We had a late afternoon taxi ride to our next hotel from Ayutthaya and we ended up in a semi-surreal place…

Our hotel was called Hotel La Casetta by Toscana Valley and I found it on Expedia (I think). I picked it because it looked like it had a nice pool and a Roman theme.  What I didn’t realize was the the Hotel was in a gated community called Toscana Valley.  In 2007, they cleared 800 acres of jungle and built a Roman country side complete with a leaning tower, a couple of villages, golf course and many mega mansions.  Villas are still for sale so check it out…  😉  Most of your neighbors will be from Bangkok and the housing is surprisingly cheap.

There was a power outage planned so we got bumped up to the 5 star hotel instead of the 4 star we booked and it was awesome. The food was great and the kids loved the pool and play ground.

Most of the place was empty except for workers who must continuously keep the jungle back.  With only 21 guests the staff to guest ratio must have been 50 to 1.  Most of the housing was empty and much of it unsold, maybe this is a victim of the 2007-2008 crash?  It seems a little wrong that places like this exist – considering the poverty we had seen from the boat.  Why is the default end point of capitalism oligarchy?

Investor Warren Buffett said in 2006 that: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Italian country side in Thailand

Double layer infinity pool

The ladies looking wonderful