Water Room Protocol

In Thai, the word for "bathroom" is "hong naam" or "water room." If you've ever been in Asia (or any other plumbing-challenged area), you'll quickly see the meaning behind the words. It is, in fact, a water room. It's mostly wet most of the time, because you mostly throw water all around when you go in.


Our hong naam looks like this (exactly like this, in fact). Shower shoes keep your feet kind of dry and about a quarter inch above the wetness. The pot and dipper are perhaps self-explanatory. Throw water in the squat toilet and all over the room to flush and tidy up. Thai people often come out looking a little damp. Westerners often come out looking a little confused. Generally, in Thailand you'll find no toilet paper or hand towels either. I haven't yet met a Westerner who could get a straight answer out of their Thai friends on the actual water room protocol, so we'll just leave it as the great unanswered question.

Showering happens in here too, and after a shower its REALLY wet. We, being city people, have a wall-mounted shower hose and even a water heater for the upstairs hose (the only hot water in the house). Our country cousins just dip water out of the clay pot and pour it over their head. Actually, several of our neighbors still do this, because at night I can hear the splashing dippers around us. And, Amnat perfers a cold dipper rinse after his hot shower. You can take the boy out of the country...

So, when we Westerners meet with an actual sit-down, flush toilet, we are so happy. No wet feet. No teetering on the rim. But, if a Thai person has been there ahead of you, you may find footprints on the seat. Sigh.

My favorite coffee shop, Tiida Coffee, has a real flusher with the following explanatory sign.


Meaning, "Please press the flush until done," or something to that effect. And given the fragile sewer infrastructure here, one additional bit of direction is needed;


Or, "Don't put anything into the flush."

P.S. I felt the need to explain to Tiida why I was taking pictures in her bathroom, and I made her promise never to change the signs. Our coffee-drinking massage students have been getting a giggle out of it, and having a giggle is so very Thai.