Urinators Anonymous

They’re one of my favorite spots in Thailand, one of the kingdom’s most romantic places, the hot springs of Hin Dat an hour’s drive northwest of Kanchanaburi. To cut a long story short: The public bath with beautiful hot spring water pools are open from 6 am to 10 pm each day. Enjoy a relaxing bath in the hot thermal water with this distinct odor of rotten eggs, i.e. sulphur. After that enjoy a bath in the refreshing little stream bubbling just alongside. And again, and again. Pure idyll. And maybe a massage.

The brook brabbles, the birds are singing and tweeting … Best to be enjoyed close to the opening and closing hours when there are hardly any visitors. So I went there on a Friday night – and guess what, some eager locals were washing out the pools. All the thermal water got pumped off into the stream and the locals were scrubbing the walls. They do that every Friday night, a worker told me. So Saturday morning I tried to be the first in those pools freshly refilled with healthy thermae spring water.

But what a surprise, eager local residents were enjoying the fresh water already! That early! And I thought I’d be alone … It’s still dark, not a ray of sunlight. Local residents relax in the quiet peace of the hot mineral-rich spring water of Hin Dat before the tourists arrive. Only one guy was talking, and I heard him say – obviously not the least bothered that me farang could understand: “Yesterday afternoon, there were so many farangs in the water. God was that water dirty. Now it’s clean again.”

Well, that yesterday afternoon I’d been at the Hin Dat hot springs as well being a thermae junky. The only foreigners I saw was us … I’m aware that us cheese lovers may feature certain secretions – but polluting a whole landscaped swimming area? I didn’t answer in Thai. Didn’t feel like starting a verbal challenge. It’s all sabai sabai in there. He would have been so embarrassed that the ground would have swallowed him up. Was it outright racism?

Later on after breakfast I returned to the springs – yep, the fourth time in two days – and guess what: bus hordes of Russians were unloaded and headed straight for the pools. But … not a single specimen of the pallid northerners headed for the toilets. Well, a few minutes after dozens of Russians took over the pools a strange subtle odor seemed to emerge from beneath.

Not the kind of sulphur smell. But an acrid, distinct urine-like smell.

In an instant we were out of the water heading straight for the showers. Must have missed a similar busload the other day … Russians arrive there every day by the busloads, we were afterwards told.

Maybe that Thai referring to polluting farangs wasn’t too racist after all. But then again, and that’s not a rough generalization, that’s an insight gained after many years of dedicated observation:

Nowhere in the kingdom you find cleaner toilets than beside swimming pools.

Hardly anyone seems to use ‘em.




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January 24, 2010 | Filed Under Being Farang, Culture Shock, Sports & Fun, The Thai Mind, Travel & Tourism 

Comments

9 Responses to “Urinators Anonymous”

  1. David on January 25th, 2010 9.40 am

    The Hin Dat hot springs is a personal favorite of mine too. I wish the river was deeper though, so you could take a proper swim in it. I’ll be sure to visit AFTER the cleaning next time.

  2. Talen on January 25th, 2010 12.32 pm

    Dan, I hadn’t heard about the springs before but it’s definitely on my list now … after the cleaning that is. Sounds like a great weekend getaway.

  3. BangkokDan on January 25th, 2010 12.46 pm

    Glad to hear you’ll head there Talen.

    A few additional points:

    - There’s the nearby Green World Resort (tel. 034 531 382), some 1,400 baht the night with breakfast. Jurassic Park-like entrance and neglected, but great golf course attached with a green fee for 490 baht. Am no golfer, but the location and price were tempting so I tried my luck.

    - Avoid high season and long weekends to visit Hin Dat. Best is after Songkran all the way through November. December through January the resort is besieged by Koreans flying in for pro golf courses.

    - The hot pools are best to be enjoyed when it’s raining cats and dogs. Only snow would be even nicer.

    - And if your Thai is good enough to pretend you’re some kind of Thai the entrance fee is 10 baht for the whole day, otherwise 200 baht for 45 minutes …

    BangkokDan

  4. Chunkton on January 25th, 2010 6.31 pm

    The Thais have a good point about dirty farangs, just visit any dirty farang country and then see the pristine beauty of Thailand, the difference is obvious.

  5. Jaded on January 25th, 2010 7.10 pm

    Chunkton:

    You’ve reminded me of an event at the Siam Society early last year. Sumet Jumsai presided at a book launch and reading. He launched into a very odd anecdote about the famous Thai delegation to the 17th century royal court of France publicly bathing in a French river. I had the same cringe response to his remarks on Thai cleanliness then that I am having now … Yep, based on my observations this country is some kind of model of cleanliness alright …

  6. Oneditorial on January 25th, 2010 10.52 pm

    I was a bit surprised that you were out of the water so quickly. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I thought most Western men take a lot of pleasure in engaging in water sports. Nice and warm.

    (BD: Guess I’m too old-fashioned 555.)

  7. MongerSEA on January 27th, 2010 12.00 pm

    Dan, it would have behooved you to have seized the “teachable moment.” You could have let the Thais on the scene that their own government, via the Tourist Authority of Thailand, spent tens of millions of baht of their tax money in Russian-language markets to promote Thailand as a destination.

    You would have earned bonus points had you been able to convey a pithy Thai equivalent to the English aphorism “Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas.”

  8. Rick on February 1st, 2010 3.40 pm

    Hi

    Funny you explaining that the farangs are the dirty ones. Is it common knowledge that Russians pee in the water? I doubt it. What about all the locals jumping in the springs without even changing their already worn (and sweated in) clothing?

    What your article though describes is that independent verification of what’s clean or what’s not is non-existent in Thailand. Officials rave about the health qualities of the springs without any evidence than a hunch. The same hunch that possibly leads to slagging the Russians.

    The entrance fee is just 40 baht for foreigners, not 200. That is for a private bath. BTW, it is 100 baht (or was, Aug. ‘09) double the local amount.

    Rick

    (BD: Thanks for the correction Rick. I wasn’t implying anything actually, but if you’re looking for the toilets they’re hard to find. That’s maybe why the changing rooms smell like them.)

  9. Rick on February 6th, 2010 2.14 pm

    That’s OK. Can’t remember whether or not there were changing rooms. Might have mistaken them for toilets!

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