Oh Mandee...

"... you came and you gave without taking, then you sent me away...OOH Mandee...." Eric sings this as he splashes gleefully about in the bathroom.

For the uninitiated: the bathing method of choice of most of South and Southeast Asia is the mandee (pronounced mon-deeee). The mandee consists of a big bucket, a large scoop, a faucet, and sometimes a stool. Sometimes there is a shower head as well, which may or may not work. Hot water will come for a specific few hours in the morning, or may be promised and not come, or isn't promised at all. Most hotel bathrooms have a western toilet; some also include the ever popular squat toilet. So the bathroom usually consists of some toilet(s), some bathing method(s), a sink, and a drain; the bathing area is the same as the rest of the room with no curtain.

While I find a cool shower refreshing in the afternoon, I'm still all about the warm water pulsing down one's neck and shoulders thing. Eric, he loves the mandee. Which might explain the condition sometimes of our bathroom back home. I complain that a duck has been bathing in our sink. Eric just quacks.