住熱帶的人們須小心家中不速之客

Alan Kozlowski purchased a strip of untouched, oceanfront land on the southern tip of the Thai island of Koh Samui in 2005 and spent the next couple of years -- and about $3.5 million -- constructing an eight-bedroom vacation house.

2005年，阿蘭•科茲洛夫斯基(Alan Kozlowski)在泰國蘇梅島(Koh Samui)的南端購置了一塊未經開發的濱海土地。在接下來的幾年中，他斥資大約350萬美元在這塊土地上建成了一棟有八間臥室的度假屋。

The 64-year-old filmmaker was drawn to the forested land because of its ocean views, natural setting and the ability to have a feature rarely seen in his home state of California: beachside pavilions, including a fully exposed dining area and a yoga space that opens to the tropical breezes and expansive South China Sea views.

這片鬱鬱蔥蔥的土地之所以吸引這位現年64歲的電影製片人是因爲其壯闊的海景、周邊的自然環境以及在其老家美國加州罕見的一種特色建築：海濱涼亭，其中包括完全暴露在室外的用餐區和一塊練習瑜伽的空間。此間，熱帶海風毫無遮擋地吹着，壯闊的南中國海海景就在眼前。

Then the cobra moved in.

但沒想到的是，眼鏡蛇也“住”了進來，成了他的“室友”。

Open-air living -- homes with spaces completely or partially exposed to the outdoors -- was part of what drew Mr. Kozlowski to Southeast Asia, but, as he quickly discovered, it also meant new roommates. In addition to the snake, there were bats, foot-long geckos and flying beetles encroaching on the property.

露天起居是吸引科茲洛夫斯基來到東南亞居住的部分原因。但他很快就發現，這同時意味着你有了新的“室友”。除了蛇，還有蝙蝠、長腳壁虎和四處飛竄的甲蟲與你比鄰而居。所謂“露天起居”是指你的家中有一些空間完全或部分暴露在室外。

'You're in the tropics, on their land. You have to make friends with them, ' said Mr. Kozlowski, who rents out the home he calls Samudra when not vacationing there. As for the cobra, he had it removed from the property. 'I have a no-kill policy, ' he says.

科茲洛夫斯基說，“你在熱帶地區，這裏是它們的地盤。你必須學會和他們交朋友。”不在泰國度假的時候，科茲洛夫斯基會將這棟他稱之爲“薩穆德拉”(Samudra)的屋子租出去。至於前面提到的眼鏡蛇，他已將其從房中“請”了出去。他說，我的原則是“不殺生”。

Though forms of open-air living have long existed in Southeast Asia, more overseas homeowners are showing an interest in houses from Thailand to Vietnam and Indonesia, bringing elaborate designs that integrate nature into daily living. Bedrooms might have retractable doors on an entire wall. Or roofless bathrooms with showerheads protruding from a large boulder or tree branches that cascade over the tub.

在東南亞，露天起居的生活方式早已存在，但越來越多的海外房主對泰國、越南和印尼的海濱房產表示出了興趣。他們帶來了種種將自然融入日常生活的精心設計：臥室的伸縮門可能佔據了一整面 ；沒有屋頂的浴室中，淋浴噴頭可能安裝在一塊突出的大石頭上，或懸垂於浴缸上方的樹枝上。

But the idyllic, natural lifestyle they conjure can be a little too natural, and at odds with the realities of living in tropical climates.

但房主們祈求的這種田園詩般的自然生活方式可能有點太過原生，它與在熱帶氣候條件下生活的現實不相一致。

Mr. Kozlowski isn't the only one with critter problems.

科茲洛夫斯基並非唯一受野生物種“親近”的屋主之一。

Alison Dilallo is the owner of a six-bedroom villa in a jungle setting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that has an open-sided dining pavilion with a thatched roof next to the pool. It also has an open-sided TV lounge with polished concrete floors.

艾莉森•迪拉羅(Alison Dilallo)在印尼度假勝地巴厘島的叢林中擁有一棟帶六間臥室的別墅。別墅的泳池旁有一座用於用餐的開放式涼亭，涼亭的屋頂用茅草覆蓋。別墅還有一個開放式的用於看電視的休息室，室內的混凝土地板經過打磨。

Ms. Dilallo, who is 51 years old and lives in Perth, Australia, uses the house four or five times a year with her family, renting it out during the rest of the time. She said she and her husband bought the villa about 5 1/2 years ago for $1.3 million and later added onto it, investing a further $1.5 million in the property.

現年51歲的迪拉羅住在澳大利亞珀斯，她每年會和家人到印尼的別墅度假四到五次，剩下時間則將別墅出租。她說她和丈夫大約在五年半前斥資130萬美元買下了這棟別墅，之後又投入150萬美元進行擴建。

One time, she had to call a gecko catcher to remove the 8-inch creature from one of the five exposed bathrooms. In addition to the lizards, Ms. Dilallo also has had to deal with the occasional wild frog or cat that has wandered into the living room.

有一次，她不得不請人將一隻長八英寸（約合20釐米）的壁虎從一間開放式浴室捉走。別墅中共有五間這樣的浴室。除了蜥蜴，迪拉羅還得不時應對“閒逛”走入客廳的野青蛙或野貓。

'If there are no doors or windows, insects or rodents know no boundaries, so they come in naturally, ' says Alistair Wright, owner of EcoPest Samui in Koh Samui, which handles everything from snakes to scorpions to termites. 'The house becomes part of the environment.'

蘇梅島害蟲防治機構EcoPest Samui的所有人阿利斯泰爾•賴特(Alistair Wright)說，如果家中沒安門窗，昆蟲或齧齒類動物可不知道所謂的“邊界”，所以它們自然會跑到你家裏去。他說，你的家已經成爲周遭環境的一部分了。EcoPest Samui負責處理闖入住戶家中的所有昆蟲或齧齒類動物，從毒蛇到蠍子再到白蟻，不一而足。

Homeowners gush about the ability to bring the outdoors in, the airflow through the rooms, and the vast sense of space and uninterrupted views.

令很多房主滔滔不絕稱讚的是，這裏的房子除了能和室外風情融爲一體，各個房間空氣暢通，還能享受巨大的空間感和毫無遮擋的視野。

'They like to have a different feeling and experience than what they have in their country, ' says Popo Danes, a Balinese architectural designer who often builds second (and sometimes third and fourth) homes for his clients. 'I'm not expecting a New Yorker to want to live in a multistory apartment in Bali.'

巴厘島建築設計師波波•丹斯(Popo Danes)說，“在這裏置業的人喜歡不同於其祖國的一種感受和體驗。”丹斯常爲客戶建造二套房（有時甚至是第三套或第四套房）。“我認爲一個紐約人在巴厘島不會想住在多層公寓裏。”

Pests and insects can be more than an inconvenience. In Indraneel Datta's case, they were a health threat. Mr. Datta, a political consultant who has been living in Indonesia for the past 15 years, had his first open-air home built in 2002 in a paddy field in Seminyak on the west coast of Bali, where his wife, a fashion designer, and their two children contended with overbearing heat, bugs and poor air flow.

有時，害蟲和昆蟲帶來的不僅僅是不便。在英德拉尼爾•達塔(Indraneel Datta)看來，它們對他的健康構成了威脅。達塔是一名政治顧問，過去15年他一直住在印度尼西亞。他的首套開放式住宅建於2002年，地址選在巴厘島西海岸水明漾(Seminyak)的一塊稻田裏。在那裏，他的妻子（一位時裝設計師）和兩個孩子不得不和難以忍受的酷熱、臭蟲以及糟糕的空氣流動性抗爭。

The family packed up their bags and left after Mr. Datta, 45 years old, caught dengue fever, a mosquito-borne virus endemic to tropical and subtropical climates that causes flulike symptoms and can be deadly.

在45歲的達塔患上登革熱之後，這家人收拾行囊離開了這裏。登革熱是一種經由蚊子傳播的疾病，屬熱帶和亞熱帶地區特有。它會導致患者產生類似流感的症狀，有時還可能致命。

Then he found there were other headaches that he hadn't considered.

後來他發現，住在這裏還有他此前不曾預料到的其它令人頭痛的問題。

For Mr. Datta's next home, which he designed with the help of an architect, more thought was put into the topography of the land, the type of soil, the wind direction 'and, of course, the bugs in [the] area, ' he says. This home, which he calls Casaviva Bali, sits on a hillside in Jimbaran in Bali overlooking the Indian Ocean. He spent about $500, 000 on the land and construction costs.

因此，在建築師的幫助下設計第二套房的時候，達塔說他考慮更多的是土地的地形、土壤的類型、風向以及所在區域的臭蟲問題。達塔將這套房稱作Casaviva Bali，房子位於巴厘島金巴蘭(Jimbaran)的山腰上，可以俯瞰印度洋。購置土地和建築成本花了他大約50萬美元。

All was well with the house, which once had a fully exposed living room, dining area and kitchen, until the start of the rainy season. During a bad storm in January 2011, Mr. Datta says, the winds 'were literally blowing off our heavy wooden blinds in the living room.'

在雨季開始前，這棟房子看上去一切都很好。房子的客廳、用餐區和廚房此前完全暴露在室外。達塔說，2011年1月發生了一場糟糕的風暴，大風“將客廳厚重的木質百葉窗吹掉了”。

After that, the couple added retractable glass doors to the space. They left a second living area, with weather-resistant sofas and chairs, open to the outside.

在這之後，夫妻倆給這片原本開放式空間增加了多扇可伸縮的玻璃門，只留下另一塊開放式生活區域，而此區域中放有能夠抵禦各種天氣的沙發和椅子。

'We didn't know how violent it would get, ' Mr. Datta said of the storm. 'So we're in learning mode. Ultimately, there's no cookie-cutter approach.'

達塔說，“一開始我們並不知道情況會變得如此惡劣。所以我們也在學習之中。但總之並沒有以不變應萬變的應對方法。”

This trial-and-error approach is common with homeowners, says German architect Walter Wagner, whose company, Habitat5, has built open-air houses in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

德國建築師沃爾特•瓦格納(Walter Wagner)說，這種不斷試錯的做法在房主中很常見。瓦格納的事務所Habitat5在印尼、泰國和菲律賓曾建造過多棟開放式房屋。

'You have to understand the weather, where the sun rises and sets; how to protect your building during rains and winds, ' he says. 'It's the responsibility of the architect to get the orientation of the house right to reduce heat load or rains.'

瓦格納說，“你必須瞭解天氣，日出和日落的位置，在雨天和大風天如何保護自己的房子。確保房子朝向正確以降低熱負荷或不受雨水侵襲是建築師的責任。”

For those who brave it, Mr. Wagner says, adjustments are typically made down the line, whether that means adding roller blinds or sliding glass doors.

瓦格納說，對於那些勇敢的人而言，他們所做出的調整通常很徹底，無論這是否意味着要添加捲簾百葉窗或滑動玻璃門。

Homeowners also need to carefully select their furniture, with an eye toward pieces that can withstand everything from monsoons to salty sea breezes. Mr. Datta says his stainless-steel stools rusted and his olive couch faded to a 'bird-crap green.'

房主也需要仔細選擇他們購買的傢俱。挑選傢俱的着眼點在於：傢俱必須可以承受季風和帶有鹽分的海風等各種氣候條件。達塔說，他買的不鏽鋼凳子最後生鏽了。他的橄欖色沙發則褪色成“像鳥屎一樣的綠色”。

Some people take extra precautions: Mr. Datta, who has seen snakes lurking around in the garden, says he keeps antivenin in the refrigerator. 'We've never had to use it, but it's a sensible thing to do.'

有些人會採取額外的預防措施：達塔曾見過潛伏在花園裏的蛇，因此他總在冰箱裏存放抗蛇毒血清。他說，“我們還沒有機會用過血清，但這無疑是明智的做法。”