Bruce, this is as aerial as I can get, balcony of my house.
Brettski,
The property consists of three pieces, the first purchase was 300' deep by 200' wide. It had no road access so I had to purchase two smaller pieces that were between the big piece and the road. Total size 1.6 acres. The pond plan moved from 1 acre to roughly 3/4 when we decided to try and keep the borrow banks as low as possible. We were hoping to stay closer to ground water level and keep a fuller pond. The old pond loses at least a yard in depth in the dry season.
The pond will be almost square and the only structural feature will be a 30' x 30' island that will be submerged during full pond. The island will be planted with a grass that does well in water and creates a safe place for small fish and a fishing place for small fishermen.
I am lucky in that the excess dirt is needed at 3 other building sites on my road and the owners are paying for the trucks.
The property was a rice paddy for 40 years, it has a thin layer of top soil, 1 to 2' and a thick layer of sandy/silt/clay, 3 to 5', then clay. There are no rocks, just dirt and water. We had a foot of water in the hole this morning. The soil sample was from our other pond about 100' feet west. No permits or licenses required, we are farmers and farming fish is allowed. I don't think we need to sell them to be a farmer and I know for sure I don't need to make money to be a farmer.
The track hoes came as a result of the original deal, the selling broker, also brokers track hoes, and he would cut his commission on the property if I would let him broker the digger. He makes a buck and a half an hour out of the 46 buck an hour machine cost.
Foreigners can't own land in Thailand, so we buy the land and put it in my partner's name and I lease it from her, I use a life time lease which protects both of us. She and I have been together for the last five years as of Valentine's Day.
I might have mentioned before but we live in a modest tourist spot. I am planning on building 5 small cottages on the property not used by the pond. We will start with 2 units and work from there.
