We spent my first weekend in Thailand at Mike and Lek’s river house. It’s about 40 miles NW of Bangkok and lies on Thailand’s third largest river, Nakhon Chaisri.
The buildings sit on 20 acres. The main house is a work of art both inside and out. The attention to detail is just as I would have expected. The main floor is a greatroom which serves as the living area and dining room, with two-story ceilings everywhere except one corner, where the guest bedroom is situated half a story up. There is a kitchen tucked away around a corner where the cooking staff prepared meal after meal of the best thai food I’ve had.
My bedroom overlooks the outdoor pool. Most of the floors are 150-year-old very wide teak planks from China, with various tiles covering the rest. The entire house is windows, and you’re either looking out over the river or at the pool and yard.
The yard is beautifully landscaped, and currently serves as the main training area for the dogs. There is an air conditioned kennel about 200 yards from the house. Just beyond that is Mike’s aviary where there are about 17 rare and exotic birds, all in pairs and all talking. The aviary surrounds the gymnasium, where Mike also keeps his ham radio equipment and bikes. Just past the gymnasium is Mike’s observatory, an elevated dome above a warm room. The dome houses a 20″ RC scope. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to use the scope, as the sky is muddy from humidity this time of year. There is also a TMB 180mm refractor on a portable pier. Maybe next time!
Lek’s father lives in the original house on the property, across the service road. And her brother has a home which is currently being renovated. If you drive around the gym, you will wrap around to the backside of the kennels where two large fields are being prepared to take over the training. Alongside the fields, heading toward the river, is a long straight concrete driveway that doubles as an air strip for Mike’s r/c planes.
At the end of the runway there is construction going on, expected to be completed in 3 months. One building will be a 3-bedroom guest home, complete with common family room. Each bedroom has a large picture window overlooking the river. Next to this building is the new community center, where large parties will be held. It has its own kitchen and will have a wrap around deck. It’s L-shaped, and the L will be Lek’s spa, with massage, steam and other amenities. The new construction is separated from the main house by a narrow channel canal, but a small bridge will be in place soon so it won’t be necessary to drive all the way around the kennel to get to the new buildings.
Mike and Lek’s hospitality is no different here than in Bangkok — superb. They don’t dote on me, and allow me my own schedule.
Every meal is a wide range of thai dishes. The thai food here is nothing like at home — it’s very fresh and very spicy. There are always pork, shrimp, chicken and beef dishes, with soups and other side dishes. Last night I had squid, prawn (a little strange served with eyes still on board), beef, pork, soup — I’m not going hungry here! It’s good there’s a gym or I’d have trouble fitting in my jeans.
The main house with guest house to the right
The waterfront side of the house from the boat. The structure to the right is a patio/pavilion
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Feb 06 2009
