I plan to chronicle the process here.
The land was purchased at 600,000 per sqm, 1000 sqm. So a total value of 600 million VND at time of purchase, around $29,000, in 2009.
Since then, all we have done is erect a huge fence and set of gates around the land (cost: $1000). The land is totally overgrown with tall grass, trees and bushes. Recently we had someone survey the land for clearance, and he discovered a whacking great bomb crater in the middle of it. That's gonna take a little extra earth to fill in. This same man is quoting us 1 million VND ($50) per truck of earth, and estimates that it will take 30 trucks to fill in our crater and raise the level of the whole plot above the road. Once he's done this, the earth needs to be left at least 4 months to compact naturally before any construction can take place.
During this time, Chi and I will be looking at the house and garden design. Here's what we are working with:
The area for allowed housing is 120m2. We have a friend working on some 2D designs in various shapes.
Once we have leveled the land and the rainy season arrives we'll buy some young trees of varying kinds to plant.
I will be mostly living this project vicariously through my wife and various other family members who live in Cu Chi. The only pictures I have right now are these, and it won't look like this for much longer:
