Pannatat Asawapitakchon, owner of a floating restaurant in Phuket in southern Thailand, said he witnessed a female tourist defecating behind the Buddha statues outside the restaurant during closing hours on May 22 when he was sitting inside, according to Thai daily newspaper Khaosod. He then went out to ask her to clean up the area.
“At first she didn’t accept responsibility, but after talking for a while, she went to clean the spot where she had defecated,” he said.
“But it wasn’t clean enough, so I had to clean it again myself. That’s why I want to ask the relevant agencies about public restrooms – I’d like them to build restrooms in the Rawai Beach area.”
Such incidents had occurred twice on his restaurant premises, he added. A week before the incident, the owner said he had seen another foreign tourist defecating in front of the restaurant.
In a Facebook post last week, Pannatat said tourists and passers-by were welcome to use the restroom in his restaurant during opening hours. While staff had previously suggested charging a restroom fee, the restaurant had decided it could afford costs such as labour, water, electricity, tissue paper and cleaning supplies.
