READY FOR BOARDING Visitors in Siem Reap, Cambodia, are charged a minimal fee if they want to take a peek into this “grounded” aircraft-shaped house, whose builder has yet to experience travelling on a real plane. —AFP
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — A Cambodian airplane fanatic has built his house shaped like a private jet—despite never having been up in the air himself.
Construction worker Chrach Peou spent his $20,000 life savings building the concrete “plane”—complete with wings, tailfin, landing gear and engines—near the town of Siem Reap, gateway to the famed Angkor Wat temple complex.
The 43-year-old widowed father of three said it took him almost a year to build, using money he had saved over 30 years.
“This is my dream since I was young, so I am happy I could achieve my goal,” Peou said.
The house, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, stands elevated on pillars six meters above a rice field.
“We can live here, sleep here, use bathrooms here, and have meals here like on a plane. It is my own, I am so happy,” Peou told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Admission fee
He said he designed the house after watching countless videos of private jets on the internet.
He charges people 50 cents to $1 to visit and take selfies by the house.
“It is beautiful, attractive, there are palm trees nearby,” Kim Muoy, 28, told AFP during a visit to the airplane house with her family.
But Peou dreams of flying for real one day.
“When I have money and know where I want to go to, I will take a plane to go there,” he said.