I have a friend traveling to China soon and shared this very funny blog about toilets

[Stacy in NJ]

:lol: CONTENT WARNING - bad language and disgusting mental images.

http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000348.html

[Laura Corin]

Just for an interesting cultural comparison: Chinese people find the idea of blowing your nose on a handkerchief and then pocketing it completely disgusting.

Best wishes

Laura

[Stacy in NJ]

So do I, as do most Americans. That's why we use disposible tissues.

[Janet in WA]

So do I, as do most Americans. That's why we use disposible tissues.Amen.

[*anj*]

So do I, as do most Americans. That's why we use disposable tissues.
Ditto.

[Laura Corin]

The point I was trying (inadequately) to put across was this:

The Chinese people are poor and ill-educated, and their country is developing rapidly. Its habits will undoubtedly change over the next fifty years, just as the West's have (our grandparents found pocketing a handkerchief normal - we do not, Chinese people never have). In the mean time, I find it rude to laugh at people's lack of education, as evidenced by dirty toilets.

One of my former students from China went to study at Penn State. When I visited him there, he commented that the toilets there didn't smell. Until that moment, it had never occurred to him that this was possible - as far as he, an intelligent man and an artist of some talent, was concerned, toilets smelled. Should we laugh at him for his ignorance? Where's the charity in that?

Laura

[Volty]

Just for an interesting cultural comparison: Chinese people find the idea of blowing your nose on a handkerchief and then pocketing it completely disgusting.

Best wishes

Laura

They prefer to lean over, cover one nostril, and blow the mucus out of the other nostril and onto the ground. Then repeat for the other side.

No, I'm not joking.

[Lorna]

The point I was trying (inadequately) to put across was this:

The Chinese people are poor and ill-educated, and their country is developing rapidly. Its habits will undoubtedly change over the next fifty years, just as the West's have (our grandparents found pocketing a handkerchief normal - we do not, Chinese people never have). In the mean time, I find it rude to laugh at people's lack of education, as evidenced by dirty toilets.

One of my former students from China went to study at Penn State. When I visited him there, he commented that the toilets there didn't smell. Until that moment, it had never occurred to him that this was possible - as far as he, an intelligent man and an artist of some talent, was concerned, toilets smelled. Should we laugh at him for his ignorance? Where's the charity in that?

Laura

:iagree:

It is very much what one is used to. It was strange for us to travel from France where the public lavatories are holes in the ground through Germany where in one lavatory the seat revolved after you were finished with it :scared:

By the way, I use cloth hankies...:leaving:

[Karen sn]

I personally think American toilets are disgusting. And yes - you can catch stuff from a toilet seat! Rare - but it CAN happen.
Placing your back side on a toilet where everyone has placed theirs is a bit gross. Not too mention that squating is actually the proper way to poop. When we squat our internal parts are aligned in a manner that facilitates evacuation of the bowels - I have heard that it also lowers hemmorhoid (sp?)rates as well.
I grew up in the states - was never exposed to an alternative toilet - and still, as a child even, have always thought "modern" bathrooms are disgusting. And while we're at it - why keep toothbrushes in there? We eat in a kitchen, a kitchen is "cleaner" - so why not have a small sink for brushing teeth in THERE.
I think "kithen,mouth" and "bathroom,butt."
Is it just me?

[Karen sn]

I carry hankercheifs when I need them too.

[Jenny in Atl]

I saw this one on a climber's board a while ago. It's funny to see how we humans deal with this part of life, both at this point in our history, and in the past.

http://www.cromwell-intl.com/toilet/

[Dot]

nt

[PrairieAir]

I just learned about this type of toilet on a different blog the other day. I'd never heard of it before that. I think I would prefer to go in the woods over a hole I have to dig myself. I know that's not always an option. If the squat toilets were not so dirty, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad.

As for nose blowing, I think handkerchiefs are disgusting. Dh uses them sometimes when he works because it's hard to run for tissue every time you have to blow your nose on a construction site. If he doesn't have a handkerchief, he uses the method Volty described and it seems this is the preferred method for many construction workers. I'm happy to be home where toilet paper or Kleenex is always handy.:001_smile:

[PrairieAir]

Oh, and the blog post linked here? Yes, it was crude, but I appreciate crude humor. I thought it was pretty funny:D I don't think it was mocking the Chinese necessarily as much as laughing at that person's experience which would be a little disgusting and humiliating for one not used to such toilets. (And pretty disgusting probably for those used to them as well.)

[Stacy in NJ]

What's life without laughing at ourselves and others? I like a good laugh. And, I don't think it (the article) was intended to be mean spirited. The writer is a frequent visiter to Asia and enjoys his experiences. Honestly, I think you're being to sensitive. Obviously, the Chinese are masters of their own very ancient and impressive culture. But, to each their own. That's why I included the CONTENT WARNING.

[Crissy]

The toilets (and the many stalls without doors) were a difficult adjustment for me when we visited China last year. Not because I felt superior in any way, but because I was so completely out of my comfort zone.

[Pencil Pusher]

What's life without laughing at ourselves and others? I like a good laugh. And, I don't think it (the article) was intended to be mean spirited. The writer is a frequent visiter to Asia and enjoys his experiences. Honestly, I think you're being to sensitive. Obviously, the Chinese are masters of their own very ancient and impressive culture. But, to each their own. That's why I included the CONTENT WARNING.

I'm not sure what we can laugh at if not toilets.

[Lisa at Home]

Even if people don't want to say these things out loud, if I had this experience, I can see myself muttering these same things in my head!:rolleyes:

~Lisa

[Cathy in TX]

Imagine having a potty-training girl try to use one of these whenever you left home, when there was a traditional American toilet in your apartment. That was my dilemma 12 years ago in Taiwan. Suffice it to say we came up with a unique method that worked for us. : )

[Gwen in TX]

The toilets (and the many stalls without doors) were a difficult adjustment for me when we visited China last year. Not because I felt superior in any way, but because I was so completely out of my comfort zone.


It was made even harder by being the Western object of so many staring eyes. Hard enough to balance, holding clothing out of the way, with a packet of tissues in your mouth (where else are you going to put them?), but having to do this with people in line watching you because there is no door!

I learned if you keep walking past the squat toilets, you sometimes find a toilet for a handicapped person - with a commode!

Oh, and it isn't just Chinese toilets which are different -- In the Vatican, they have toilets, but no seats. I think this was on purpose, because the bathrooms are modern, clean, - just no seats.

All over Europe, we were amazed by the diversity of means of flushing toilets and turning on water at the sink. Buttons, knobs, chains, pedals on the floor - it was a mental test every place we went.

[Kate in Arabia]

I have to say that I've used my fair share of squat toilets and most of them have been quite clean. If you think about it, it is much easier to clean than our style.. and of course, I have visited some *choice* restrooms in the States, I don't think anyone has the corner on dirty restrooms.

The big thing I hear about is that Americans are so dirty because we don't use water to clean ourselves in the restroom. You may not find tissue in some restrooms in this area of the world but there will always be some kind of watering mechanism, lol.

I guess it's all what you are accustomed to. We're trying to have our kids be, uh, proficient in both styles 'cause you just never know where you'll be...

[Cindy in FL.]

The house we live in has bidets in two of the bathrooms. My husband loves them. Me, I just can't get myself to even give them a try. It really is so much what you are used to. That being said, a bathroom where you can see the "dirt" is a bit hard to stomach!

Cindy

[*anj*]

I would love to have a bidet. My friend (who lives here in the States) has vulvodynia and vestibulitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulvodynia), so sometimes using toilet paper is painful for her. Her dh installed a toilet with a bidet for her and it is so much better.

I have a question though...
My friend uses a little tp to blot herself dry afterwards. What do people do about that in countries where there is a bidet, but no tp? Do they just air dry?

I don't mean to be offensive in any way. It's just something I've wondered about....

[Amy loves Bud]

I thought the squatty potties in SE Asia were very clever when I was in college. We were pretty remote, so some were installed in the dirt, and there was no flushing mechanism, but a barrel of water nearby. You would just pour some of the water into the potty, and everything just went down, and a bit of clean water stayed above.

It seems silly writing this, but I was 19 then, so everything was pretty fascinatingS!

[*anj*]

Several years ago I went on a kind of retreat at a monastery in Arkansas. The people there try to live simply and to conserve every kind of resource. They had a couple of regular bathrooms, but they also had several dry toilets. There was basically a toilet seat over a hole in the ground. Nearby there was a big bucket full of sawdust. After doing your business you were supposed to cover it over with a scoopful of sawdust. It really wasn't terribly smelly in there, and it certainly saved on their water bill.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I grew up with toilets like the Chinese squat ones but in Japan (but not in our house, we had a western one).

When my parents first went to Japan right after WWII, there were no western toilets and even the squat toilets were outside in an outhouse. My parents had a western toilet shipped over by boat and had it installed in the outhouse outside. My mom was shocked to see the workmen standing ON THE TOILET SEAT trying to figure out how these crazy westerners worked this thing (ie. how they could aim straight)! They thought my parents were terribly unhygenic.

Flash forward 60 years later, now almost every home in Japan has a bidet - even the stalls in public places like the airport has them! My kids were more freaked out by the bidets - not knowing when or where they would be squirted!

*anj* - the Japanese bidet's had a button that started a little dryer for your bottom! I don't know if that is standard. . .

[*anj*]

*anj* - the Japanese bidet's had a button that started a little dryer for your bottom! I don't know if that is standard. . .

Awesome! Thanks for letting me know. :D

[kalanamak]

:lol: CONTENT WARNING - bad language and disgusting mental images.

http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000348.html


When I was a bit younger and my knee wasn't wonky, I loved these toilets and tried to get one imported to install in my BR! The angle it puts your pelvis in is the one we use in nature, and, IMO, not unpleasant.