Toilet paper often seems like a scarcity in Thailand. From what I hear and deduce, Thai people somehow use a hose to accomplish what my family and friends from home and I would normally accomplish with toilet paper. Any questions going through your mind about this process have likely entered mine as well, and I have not found answers yet, so don't ask me. But when traveling in Thailand, a good rule of thumb, I have found, is BYOTP, just to be safe.
Fortunately my host family keeps a supply of toilet paper in the home. It didn't take me long to realize that I was the only one who used it in the restroom (this realization came when I finished the first roll and saw that other people had used the facility but the roll had not been replaced). I asked my little host sister where I could find more, and she directed me to a large COSTCO-sized package of toilet paper rolls. Paradise! (Note: The package, along with several other Things, is set on the top of an old, dusty, shelf of some kind-- this is the space my host family uses to store their Things. It is unorganized, overwhelming, and not aesthetically pleasing in the least.) I knew that I was set, toilet-paper-wise, for the rest of my eight-week homestay.
Six and a half weeks have passed, and my in-home toilet paper experiences have been largely uneventful. I have even begun to snag a roll to carry in my purse, that I might adhere to previously mentioned rule of thumb. Largely uneventful, until this weekend. Saturday morning I was procuring a new roll to place in the bathroom, and I noticed I was down to four rolls. This would be fine, I calculated, four rolls to last me 13 days. By Sunday night, however, the roll was empty. I knew I hadn't finished it alone, because I was not the one to use the last of it. At this rate, it would not last me, but, I figured, I could always buy some more at Say-wen-Elay-wen, so, mai pen rai. I put the third-to-last roll in the bathroom Sunday evening. Monday night (last night), the roll was gone. I began to grow suspicious, but I placed the second-to-last roll in the bathroom last night before I went to bed. This morning, THAT roll was gone. These rolls of toilet paper are nowhere to be found. No one in my family has diarrhea as far as I know (not that they could or would tell me if they did), but even if they did, THEY DON'T USE TOILET PAPER THE WAY WE DO.
They're STEALING it. They're HIDING it. There is no other realistic conclusion. Now I have no choice: I must keep the toilet paper in my bedroom, perhaps I need to keep it hidden, even in my room, taking one serving at a time with me each time I use the bathroom.
I am thankful that it did not come to this any sooner during my homestay. I am also thankful, not for the first time, that my host family cannot and does not read this blog.
Next Wednesday (that's just one week from now), our "spring break" begins. I plan to spend the week in Ko Phi Phi, pronounced "go pee pee." We will likely spend most of our time on the larger island, Ko Phi Phi Don, but perhaps take a day trip via longboat to the smaller island called Ko Phi Phi Leh.