Monday afternoon, Tawn and I stopped by the Raintree Villa juristic office to drop off the official plans, the timetable for construction activities, and a list of how many contractors would be working each week, and to pay a hefty security deposit in case construction causes damage to the property.

The next day Khun Guang, our contractor, and his team were hard at work.  By the time we stopped by Thursday morning, an amazing amount of work had already been completed.  All if it was demolition work, which of course is by its very nature easier and faster to do.

I recall that sensation I had, the first time I boarded a plane to leave the United States (spring 1996 to Singapore).  When the plane was taking off, I thought, “Well, there’s no turning back now.” 

I had that same feeling yesterday morning when I walked into the condo.

Right: Looking down from another unit at our unit – the one with no window coverings, no furniture, nothing.  

Left: Before any remodeling started; Right: After a day and a half, the wall is gone, as is the floor.  It doesn’t look that much larger, though, does it?

Below: Tawn looks at where the vanity and mirror once were.  The doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom has been removed and will be moved to the right about 10 cm.

Above: All the tile has been removed in the bathroom.  The bathtub has not been removed yet because Khun Guang wanted to be 100% certain we were 100% certain about removing it.  We are; it will be gone soon.  The door between the bathroom and the living area is being moved to the left about 20 cm, necessitating some rewiring of the switches.  By mid-afternoon, the workers were already reframing the door.

Speaking of workers, who is doing the work?  Today it was one man doing most of the reframing of the door, joined by his wife and – incongruously to those of you who are familiar with the concept of occupational safety – their three-year old daughter.  I don’t think she is working, but she’s definitely around plenty of hazards.  Below, she covers her ears as daddy makes a racket with a hammer and chisel.

Above: The Mirror Crack’d.  Below: Looking back towards the kitchen, I examine the first load of bricks that will be used to reconstruct the walls around the doors into the bathroom.

Curious to look at a few of the units that are for rent, just to compare how they are laid out and furnished, we stopped by the juristic office.  It turns out that the man who runs the convenience store is essentially a rental agent for several properties.  He turned out to be quite the gossipy old queen and was telling Tawn the dish on all the neighbors.  It turns out that he is responsible for the unit next to us, a 34 square meter (340 square feet) studio that is owned by someone from Hong Kong and is rented out by some Latvian super model.

We’re actually interested in that adjacent property, with the idea of eventually expanding the condo to be about 105 square meters, which is how the corner units are arranged on the top floor of the building.  The Convenience Queen (that’s what I’m going to call him, or CQ for short – remember that for future posts) told us he thinks that if the owner wanted to seel, it would go for about 2.2 million baht.  Things to keep in mind for the future.

Well, the adventure is started.  No turning back now.  The real question is, how long until it is finished?  Aye, there’s the rub.