Asian Toilets

[Just Susan]

Asian toilets and trash.........

Note: No flush handle on any of them.
This is how you flush...dip from the pail, pour into the receptacle you have been squatting over. For best results, try to pour between leg spasms and cramping thighs.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/Toilets/PC121319.jpg

Uh, uh, uh...don't put tissue in the toilet, use the waste basket please. Ewwwww!

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/Toilets/PB280183.jpg

This one your feet grip the sides of the "hole" instead of straddling the fixture. Just looking at it makes my legs hurt.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/Toilets/PC080471.jpg

I longed for a sit down version and then ...and then ...I found one

Oh yea!?!??

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/Toilets/PB280184.jpg

Still no flushy of the paper...and I ranked this one a Double Eeeewwww!

Finally, I thought this trash can was clever...note the ooze dripping from its upper teeth.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/Toilets/PB290294.jpg

[renielarson]

For the life of me I can't remember where I was, but it was somewhere here in the States and a bathroom had a couple of those squatter toilets. I attempted to use one just out of curiousity but after a couple attempts of trying to position myself I said FORGET IT and found a sit down toilet instead!

Btw Susan...did you ever master using one of those? ;D

[Just Susan]

Heck no! I practised bladder control. Think about the logistics of wearing slacks and using one of those. Even if you could do it your clothes would be touching something filthy.

[renielarson]

:agree: I know exactly what you're talking about. That's why I said NO WAY!

[KathieI]

That's one reason I've never been to Asia! Heard about these years ago and thought - NO WAY!! I'll stay home...

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Hi Susan,

I have used all of the toilets you have pictured plus some you did not picture. Perhaps we shared adjoining booths and did not even know it. ;D

I think it was in Beijing, at the Palace, they have a plaque outside one of the bathrooms stating it is a four or a five star bathroom.

It was quite impressive, it was clean, modern, sit downs only for the women, do not know about the men. If my memory serves me correctly it had a resting room with comfortable chairs and a TV.

Did you go to this one while you were in China?

What I found quite amazing in the out lying provinces that some of the bathrooms had no odor at all.

HB

[l2ridehd]

HB, don't be amazed by the no odor, just understand why. Guess where that stuff goes to keep it so clean and odor free? Did you eat the rice or other vegetables? ;D

The other thing that amazed me was not just the hole in the floor, but never any toilet paper. It got so that when I left the hotel every AM, I would take a wad of there paper just in case.

[Just Susan]

Kathie the inconvenience of the toilets is far, far, outweighed by the wonder and mystery of Asia.

If you can imagine a gender slant on everything, then Japan, China are masculine in their order and precision...move west and as you do things soften and flow ending in India the ultimate of femininity. It is strange but the attitude really does change like that. Another influence is north to south. It is an awesome part of the world!!!

Yes HB I did go to that one and what a relief it was. You know what I don't remember doors on the stalls in the ones I posted pictures of...do you remember doors?

No odor and clean in areas of tourism. How? Manpower tons of it. Get farther out and/or into the warmer countries and the cleanliness decreases.

l2ridehd, you are right about the TP it was in 2002 a rare find. I came prepared with a big 12 roll package of TP. I figured it was a space holder for all the stuff I would buy and as we used it, it did make room for the "stuff" in the luggage. Unfortunately, we couldn't use the TP fast enough to keep up with the "stuff" we/I bought. Hmmm I think I like shopping on vacation. We began shipping things home another story in itself.

I would not bring TP with me anymore, but I do think it prudent to buy a Costco type packaging of pocket sized Kleenix. Very convenient to grab one of those and slip it into you pocket.

In all fairness this is also a Chinese public bathroom. It just depends on where you go.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/PC010495.jpg

[redwitch]

Gotta admit I thought they were pretty cool as a kid -- a toilet I could use that my mom couldn't. (Okay, I was a kid with a wicked sense of humor.) They always smelled better than any Kentucky outhouse I've ever had the joy (?) of using.

One other reason for the lack of odor is Asians eat little beef. Most Asians think Americans in general stink -- beef body odor is definitely offensive to vegetarians and to those who eat little to no beef.

[Sgt Mac]

Those are the nicer one The foot print Hooper's I also seen them in France
but the ones in Asia in your photo there is no usual Chicken or Ducks running around with the green slime or slip hazard and yes Beef is not big on their menu but Carp etc is big on the menu along with its own aroma
One of the big things Americans miss after being in Asia awhile is flush toilets and Milk
Da Sgt ::)

[redwitch]

Personally, I think the grossest "toilets" are in the Middle East. There is a reason why the right hand is chopped off if caught stealing -- you can no longer eat from the communal pot since the left hand is unclean (and I do mean seriously unclean).

I do remember being fascinated in central Africa. There were no facilities per se. You found a low-growing plant and squatted. The leaves were the toilet paper. Of course, being a kid, I thought this was pretty cool. Mom used to carry a chamber pot (of sorts) in her purse (boy, was that a huge purse!).

[WLAN56]

Back in my other life, I use to travel to Italy and ran into hole/footprint toilets several times. A couple of times were in pretty good restruants. The first time my wife experienced one, we were on a bus tour, it was running late so we made an unscheduled stop in a small village. A small store was the only thing available but they assured our tour director that we were all welcome to share their single facility. Several women ahead of us looked in and walked out talking to themselves. Some thing about "No Way". ??? When we got to the head, my wife looked in, grabbed my hand and said that she needed support. After all, they did say we could share. She held my arm for support and did what was necessary. Everyone in line behind us ended up doing the same too some. What every works. ;). After that experience, my wife started collecting photo's of various bathroom facilities in our travels. Sorry, but they are now buried with other pictures and hard to access.

[Just Susan]

Aaahhh yes another toilet collector... ;)

I've never been there, but my sister who has been to Mongolia several times. She has horrific stories of the runs and no where to go but a trough down the side of the street, where... when the need occured people just stopped, dropped and then went on with their business. Mind you this was in town not a remote country road.

We are so pampered in this country.

[Mintjulep]

My best friend's son and family (4 kids) became missionaries and moved to China 3 years ago.
One of their hardest adjustments was having just one bathroom with that 'squatty potty'.

We really are spoiled here in the USA! (Thank goodness!)

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Bathrooms Al Fresco

Yes, you read correctly. When we were travelling in Costa Rica on a bus tour there were times when the ladies went to one side of the road and the gents to the other side.

We all laughed about our experiences. I think we decided we were all "true locals" after that experience.

I guess this was our breaking in for a trip to Mongolia. ;)

HB

[Mintjulep]

HB,
When we were in Costa Rica, we did find bathrooms to use.
But they usually didn't have electricity, so you couldn't see much.
Maybe that was for the good!!! :yikes:

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Mint, we also had more conventional toilets.

Perhaps we all should get together and write about our "Toileting Experiences Around the World?" ;D

HB

[Mintjulep]

I found Honduras to be my worst bathroom experience... :barf:

[Mikitv]

We visited China in 1980 in the area near the Macau border. The toilets there were tiled floors with a hole in the floor. On each side of the hole were foot outlines to place your feet. The only thing I can say at that time is I was young, agile and the bathrooms were spotless. The had a pull chain to flush them. In Hong Kong the toilets were more modern and cleaner than most in the US. They always had an attendant in the bathroom so they were spotless.

[benj]

I hang around with a bunch of New Yorker's, They are a riot.
Anyway last year one of them got married to a 5th generation Colorado guy. They decided to have the wedding up on the Colorado/wyoming border where the family had a cabin on a homesteaded property. The property has been in the family for over 100 years.
The funny part is the cabin must have been that old too. The whole thing leaned to the left and the floor was so uneven that it made me motion sick to walk through it. There were about 100 people there including a good number of New Yorker's there alot of them let's just say in their senior years. So anyway the only facilities available was one out house, a one holer, at least as old as the cabin.
I got such a kick out of seeing peoples expressions when told that that was their bathroom choice. Many of the New Yorkers had never even seen an outhouse before, I'm sure, but we were 30 miles at least to any modern facilities so they had no choice. But you should have heard the conversations the little old ladies from New York had about them. It was hilarious. Benj

[Just Susan]

Perhaps we all should get together and write about our "Toileting Experiences Around the World?" ;D

HB



We are HB, this thread has become a bathroom venting area for the travelers of the world. ;D

Somewhere I was amazed at was England and Wales. Some of the places we stayed required the sharing of the bathroom with everyone else on your floor or if a B&B maybe even both floors.

I know in recent years Europe has upgraded to accomodate American tourist standards, but it was pretty 1800's in the 1900's.

Benj, Would love to have been a fly on the wall (not of the outhouse!!!) to listen to the comments. I love NYC sense of humor.

[F16 1UB]

Bathrooms Al Fresco

Yes, you read correctly. When we were travelling in Costa Rica on a bus tour there were times when the ladies went to one side of the road and the gents to the other side.

We all laughed about our experiences. I think we decided we were all "true locals" after that experience.

I guess this was our breaking in for a trip to Mongolia. ;)

HB



Mongolia - sounds like home to me. Inside toilet is premo in my book. ;D

[Sgt Mac]

Any of the New Yorker say. . . Yo I got your Outhouse

once a pond a time "we" had a outhouse with a old drum that would be burt every morning but some new guy put Gas in it some OLD GUY was smoking when the junt when up ???

ho know look out :dontknow: :redface: ;D

Da Sgt

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Susan when you were in England did you happen to use a four or five star award winning bathroom?

One of the places where we had afternoon tea had a framed certificate that there bathroom received this award.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm not to sure my bathroom could pass that test. We do not have various colognes, perfumes, etc out for anyone to use. ???

HB

[Hyacinth Bucket]

France - in one of the quaint villages we visited instead of what we would consider tp they had strips of newspaper hanging on the side of the toilet.

Fly in the Tank - yes - Not to sure if it was in England or another country in Europe but in the mens bathroom there was a picture of a fly in the bottom of the bowl - purpose - to improve your aim. I think that says it all about men. 1rnfl 1rnfl 1rnfl

Of the men I was travelling with in this group only one person noticed the fly. I think that tells you why their aim may not be the best.

HB

[Just Susan]

Good one HB
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/36_1_551.gif http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/36_11_61.gif http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/36_1_551.gif http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/36_11_61.gif http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/36_1_551.gif http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/lake21brook/36_11_61.gif

[njgranny]

My sister-in-law grew up in a house with outdoor plumbing. Her father was a plumber!!!!!! And had a good job. There was a complete bathroom in the house, but it wasn't hooked up. They kept their shampoos, etc. in the clean, empty toilet.

My mother thought we were pulling her leg until she visited their home. It was like "Ma and Pa Kettle" if you remember them.

Wonderful people - but a little eccentric.