Okay that isn't completely true. In the bars and restaurants here you need to wear a tshirt in order to be served. Because it's awkward and annoying when you have a half naked and wet customer. Imagine?
On the other hand, I mean on the feet side you don't need anything of footwear here.We call it barefoot paradise here and strongly encourage this practise. In order to have a more relaxed atmosphere and for obvious reasons. Shoes and other footwear make walking on soft, white powdery sand quite hard. So you need a pretty good reason (like a bandaged toe) to be wearing footwear on this island.
The uniform here is quite relaxed as well. In fact I feel like the higher up the ladder you get, the more comfortable your clothes get. So for instance the general manger wear shorts and a white shirt. In fact so do the other managers. While the front office, island host and food and beverage staff have sarongs and shirts. The sarongs are not like your beach ones, although the girl versions have slits, they are kind of like a-line skirts. Housekeeping, excursions and transfers also get to wear shorts cause sarongs are inconvenient for doing some real labour. Then you have engineering staff and other mechanical people who have to wear those race car driver kind of rompers.
However what we all have in common is lack of footwear. Almost every staff member eventually gives up on footwear after a point. It's just simpler.
In fact one of the things I love most about here is, unlike the city you need to travel minimal. Just your phone and room keys (unless you can find a place to hide them). Somedays like when I go for a swim or snorkel I don't take anything with me except the clothes and swimsuit on my body. This feels so much more relaxing because I'm not thinking about where I put my possessions all the time.
The island also has this system where you don't pay in cash anywhere except the receptions. This includes staff as well. Every human creature on this island has something known as a 'sign-in' number which is sort of like your account on the island. So everywhere you go, just name, sign in number and sign. Simple! No money hassle. Of course this can make you spend more. Good sales strategy, but so much more relaxing.
The ocean breeze, soft white sand, nice comfy clothes (it's fine if they don't have pockets) and just your free hands and legs. No need to lug a bag with essentials for the day. Just yourself. It's so liberating to walk around like that.
It's one of the things that struck me and I'm probably going to miss most when I go to a city. The entire island feels like home. Everything is just a walk away. Work, rooms, canteen, bars, restaurants, cafe, tea house, shop, everything is literally a few trees, sky and feet away.
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