Mem's Guest Room

Update, Room costs are approaching £4500 now and it should be finished in next 5 working days. I am stopping gofund me this week. Thank you all for your support and kind donations.


Hi, My name is Simon and my wife is called Mem.
Welcome to our GoFundMe Campaign to build a Guest room on our property in Thailand.

For those of you who do not know, we have a Youtube Channel called Land of Smiles Thailand with over 10000 Subscribers and growing. By having a Youtube channel, you put yourself in the public eye and do come under scrutiny. We chose to share our lives and experiences and are always happy to talk to our subscribers and answer any question that arises.

In March 2018, we moved to Thailand to live hopefully for good. Running a Youtube channel does incur some costs and rewards. Having a community of subscribers we never realised so many wanted to come and visit us in Thailand.

Now, why the GOfundme?

Having strangers in the most part turn up at your house to stay is brilliant, But would you want strangers staying inside your house honestly, no not until you have got to know them is our answer.

One subscriber came forward and said, "You have a bit of land and some outbuildings, why don't you build a guest room or rooms for people visiting?"

Great idea I thought, however, we are retiring on a small budget with a bit of renovation work ahead on our house and daily living costs. We cannot afford to spend approximately £3000 to build a room. The subscriber then came back and suggested a Gofundme campaign for those subscribers and Patrons who wanted to stay to donate for the cost of the room.

My thoughts now after running this campaign for a few months and comments received through email and forum comments.

Is this Ebegging, putting your hand out for personal gain?

No, I feel it is giving people the chance to use this room for the future, whether it is to visit us or just a stopover type of homestay. Yes by building this room on my wife's property it does increase the value of the property, however, this property will never be sold ever. Subscribers who donate will have the use of this room for hopefully at least 30 years or more for donating as little as $10. We will not charge anybody who donates to the room, but hope they will donate for the cost of laundry and cleaning. 

We do have one spare bedroom and as people become friends and we get to know them, they will be welcome to use this room as well.

I hope this explains why we are doing this campaign and fully understand anybody not wishing to join in.

If the fund does not reach the project target, then I will make up the difference out of our savings to complete the room.

Through the complete process, I will happily share the costs with anybody who has donated to be transparent.
I have created a live spreadsheet with all costs in several currencies for transparency, here is the link.
Link to Subscriber Rooms Cost Tracker: https://goo.gl/zs1Dq7

At any point up until the build is finished, I will also offer anybody who has donated to the campaign a full refund if they change their mind about donating.

Now for the details of the room and build for anybody who is still happy to donate.

Below are some rough pictures of designs and layouts.
We built a carport last year next to the house, If I extend it 2 metres forward and add to the roof, this would give us up to 3 rooms, 3.5 metres by 6 metres. En-suite rooms to a 3 star standard with western shower, lavatory and sink, double bed, coffee table and chairs, fan and an air con unit. 

Costs estimated - the First room which will include a concrete, sewage, electric, mains water, doors, windows, bathroom suite including electric shower and furniture is approximately £3500 $4000.

UPDATE - Plans are in with the council now and we should get them back in a week or two with planning permission granted.

So why would you want to stay in these rooms in a village? Our House is situated one and a half hours south of Bangkok and a further one and a half hours south you will find Hua Hin, a great stop off point for you.

The village is partly rural, only 4 kilometres from the main road and a KFC. We have a concrete building with a full-size snooker table for you to enjoy, a pond and neighbours water areas for fishing on and off-site. Neighbours and locals available to teach Thai cooking, Temples nearby and lovely scenery.

Your accommodation would be free when you visit if you have donated to the campaign or you are a Patron of ours.

You would only have to pay for your own food and drink available in the village. We can arrange a local person to cook and deliver food to you at Thai prices of course.

Hopefully,  you will consider donating a little to cover linen and cleaning costs in the room during your stay.

There may be a small cost to register you with immigration under Thai laws.(I am looking into this). if you stay for more than 24 hours, Thai immigration law demands we register you for our property.

Also for some, just the chance to meet my wife and me and maybe talk about everyday life.

There may be a limited number of nights depending on demand. I will fix a booking system for everybody once sorted.

Become part of our community and come and visit us on your travels.

I will add more details here as I get them for you.

Simon and Mem