6 days of work if you’re up for it
There is a lot to look after for 71 years old Louis who has traveled all over the world as a merchandiser, sailor, oil spill cleanser and farmer. Nine dogs and six constantly pregnant pigs is a life style that demands Louis to get up at 6 am every morning.
“Except for Sundays. That is our day off”, he says. The weekly day of is often spent in Hua Hin on shopping for building materials and plain sight seeing.
The farm is being built from scratch, but that is nothing new to Louis who built a house for the ‘gentleman farm’ he owned in Denmark before he left for Thailand.
Leave your house and build a new one
“We need women, especially those who can manage a garden”, says Louis. “But anybody who is looking for an active life as a senior is welcome”, Louis says and emphasizes that the farm which he names ‘Solvang’ needs seniors who will stay for a longer period of time.
“We don’t demand that people work eight hours a day if they are not up to it, but people who are more interested in laying on the beach or playing golf are better off renting a house in the neighborhood”, Louis says. “And they should forget about their valuable houses and savings from back home. You don’t own anything here as everything belongs to the Thais”, he says. The point of the community is that everyone builds his own house and if he leaves, he also leaves his house.
The sad life of a senior in Denmark
As a Danish senior you receive about 10.000 kroner in retirement benefits from the state and when you bring that amount to Thailand you are guaranteed a more pleasant financial situation than if you stay put in Denmark.
“With my benefits I would have enough for a small room and a TV in Copenhagen. I would probably spend my days taking the bus to see the royal castle in Copenhagen and then go back to my room”, Louis explains. “Here I am free and I can afford the things I need to have a pleasant life”, says Louis.
“In Solvang we put 4000 kroner per month in a community box and the remaining of your benefits is your pocket money to go dancing. And you can do a lot of dancing for 6000 kroner in Hua Hin”, Louis laughs. “We are not exactly saving money for our senior life”, Louis laughs.
The right crowd for Solvang
The people that Solvang wants are not the Sukhumvit crowd as Louis would put it. On the contrary, it is a non-alcoholic, active community that enjoys seeing the fruit of labor and letting the local population learn from their experience just as Louis is learning to raise pigs from a local friend who owns a pig farm.
“The goal is to be eight people who participate and contribute to the development of the community”, Louis says hopefully who can be contacted through the Danish organization Seniors Without Borders.
