Update On April 15th's "Reaping What We Sow"

Note: this translation uses the male "krap" instead of the female "ka", but it'll get the point across to the staff. I leave the tip below the wording, or leave them peeking out above.

I hadn't planned on posting today, but ten days ago on April 15th's post "Tips Of The Trade, Or Reaping What We Sow" I made mention of a note I leave with the daily tip for the housekeeping staff that reads "Housekeeping --  thank you!" in Thai, but at the time of the post I'd misplaced the original my friend had kindly written for me so I didn't have it to scan and share.

A reader from South Africa wrote to ask if I still had it, as she was planning a trip there in July and liked the idea. I looked around and still couldn't find the one from this last trip, but while doing some other filing this morning I found another, so, here it is: scanned, cleaned up and ready to print out if anyone else out there would care to use it.

Thanks for asking, Didi. Here's wishing you a safe and enjoyable trip. Please write again and share some of the high points of your adventure after you're home again.

Tips Of The Trade, Or Reaping What We Sow

30 to 40 Baht a day works wonders with housekeeping.

Never having personally done a poll on it I admit I don't have a definitive answer for you on how much to tip the folks who maintain your "home away from home" while you're on the road (your hotel, serviced condo or other type of room that you don't strictly maintain yourself) but I'd hope you leave them something on a daily basis.  It's one of those grey areas that rarely pops up even in the ever-changing "up to yooouuu" areas of travel interactions.

From personal experience and from conversations with other travelers, though, I can attest to the fact that if you're nice to housekeeping, they - as a rule - tend to go out of their way to be nice to you.  I've had extra pillows and towels appear without a request, flowers put in my room, soaps and shampoos from deluxe rooms in my regular room, etc. I know they were out of the ordinary because I've had others ask how I'd rated special treatment when they hadn't. "I didn't get that stuff in my room!" one friend groused. "Maybe because you're a cheap bastard?" I asked. He laughed, but he followed my suggestions and the next morning at breakfast he sheepishly said "I have a robe and some of that nicer stuff now".  Call it a bribe if you want, but I don't see it that way.

As we've mentioned in a couple of other posts (links below), tipping among Thai isn't a common thing, but those in the service trade and in regular contact with tourists have been exposed to the practice often enough that they recognize it for what it is, and they appreciate it.  From what I've been able to glean via Thai friends gratuities aren't built into their regular wage package as they can be in other countries, and as cheap as some people can be that's probably a good idea.

The bell staff provide a variety of services, and are good folks to have on your side.

I'd hope most of you would agree that tipping the bell boy who lugs your bags out of the taxi, into the hotel and up to your room has earned a gratuity, wouldn't you?  I tend to travel heavier than some , so I always make sure to tip fairly in that case. Sometimes Bt20 per bag, sometimes simply Bt100+, depending on the difficulty of the task. Some 45Kg guy who struggles up three flights of stairs with my 150Kg of crap and risks a compressed vertibrae or two naturally earns more, and why shouldn't he? It's not their fault the place doesn't have an elevator. A guy using both a cart and a lift shouldn't even break a sweat, so gets a lesser tip, like the example above.

Bear in mind that in a five-star hotel the bar may have been set a bit higher (although the better-off actually tend to be less generous, I've been told by folks who work in such places) but I'd suggest simply being as fair as you can be.

Do you think housekeeping cares if you leave your small change for them?  They don't.

Dining room staff in hotels featuring buffets are more often the recipients of "pooled" tips, receiving a share of what's left in a tip box near the register or front entrance. If there's no house rule against accepting it, though, you can directly hand cash to a person who went above and beyond their regular call, if you choose to.

Earlier I mentioned a couple of other posts regarding tipping here in the past. There was a post about tip pooling back in January of 2011 that you might find amusing HERE, and another with some examples of tipping hotel staff from April of 2011 HERE.

By the way, you need to leave the tip for housekeeping someplace where it's obviously a tip so they don't think they're taking your money and risk losing their job. A note identifying a tip as such neatly does the trick, and I've yet to run into the housekeeping staff member who didn't know the word "housekeeping" in English. I tend to leave it on a corner at the foot of the bed, completely separate from anywhere I may leave other minor amounts of cash out, like on the desk.

What made me think of this today was a note I'd tucked into my brochures, receipts and junk from this last trip; a reminder of something unusual that happened while staying in a three star hotel where few spoke much English and things were a little more - let's just say basic, shall we?  I'd left a tip with a note in Thai saying "Housekeeping... thank you!", and when I returned later that day I found the note below.  Kind of nice, I thought, and despite their spelling it was a good example of reaping what we sow.

A "Healthy Hotel" Reminder

Repeating an image from the Smiles series, as I don't have all that many photos of the housekeeping staff with their carts. Ah, well.

A study was done recently which claimed that the most unsanitary thing in a hotel room was... no, nothing in the bathroom, but the light switch on the bedside lamp; followed a close second by the remote control for the TV. Why the telephone keypad and handset didn't land high on that list I'll never understand. Apparently they just picked random items to test and stuck with those.

Two years ago in the Staying Healthy In Hotels post I'd shared the suggestion of taking a small baggie with maybe a dozen folded up santitizing wipes in it, such as the ones shown here. 

As I mentioned in the post, I wipe a few things down shortly after I've loaded into the room (and gotten rid of the bedspread - something often "soiled" but very rarely washed, if ever). One of the things I wipe off is the TV remote control, but I also do other commonly touched things and surfaces. Switches, drawer pulls and door handles, especially the bathroom ones. 


Despite how it may sound I'm truly not OCD about this, but it takes less than five minutes total for a little piece of mind. Who wants to get sick on vacation?


While the findings of some folks at the University of Houston haven't undergone "peer review" they made some unsettling observations concerning both bacteria in general and separately for coliform (fecal) bacteria. Levels they found were between 2 and 10 times higher than those considered safe in a hospital setting.


Not surprisingly, the dirtiest item of all was the cleaning mop that housekeeping drags from room to room, bathroom to bathroom.  The cleaning sponges and cloths would fit in with these, too, I'd suppose. Here's the list from the study I read first:

Dirtiest hotel items
1) Cleaning mops
2) Light switches
3) TV remote controls
4) Toilet seats 
5) Bathroom sinks
6) Bed headboards
7) Curtain rods
8) Bathroom door handles

Now, I don't wipe down the bathroom, but I don't lick the counter, either. Number 8 - bathroom handles - surprised me: last year when I posted about the Norovirus aboard a cruise ship it was pretty obvious that many people don't wash their hands after using the toilet. They had a young man stationed outside the open-door entrance/exit who could see the sinks. 


Most who spoke on the topic agreed that improvements in housekeeping could make significant cuts to the bacterial counts, but odds are against that happening. It's another case of "up to you" if you want to do anything about it yourself.


So often it seems stomach problems are blamed on the local food or water - and that can certainly be the case, sometimes - but I'd say there are plenty of cases where the victim has touched some contaminated item and gotten it into themselves that way.  Again - no point in being obsessive about it, but taking some steps to remain healthy while traveling is wise, I think.


Those who wish to read the CNN story I thought fairly complete can see it here.

Travel Tip: Brewing Coffee On The Road

Melitta's light but sturdy cup-top filter cone - about $3.00

Cilio's ceramic for +/- $15

Today's tip isn't any great shakes as tips go, unless you're adamant about having a decent cup of coffee while on the road, wherever that may be in the world.  I myself prefer to have a cup of something actually brewed and not some concoction spit out of a machine or - God help me - one of those little tubes of instant Nescafe that grace the coffee-making area in nearly every hotel I've ever stayed in there.  In lieu of that throughout most of Thailand you get nothing but tea.

Now, if you're staying in a nicer hotel you have a chance of being served a cup of coffee that isn't Nescafe in the dining room, but far too often it's been held too long, held improperly, or both. You know what I mean; you're served a cupful of black fluid better used to ink a stamp pad (for those of you old enough to remember those). You add creamer and it turns gray rather than a lighter brown. Makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it.

Cuissential's collapses

Back in an earlier life in restaurants it was almost always difficult to get a waiter or waitress to understand the Three Commandments of Restaurant Coffee Brewing: #1 Thou shall not leave the grounds above the pot after it is finished brewing, #2 Thou shall not serve coffee that's been sitting on the burner for more than twenty minutes, and #3 Thou shall not "marry" an older pot into a fresher one. The reasons are simple, and here's your bonus tip today: grounds left over the brewed coffee drip the acids into the prepared pot (which sours it), coffee doesn't hold on a hot plate without scorching or going stale, and putting the new coffee into old coffee makes the new coffee the same "age" as the old coffee.  These are all more evident in a restaurant setting where larger pots may sit a while, but you can replicate them at home if you want to try it.

Negativity aside, here's the tip for today: if you're willing to spare a bit of space in your luggage - and assuming you have a hot pot in your room to boil some water, which is usually a given - you can have a fresh, aromatic cup of your favorite coffee from home at any time of the day. It also involves bringing some #2 filters and a sealed bag-in-a-bag of ground coffee (for freshness), but that's hardly any weight at all.  You can buy ground coffee in Thailand, too, but I never have so I'm no help on pricing for you here.

A mug can be bought for less than a dollar if the cups in your room are too small for your taste. I've washed some I've purchased to use and left them with the final tip for housekeeping sometimes, but maybe you want to give yours to someone else or take it home. Up to you.

There are three basic types of filter cone holders available: ceramic, plastic and silicone.  In my opinion the ceramic is more weight than is practical, so I'll skip that one.  The red silicone one above collapses into a flat disc and takes up less space in your bag, but it's also five times as expensive as my favorite, which has long been the black (or red) Melitta cone up top today. It rinses easily, dries out easily, is just flexible enough that it doesn't crack when packed in among your clothes or other junk while being thrown about by baggage handlers, and costs between three and five dollars, tops.

After your initial investment for the filter holder I'm going to estimate your fresh brewed cup of coffee is going to cost you less than 20 cents, even if you prefer Peet's or another fine brand of coffee from home. That's around six baht per cup, and you can have it while sitting in your skivvies.

So if you prefer fresh brewed coffee without having to go out and find it, here's your answer.

[PS - Apologies for the image quality today. I pulled them off the internet as reference.]

Hong Nam Means Water Room. Period.

An example of water in a more scenic surrounding than in a hong nam, just to balance the post today!

Pardon the basic language lesson, but in case there's a true newbie who's stumbled upon the site today I won't make the assumption that everyone knows this: the Thai word for water is nam (pronounced like the "nom" in nominate), and the word for room is hong (as in Hong Kong). If you ask "hong nam?" of anyone in the Land of Smiles they'll know what you're looking for.  The actual toilet itself may be a world away from what you expect, but that's another story. Point is, it'll get you to a toilet.

A friend of mine just home from his first trip there was having a rant the other day about a Thai friend they'd met who had used the toilet in my friend's upscale hotel room in a modified fashion of how he'd have done it back on the farm: he'd squatted on the movable seat that rests on the porcelain bowl, used the hand-held sprayer to clean himself afterwards and left water in several places where my friend hadn't expected to find it. I later apologized for not alerting my newbie friend to this possibility.

While most of my Thai friends are "Westernized" to a certain degree (not that that's always such a good thing, but mai pen rai) how they handle the varied activities involved with the hong nam is always unpredictable.  As an example you're free to look back at the post about footprints on the toilet seat.

This shower had the luxury of a partial
wall, but no raised step to keep the
water in the shower area

For example, in "basic" lodging the hong nam is often precisely that: an open shower with nothing to divide it from the rest of the room, a toilet and a sink with precious little (if any) counter space you're likely to find water most anywhere on the floor and walls.

The floor is angled on a slope so any water that lands on it theoretically drains out behind the toilet - or off into a different corner of the room.  I've never quite understood the logic behind that one, if there is any.  Why would you want shower or toileting water meant for the drain (or toilet itself) to flow across the floor you'll undoubtedly walk across?  Any and all guesses are welcome.

What we non-Thai need to be aware of is that sometimes the friend who is normally quite careful in a more traditional hotel will still get half the floor wet while showering, washing or doing something more private; something of a shock to we who normally wear socks in the hotel room and unwittingly step into the bathroom to brush what's left of our hair, or whatever; especially in the more traditional hong nam, where you need to understand that it's truly a water room, and all bets are off as to where that water might be.


The traditional hand-held bidet sprayer beside most toilets is a step up from what the majority of Thai use in their own rural homes, and that's the bowl, used to splash water and clean yourself while using the traditional squat toilet as pictured above.

Old habits die hard, and we have to accept that the inconvenience they can cause aren't worth raising a stink over, so to speak. I suppose that's my main point today: we are the visitors, they are the natives. Beyond jokingly mentioning that you don't care for a wet floor - which will often be a point taken with grace - my suggestion would be to just deal with it. If wet footprints on the toilet seat bother you, wipe it off before you sit on it.  If you're bothered by water on the bathroom floor, simply figure that it's going to be there and use extra towels as mats or whatever you have to do to be the gracious guest.

I've heard stories of farang who've "corrected" their Thai friends, but why take the chance of embarrassing someone or risk causing them to lose face?  I'd suggest turning your acceptance level to "10" and just going with the flow, so to speak.  With luck, it'll be heading off behind the toilet and not be much of an issue to begin with.

Hotel Tips #3: Tipping The Staff

Showing appreciation to employees of the hotels or guest houses we visit can be a frustrating quandary. There's no "best" way to determine who to tip, how much is proper and when to award it, and my guess is most gracious people would like to find a little printed list of suggestions tucked into the desk drawer with the other info. If you're looking for a boilerplate answer here today I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you, too, but I can offer some suggestions that should keep you within the range of jai dee, or good hearted.

We'll address restaurants, taxis and other service people another time, but here are my tips on tipping where you hang your hat while in Thailand...

Let's start with something fairly consistently agreed on: tipping in Thailand by the Thai is not the norm. The whole concept of tipping came from tourists tipping people, and in some ways we've created our own problem. It's not an area where you're liable to make a huge social faux pas, but there are a few things you might want to be aware of. These aren't facts carved in stone, but I don't think there are many who would disagree. If someone does, I hope they'll leave a comment.

First thing to remember: don't grossly over tip. Extreme over-tipping can make you appear to be a show-off, a fool, or both to the Thai. While it's nice to be thoughtful, lavishing large gratuities is looked upon as condescending and isn't respected. Oh, they'll take it - but you're liable to lose face in their eyes if they figure you're patronizing them, which most likely isn't your intent.

Second: Many restaurants, hotels and clubs tend to pool tips together and share them among the people involved. Some places will have a designated tip box at the reception desk, the cashier's station or some place visible to the customers. There's no real way of knowing who it's doled out to, or if it's being distributed at all; you're flying on trust here, so decide for yourself. I feel most certain about it if I tip the person directly, but that's neither possible or practical in some cases.

Hotel bell boys: I tend to tip 20 baht per bag if they're using a cart and an elevator. If someone's lugging three heavier bags up two or three flights of stairs I double or triple that, myself; you have to make a judgement call, really.

Hotel housekeeping: Your room is your temporary home, and you'll probably appreciate it if it's kept properly. Larger hotels usually work their people harder than a bed and breakfast, but not always. Either way, it can be a difficult, unpleasant job and someone who takes good care while doing their job is worth regular recognition. Personally I leave 40 baht a day, either on the unmade bed or on the desk, with a note saying "Housekeeping - thank you", in Thai if I can.

Again, I prefer to get it to the person who's cleaning the room, so in a larger place I'll sometimes ask whoever's at the cart in the hall if they have my room. If they do, I hand it directly to them.

Other hotel employees: If someone does me a favor, I feel they deserve something more than a mere thank you. For example, if I've made a foolish mistake with the room safe and someone has to come re-set it for me, I tip. If I've dropped a glass in the bathroom before dinner and ask to have the shards and slivers cleaned up right away, I tip.

Treat others as you'd like to be treated, I say. Someone isn't "below me" merely because they do a job I'd rather not do myself. What goes 'round comes 'round, and besides - out of the total cost of the trip, it's next to nothing.

Hotel Tips #2: Room Safes

As comedian Lenny Bruce commented 50 years ago*, we all tend to be a little protective of our "stuff" - photographs, cell phones, jewelry, our toothbrushes - the collected things we value, for whatever reason. When we travel we're told to protect certain things, too: primarily our passport, traveler's checks, cash, etc.

Every hotel cautions you that you're basically on your own unless you allow them to check your belongings into their safe deposit box at the registration desk, and that's advice everyone would be wise to heed, to a degree - but there's often another option available: the room safe. Many hotels and guest houses provide these, and some have only room safes and no safe keeping at the front desk. Booking sites will tell you what's available 98% of the time.

The example up top today is what you'll see referred to as an "electronic" safe, and from my experience these are by far the most common. I have stayed in one place where you locked the safe with a key you carried with you, but for me that's just one more thing to drop onto the walkway in Jatujak Market while pulling something else out of my pocket, hear drop with a clink down into a squat toilet (don't think too much about that one) or otherwise lose along the way.

Electronic room safes all work in much the same way. When you check into your room you'll find them open and unlocked, with instructions on how to set your own code number to lock and unlock them. Usually that's a matter of pushing a few buttons and then testing it to make sure it works as advertised. I do that after I've looked around the room and out the window, but before I unpack - just in case there's a problem with it that can't be solved quickly and I need to change rooms - which has happened only once. Naturally, that was an earlier trip and I had already unpacked everything. I was not pleased.

Naturally, pick a code you'll find easy to remember and think of someplace you can write it down, perhaps as part of a phone number in case someone else sees it, and try it a couple of times just to get the hang of using it.

On at least three occasions I've had problems with room safes, although two of them were of my own doing. Not following the instructions has caused me to make them inoperable two times, causing me to call the front desk and ask them for help. On one occasion they merely sent the bell boy up (which didn't make me feel too "secure") and another time the manager on duty came up with a witness to key in a master number that cleared the mechanism (that was better). One time I'd set the code and locked the safe to test it, only to find that it wouldn't open again. That time the battery was low enough that it didn't have enough of a charge to open, and that again required a technician to clear up.

Some places (such as the Asia Hotel) have larger dimension electronic safes. The photo up top is one of theirs, and it's large enough to hold a 15" screen laptop. Most are smaller than this, however - so if size is important to you (no cheap jokes here from me today) you may want to think twice about bringing something too large that will need securing, or contact the hotel before booking it and ask for the safe dimensions. I now travel with a netbook that'll fit into any room safe, and find that they're easier to travel with overall.

So... what should you put into your room safe? There are a few standard things I'd suggest: your passport, your traveler's checks, your excess cash and your usual wallet or pocketbook items that you'd carry at home but don't need at a local's market in Hua Hin. In fact, it's always best to only bring what you'll truly need while on holiday and leave your department and grocery store cards at home. That goes for gas, library and other ID cards, too. All you're going to need is your ATM card, the credit card you usually use (and one extra, just in case of an account problem) and maybe your driver's license as an identification card if you don't plan to carry your passport around with you - and that's a separate debate for another post on day to day safety.

Some of you will be planning to bring a guest back to your room, and unless you personally know the person and would trust them to be alone in your home, use the safe to secure anything you wouldn't want to get away before bringing someone back. This avoids two things: opening the safe with a relative stranger in your room, and insulting someone's integrity by doing so. That would cause someone to "lose face", and would sour things. Trust me.

When leaving for any extended period of time - and this is purely a personal call here, depending on your comfort level - put your valuables into the safe and lock them up. When I prepare to leave my room I make sure things like my extra photo memory cards, my netbook, flash drives, camera, MP3 player and other small shiny objects are put into the safe. I only carry the bare basics with me when I go out.

Housekeeping and other hotel staff have never been a problem for me anywhere in Thailand, but it's not wise to leave temptation out and about, in my opinion. Besides, rooms can be broken into and doors and windows can be jimmied. Why take foolish chances?

It's there, it's easy, and it's free. Use the safe.

* As he's done many times during his career George Carlin borrowed this routine idea from LB, but it was his routine originally.

Hotel Tips #1: Mini-Bars

Basic mini bar set-up - at the Asia Hotel, Bangkok

This series is primarily for those who have not yet visited Thailand and "newbies", so seasoned visitors may wish to look back through some of the older posts they may have missed in the past. I'd suggest you try the "Stories" link in the right hand column, but I'm admittedly partial to my own writings!

Visiting Thailand (or any new country you've choosen to explore) can be an adventure. This series will hopefully help you avoid "re-creating the wheel" as we'd say in the US, which means learning from the mistakes and experience of others. I'll try to cover some of the basics that may save you precious time - and all vacation time is precious. First up today are the hotel mini-bars that have been a problem for some friends on their first visits there.

As you enter almost any chain hotel room in Thailand you're bound to notice a mini-bar set up of one form or another; if there's a mini-refrigerator it's usually close to it. This is also true in a high percentage of independent hotels and guest houses, but they're all basically the same: liquor, glasses and a few snacks. The picture up top is a set-up at the Asia Hotel in Bangkok. Usually your refrigerator will also be nearly full with sodas, beer, "label" waters like Evian, chocolate bars and the likes. Trust me - you'll rarely have room for much of anything of your own.

Before you launch into the things on display (or in the refrigerator), be advised that the only things that are available for you without a charge are the napkins and stirring sticks (and the plastic bags the "sanitized" glasses are in - which can actually come in handy). You'll find a price list for everything else, and since the mark-up on things varies by what the market will allow, you're wise to check it out before raiding the supplies. I don't overly skimp when I'm on vacation, but I don't want to pay three or four times as much for something I can buy myself at the 7-Eleven store a block away.

I don't drink alcohol and prefer to stock my own water and snacks so I usually ask the bell boy (or whoever it is who helps me to my room) to ask housekeeping to remove it. You can request this at registration when you're checking in, but you'll more than likely have to call again to remind them to do it. Housekeeping will give probably give you a puzzled look when they arrive, but they'll do it. It's something outside of their normal duties, so I thank them and tip them for coming to haul it away.

I've never stayed anywhere - nor would I want to - that didn't provide you with two free bottles of drinking water on a daily basis, so don't send those away, naturally - but everything else you'll be able to buy within a block or two from where you're staying for a fraction of the cost, and you get to be as safe or adventurous as you like with your selections.

If you're going to be staying at one place for more than a few days I recommend buying a larger bottle (or two) of water at a nearby store when you're returning from your first trip out. They're available in gallon/multi-liter sizes, usually with a carrying handle at the top, and you can use it for drinking, making tea or coffee in your room, washing off fruit and vegetables you purchase on the street, brushing your teeth if the hotel recommends not using your tap water, etc.

I'm repeating an image below from an earlier post about the Regency Park hotel, because their mini-bar set is a little different and included an additional selection of items:

It's actually more of a selection of "extras"; the sodas, beer and alcohol were in the small refrigerator below. You can see, however, the printed price list to the left of the basket - and again, everything here but their own branded bags of nuts (and maybe the map) can be found within a block for far less.

For those of you who - ahem - "entertain" guests in your room you may want to have some of the above items pre-purchased and available to offer them, and be aware that they may wish to help themselves, and in the case of name liquors that can get expensive.

By keeping some fruit and other snacks on hand you're also likely to eat a little healthier when you're just too tired out to go anywhere and want to just stay in. If space and weight in your luggage allow, bring a favorite regional favorite along with you. Sometimes the comfort of a familiar thing from home really hits the spot.

[As a PS - I got to thinking after posting this that I'd forgotten to mention that if you use a basic beverage from the refrigerator (say, a Coke) and you time it right, you can replace it with one from the 7-Eleven before the next housekeeping visit and avoid the overcharged item. I also should have mentioned that if housekeeping takes the items away for you it saves them inventorying them on a daily basis, so it's actually a help to them, too.]