao, Chanthaburi, Thailand.

This is my foot, my hammock and my view. Three weeks of yoga, pool laps, massage and good food can make anyone a better person.

Here, once everything is finished, 21 villas of varying sizes will have been built and sold to 21 happy Swedish owners. And this isn’t the only part of Thailand that’s being flooded by us former worldwide champions of equality and diplomacy (we have become rather quiet lately, haven’t we?). What kind of exotic attractions in this tropical kingdom are luring these Swedes away from the safe haven of their third-way socialist-commercial paradise?

So far, the only answer I have found is: none. At least no exotic ones.

The more I speak to the half-exiled people here (they’re usually keeping a summer house in Sweden and some consulting assignments suitable for distance work), the more it becomes clear that there’s no real interest in Thailand at all. Thailand is attractive because it’s a friendly, cheap and functioning society with a year-round pleasant climate where farangs (especially Scandinavians) are well treated, corruption is kept at high-politics level (which means out of their eyes) and any expired visa is easily prolonged by a quick return walk across any border (here, the Cambodian).

I’ve spent some weeks here now, and – of course – I’ve also inquired about prices. It’s cheap here, a nice small new villa designed to your contentment won’t set you back more than €40.000 and help around the house costs nothing. And man, they do know how to give a good massage.

Still, when I hear it’s -17 degrees at Potsdamer Platz, I get strangely homesick. Maybe it’s because it’s so many miles to a decent espresso? Or that it would feel pointless and out of context to drink it here anyway? Hm.