Heading off to Thailand and Cambodia for 3 weeks in June/July and we would like to do our usual "pack light". One our recent trips to Africa and to Australia/New Zealand we were able to get laundry done very inexpensively at the places we stayed. I don't want to have to spend 1/2 a day at the local version of a laundromat so am wondering if it is possible to get laundry done at hotels. I don't mind paying, but I don't want to be spending a ton of our travel money either. What's the best way to get clothes done? We'll be in BKK, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Siem Reap.

Recently in Siem Reap it was $2 per kilo to have lanudry done at a local place.
We asked our guide, Ponheary, to recommend a place and we dropped the clothes off on our way to a day of touring. Can't remember if we picked them up same day or next day, but they were clean and pressed and perfect.
The hotel was prohibitively expensive.
I've never seen self-serve laundomats anywhere in Asia.
I've found that areas which backpackers frequent tend to have higher concentrations of places to have laundry done and are cheaper. If you are staying in guesthouses then you may be able to have it done there.

You can get laundry done at the hotels, but it will cost a fair amount. However, all of the places you are going have cheap laundry places everywhere. There will be many signs that say laundry. they charge by the kilogram. we got ours done three times on our recent trip.

Some hotels do your laundry for free; others it costs as much to do the laundry as it would to buy new clothes in that location! There are always laundries nearby that will do you clothing cheaply for a very low price. Some of these laundries will press clothing for a bit more, some will not.

Sounds like the best bet will be to drop clothes off at a local place prior to setting off with our guide or on whatever other venture we are heading off to that day and then pick it up on the way home. Ponheary is taking care of us in Siem Reap so that should work fine. Thanks everyone!

I just had to come back add something here.

My mom got home from Chiang Mai last night and said she had laundry done there as well.
Apparantly, she committed a major faux pas by including her underwear with the laundry to be done. The woman who did it was quite firm when she said she "doesn't normally do underwear, but did it anyway, and would not do it again!".
I guess when the laundry is being done by hand and not in a machine, one does not turn in one's underwear?
She did not have this issue in Siem Reap, btw.

I wasn't aware of this because I've always done them myself just 'cause.

Anyone know if there is any kind of "rule" about this?

Kristina, I have heard of this but never experienced it. And I've had laundry done all across SE Asia (as well as elsewhere).

I've had panda's delicates done all over SEA with never a complaint. This is the first I've heard of any such rule.

I actually did run into this in rural Africa - especially in the Okavanga Delta. But that's easy enough to do by hand in the sink. Mostly I want to be able to get the pants and shirts done.

Hmmm...the visual of a panda's delicates is quite the interesting one !

prices at hotels are usually higher than at dozens of places that are around your hotel. we found prices in Sukhomvit more expensive than around KSR in Bangkok. Around KSR, there are dozens of options for only 25-30 baht per kilogram. We got it done in under 5 hours for 50 baht per kilogram at one of these places. in Sukhomvit, prices were around 100 baht per kilo.

We had laundry done at hotels in Bangkok (Sheraton RO), Khoa Lak (Baan Khoalak) and Chiang Rai (Anantara), the most it cost was $12 USD. We had a ton of laundry done in Khoa Lak as we had been sailing for two weeks prior and everything was in need. Something like 14 tee shirts, 2 jackets, 6 pair of pants, socks, delicates, etc. and the cost was only the $12. I never felt it was worth the time to hunt an independent laundry and drop off and retrieve. Preferred to sit on the beach while the wash was being done.

There are fluff & fold laundry places in Khao Lak in the area where all the shops/supermarket it & the prices range from 50--70 BHT a kilo.. I can't imagine having my delicate bras laundered, but certainly cotton undies should be able to be laundered. I had stuff laundered in China (while on a boat on the Yangtze) & it was all hand scrubbed & cleaner than it had ever been w/ my US washing machine! Ditto for bras, although at that time (when it was much less westernized), some women complained about this very lacy bras 'disappearing' ... since stuff like that could not be bought in China at the time (1985). LOL!