My partner and I were going to set off on the night bus to go to Malaysia the following day. Now The border is not open at night so we took the night bus to the nearest city to the border that we could get to and arranged for more transportation the following day. This sounds all well and good but there is something I have no quite mentioned. We check out of our hostel early in the morning and we spend the day at the beach and in the water and exploring the beautiful hot wonder that is Thailand, without another shower.
Smelling freshly of sea water with an overnight bus all booked and not arriving at another place to sleep and shower for some 40 hours, we set out in search of a shower. We inquired if our hostel would let us take one, but no sadly the rooms had already been attended to and unless we pay the full price for another nights stay, even if it is for only an hour to take a shower, then showering was just out of the question. We inquire around a bit and then get to the bus terminal and inquire there as well. And discover that yes! they do have a shower! Lucky me!!
So they point us in many directions and we wandered and just couldn't find what we were in search of. So we had someone take us there. It turns out they take us to a food stall outside of someones house. We look at this forlorn and empty stall devoid of all nourishment that was perhaps available earlier in the day and stare dubiously. So we did the next logical thing. Inquire the people in the house seemingly associated with the stall. It was very interesting seeing as their house seemed to be half patio that was surrounded by other food stalls. But once inside the food stall sancutary, you could see that a good amount of the living, or perhaps more for entertaining, quarters were open air. Which may actually make sense in the Thailand heat, while trying to save on air conditioning. At first they stare at us being the silly gaijins we are. We spoke to someone who spoke exactly no common language with us and she turned us away. Though upon leaving a man approaches us and asks as to what we are asking after and then said Oh yes, you can in fact take a shower here! Delight!
So it was perhaps 20 or 50Bhat and we are lead to the shower. For whatever reason I was thinking something like a Japanese bath house. A big-ish room for showering that could accompany multiple people. You know big spaces, multiple people, profitable. But we are lead to a closet like bathroom under the stair well that accompanied only one person.
In addition to that there was no shower head. You would simply fill up a bucket and dump it over you head and body. Inside the room, you were accompanied by a toilet without a seat cover and two huge American-sized garbage can basins full of stagnant water for a purpose that I could not fully divine. So one by one we took our showers in this persons home who may or may not sell their shower service to smelly night riders, but did so for us. A great way to make a quick Bhat I suppose.
Nevertheless, we were clean and ready for Malaysia in no time with an additional story under our belt.
So that you can get a visual of what I am trying to describe to you, the place looked a little like this, minus the toilet seat and functioning shower head. It had a lower room and the place wasn't so clean. The building that we were in was a good 20 years old or so, making the grout condition terminal and the tiles yellowed with age. But with that said, it was not really unclean in comparison with many of the other places that I have had the chance to venture.
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