water, laundry & wetrooms
18:00
These days when we travel so easily to remote destinations and so many other travellers end up in the same place it's often forgotten that its easier to create beautiful exteriors than it is to develop or change infrastructure so that water supply meets the standards we are used to back home.
A stop or two in an international hotel in Thailand en route to Phi Phi may lure you into thinking you are back home with great weather, white sandy beaches and palm trees. However, the reality is that this is country where many villages on the mainland, off the tourist trail, may have water for just a few hours a day and still rely on wells; and where waste water management is often handled by the home owner with homemade sceptic pits and kitchens are often unplumbed.
Culturally, around the world, kitchens and bathrooms probably demonstrate the biggest gaps. I know Thai people who laugh and think westerners who put carpet in their bathrooms are completely crazy; and in these days of heightened awareness of natural resources and conservation its an interesting argument to know who has it right with water guzzling machines plumbed in or a typical Thai family where its carefully managed in buckets and bowls.
If you see the bigger picture, and remember the devastation of the tsunami that hit Phi Phi less than 6 years ago, and that its an island more than 50 kilometres away from the mainland - it starts to make sense that when we look behind the scenes, beyond the colourful reception buildings that we would uncover bathrooms which to us might seem spartan.
Phi Phi is busy improving both the water quality and supply - but its a testament to the ingenuity and perseverance of the Thai that they can run businesses when water is cut off for hours, and how they manage to cook and wash up often with only bottled water.
If you look closely, while you'll be distracted by a growing number of beautiful looking resorts, hotels, restaurants and bars, you'll see some of the locals using the hidden outdoor wells for showering.
Some quick useful facts:
Laundry: typically 50 Baht per Kilo and returned next day to wherever you drop it off. There are many places doing this all over the Island. Resorts, hotels and guesthouses will also take laundry but this tends to be 60-70 Baht per Kilo. Don't send anything valuable, the water quality used for laundry is not great and whites can come back a little off-white as a result. Beware that there is generally no come back if clothes are lost or damaged in the laundry. There is no dry cleaning on the Island.
Public Toilets: There are no public toilets on the island, however, most bars and restaurants do have toilet facilities. Given the challenges with water and waste water on the island, its considered impolite to use toilet facilities in places where you are not a customer. On the plus side the island is very small and so you are never far from the bathroom in your room/hotel. In public places quite often there is a bucket and bowl flush rather than a plumbed in toilet - it might seem odd at first but it works well and conserves water. The waste water system on Phi Phi means that there is a ban on putting anything down the toilet, so NO paper should be flushed. The other quirky Phi Phi thing is that many public places (bars & restaurants) have the toilet paper stashed behind the bar or reception - so you just have to ask for it.
Drinking water: water from the taps is not drinkable.Water on the tables in the restaurants and bars is NOT tap water on Phi Phi. Free water in hotels, bars and restaurants tends to be from the very large water bottles - this is safe to drink. However, if you have a sensitive stomach, buy mineral water, rather than the basic opaque bottled water. The Ice is safe to drink - owing to the high cost of electricity on the island - none of it is made from tap water!
Bathrooms: hot water will generally only come from electric showers or boilers, very few places have any water heating facilities to give running hot water from the taps. However, with Phi Phi's tropical climate, a cold shower on Phi Phi is never really cold! Water conservation also means it's rare to find baths or bidets.
Still on the topic of water, but of another kind, being a small island Phi Phi is surrounded by the Andaman sea, and the beautiful blue warm water is never more than a step or two away and is always in view. It really is a paradise island but just a note to self, that tiny tropical islands often don't have all the modern conveniences you have at home.
A stop or two in an international hotel in Thailand en route to Phi Phi may lure you into thinking you are back home with great weather, white sandy beaches and palm trees. However, the reality is that this is country where many villages on the mainland, off the tourist trail, may have water for just a few hours a day and still rely on wells; and where waste water management is often handled by the home owner with homemade sceptic pits and kitchens are often unplumbed.
Culturally, around the world, kitchens and bathrooms probably demonstrate the biggest gaps. I know Thai people who laugh and think westerners who put carpet in their bathrooms are completely crazy; and in these days of heightened awareness of natural resources and conservation its an interesting argument to know who has it right with water guzzling machines plumbed in or a typical Thai family where its carefully managed in buckets and bowls.
If you see the bigger picture, and remember the devastation of the tsunami that hit Phi Phi less than 6 years ago, and that its an island more than 50 kilometres away from the mainland - it starts to make sense that when we look behind the scenes, beyond the colourful reception buildings that we would uncover bathrooms which to us might seem spartan.
Phi Phi is busy improving both the water quality and supply - but its a testament to the ingenuity and perseverance of the Thai that they can run businesses when water is cut off for hours, and how they manage to cook and wash up often with only bottled water.
If you look closely, while you'll be distracted by a growing number of beautiful looking resorts, hotels, restaurants and bars, you'll see some of the locals using the hidden outdoor wells for showering.
Some quick useful facts:
Laundry: typically 50 Baht per Kilo and returned next day to wherever you drop it off. There are many places doing this all over the Island. Resorts, hotels and guesthouses will also take laundry but this tends to be 60-70 Baht per Kilo. Don't send anything valuable, the water quality used for laundry is not great and whites can come back a little off-white as a result. Beware that there is generally no come back if clothes are lost or damaged in the laundry. There is no dry cleaning on the Island.
Public Toilets: There are no public toilets on the island, however, most bars and restaurants do have toilet facilities. Given the challenges with water and waste water on the island, its considered impolite to use toilet facilities in places where you are not a customer. On the plus side the island is very small and so you are never far from the bathroom in your room/hotel. In public places quite often there is a bucket and bowl flush rather than a plumbed in toilet - it might seem odd at first but it works well and conserves water. The waste water system on Phi Phi means that there is a ban on putting anything down the toilet, so NO paper should be flushed. The other quirky Phi Phi thing is that many public places (bars & restaurants) have the toilet paper stashed behind the bar or reception - so you just have to ask for it.
Drinking water: water from the taps is not drinkable.Water on the tables in the restaurants and bars is NOT tap water on Phi Phi. Free water in hotels, bars and restaurants tends to be from the very large water bottles - this is safe to drink. However, if you have a sensitive stomach, buy mineral water, rather than the basic opaque bottled water. The Ice is safe to drink - owing to the high cost of electricity on the island - none of it is made from tap water!
Bathrooms: hot water will generally only come from electric showers or boilers, very few places have any water heating facilities to give running hot water from the taps. However, with Phi Phi's tropical climate, a cold shower on Phi Phi is never really cold! Water conservation also means it's rare to find baths or bidets.
Still on the topic of water, but of another kind, being a small island Phi Phi is surrounded by the Andaman sea, and the beautiful blue warm water is never more than a step or two away and is always in view. It really is a paradise island but just a note to self, that tiny tropical islands often don't have all the modern conveniences you have at home.
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