“A meeting with a Swedish family on their terrace at their newly built house in Thailand - a meeting that makes the purpose of life become clearer”.

The picture of buyers of houses abroad gets a full of life dimension this August day, in their garden at Palmtree Residence in Bangsaen on the east coast of Thailand.

“”We like to take care of the family in the best possible way, is it strange?” Jennie and Kent recount the safeguard for themselves and their children; Tim (6), Sandra (8) and Robin (10).

The whole family feels at home in their house with a Thai touch, the Praisawan house next to the big swimming pool at the Palmtree Residence.

At first site they look like an ordinary Stockholm family. The father is an elevator rigger and mother is a nurse. Their family home in Sweden is in Orby and they take yearly holidays like everybody else.

An investment with the possibility to hire out.

“That our generation likes to travel best as possible is quite ordinary” says, Kent, who has been and seen many places around the world.

“But the last ten years it has been Thailand every winter for the family”, says Jennie

“As Kent and I did agree that we would continue to travel despite that we have got children, and we love to return to Thailand after having children”.

It’s easy to travel here with or without a pram. Thai people love all children and are always helpful.

We were in fact so overwhelmed of the simplicity and joy of traveling with our children here, so the decision was easy to choose Thailand for this investment . Besides, we have the possibility to hire out during the time when we are not using our Thai home.

Idealistic location on the eastern seaboard

Over the years on their adventures they have seen great parts of Thailand.

When they started to think about their own house, it was clear that the Eastern seaboard would be perfect.

The choice between Mae Phim and Bangsaen needed some more thinking and discussions within the family.

Kent and Jennie thought that both locations had many common advantages:

The climate in the region is the best in the country and during this stay they have been here in the rainy season, but the weather has been over our expectations and the rain has not bothered us at all.

No charter tourists make it genuine Thai and that’s what we want for our family.

The price range is one of the best we have experienced in Thailand, and we get the same low prices as the local Thais without having to barging! 

Also because so many younger couples and family’s with children had bought property in Thailand came as a happy surprise.

We already have many family’s that see and visit each other in our residence and neighboring Tropical Residence.

Close to Bangkok

One of the things that settled Bangsaen advantages is how close it is to Bangkok.

The whole family likes to visit this fascinating giant city.

They have seen and done a lot there “and still there's a lot left to experience in Bangkok”. says Jennie “the whole family likes the world’s greatest shopping city”.

Because there are many things to suit all in the families needs in a different way than there is in Sweden.

But sometimes the children think we visit too many department stores. Then we explain that where we went and what we did before was what they liked and now we do what mum and dad likes.

The children think it's ok, they have already learned that life is both about giving and taking.

The children have developed a lot from traveling in Thailand. They are very social when they interact with other families and in contact with the local Thais.

They speak English and order food and drink without any problems at restaurants.

8 weeks sunshine, bath and foot

Their stay in Thailand is ending now after 8 weeks and the children are playing enthusiastically in the garden with some breaks for a swim in the nearby swimming pool.

During these two months they have been away from computer games, without missing it. “In this environment the children play with each other, parents and friends that we have made in the residence and Bangsaen”, tells Jennine.

Eight years Sandra has exchanged Swedish words with Thai with the staff at Logans Restaurant Garbo in Tropical Residence.

The whole family often eats Thai food. Tim and Robin like squid and other seafood that is caught of local shores.

But when we feel like Scandinavian food then we will go to Garbo Restaurant which is one of our favourite restaurants and Sandra now knows how to count in Thai as well as and other useful phrases that can come in useful at other restaurants or shopping in Thailand.

As the food is so cheap at the restaurant, it’s seldom that they make meals at home except for breakfast.

“The supermarket in Bangsaen has all that we need in the way of food for our daily needs and the big Lotus shopping center has an enormous choice of things that you need for household use and a bit more”, says Jeannie and Kent.

Sometimes they bake cinnamon buns and on special occasions the children like to have chocolate brownies.

Take the day as it comes

“The best thing is that we don’t need to plan our days in advance” says Kent, “sometimes we decide in the morning to rent a car with a driver for half or a whole day. The two zoos’ are nice to go for a trip. There are a lot of things to do in Bangsaen, like taking a visit to mountain Khao Samuk with its wild monkeys. This makes the children delighted, so we have visited them three times already! Next time we will make time for bowling and to watch a movie at the cinema too!”

Soon its time to go back to Sweden.” The children have not been homesick one single, time Jennie finish proud “. And Kent tells us that one of the important reasons that the family did take this step is: You only live once !

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