Toilets of the World
Apparently some guy has taken the time to photograph toilets he has visited around the world. I’m not one for toilet humor in the slightest, but I find it amusing that he would even think of doing this. I’ve been to some downright SCARY public bathrooms around the world, so I found it interesting where many of his photographs are from. Hmm.
I’ve been in many, many bathrooms where there are no seats attached to the porcelain bowl and where there is no flushing device; countless “Turkish toilets” (you squat over a hole) where when you flush, the entire floor floods with water which would include dousing the bottom of your pants; and there are plenty worldwide where – well, lets just say their cleanliness is indescribable. It’s important to always carry toilet paper with you (and hand sanitizer), because although many bathrooms provide toilet paper, sometimes it comes in the form of old newspaper strips.
I have a fond memory of visiting a friend’s home in Kosova, and I needed to use their outhouse. It was night, it was muddy, and there were frogs and bugs everywhere. There was no door to the outhouse, it was pitch black – so I couldn’t see if there was anything to jump and bite me on the butt, and best of all – I had an audience of old women laughing at the spectacle. But the funniest one I’ve ever seen (and I SO wish I had a photo of this) was in Kosova, up on a hill in the middle of nowhere. It looks like a typical outhouse with a curtain for a door, but when you pull back the curtain, there’s no hole – half of the floor is hanging off the edge of a cliff. They provided you with a pole to hang on to so that you could do your business off the edge. And I don’t know what was a bottom of that cliff. I am not making this up.
So now you know much more about me than you might have thought possible. Please still visit us when we move overseas. I promise we’ll have nice normal toilets in our home.
posted: 06 April 12
under: culture
I have heard Turkish toilets are supposed to be more healthy. They are also eaisier to squat (your skin does not touch where someone else’s skin touched) over than the western toilets. A hole in the ground is a little daunting and the Bathroom Books would not be very popular.
I never got that skilled at using squat toilets.
When my Mom was visiting us in Kyiv, we took her on the requisite tour of St. Sophia’s. Along the way, we needed to take a potty break. We paid our 25 kopeks, and went into the rather clean restroom. I couldn’t remember whether I should face the wall or the door. I faced the wall, and a good thing I did.
Yes, the formerly dry wall and floor was quite wet when I was done. And I had two squares of TP, so couldn’t clean up.
I was so embarrassed, I just walked out as fast as I could, and hoped the lady guarding the toilets didn’t realize the mess was from the Americanka.
A friend of mine went to Base Camp on Everest and said it had the scariest toilet he’d ever used. It was literally two poles jammed into the side of the mountain. You were supposed to shimmy along them and do your business between them while sitting down. He said the problem was compounded by the fact that the locals gave him something made from yak to eat that night that did not sit well with him. He said he sat there, miserably doing his business, and got the scare of his life when he heard someone else from the Western group coming (the yak didn’t sit well with any of them). He was terrified she’d shimmy out and knock him off the poles and into oblivion. Fortunately, she didn’t.
Why I was drawn to this previous post, I do not know. Perhaps, because, I too, have a morbid interest in foreign toilets — not so much as to take pictures of them, but an interest all the same. (I guess we all have some interest in toilets -foreign or domestic)
Which brings me to my point: I love nothing more than after our annual visit to Mexico to arrive back across the border and go to the U.S. Border Patrol facilities. I take great comfort in knowing the force of that flush will take anything down.
Good thoughts, all! Lindsey, that’s hilarious about your friend at base camp. Kyle would love that story!
This caught my eye because when I went to Japan in the spring, I experienced a similar squatting bathroom that you described, but also one that was the complete opposite (with a seat warmer, numerous buttons that do who knows, and a faucet that you wash your hands with from the running water from the top of the tank). It was very interesting experiencing these two very different styles in the same area, but going back to the squatting one, I found it was one of the worst experiences of my life! I tried to think that I just wasn’t used to it and it was a traditional way to go, but when I went in the bathroom it was dirty, flooded with water (or pee) in the stalls, there was no toilet paper and squatting was a pain (and it didn’t help that it was a just a little building that was made for public restrooms)!