Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Nobody Said A Word About THIS


Yep, you're seeing it right. A hole in the floor. Thank GOODNESS that I work out and do squats every week. Those very squats saved me.

Now, I'm no princess traveller. I've been around the block a time or two. Twenty years ago, when I was in France I ran across these. But just one. In China, they're the norm. Squatters are everywhere.


Troughs weren't AS common, but a tad more disturbing when you did find one. The above photos give you a good idea of the common toilet. Yeah, they can copycat the iPhone, but they can't put toilets in restaurants? I'm still a tad bitter from all of the squatting.

We stayed in 5 star hotels, so we always had Western toilets and even occasionally, rose petals decorating them! I was so weary from being out and about all day squatting that I HAD to take a picture of it. I hated to flush, it was so pretty.


On our way out of Shanghai, we had to be at the airport three hours early for the International flight. Luckily, my uncle bought all of our tickets, so everywhere we went, we were allowed into the President's Club Lounge. It's like sitting out there by the gate, except you have an array of snacks, refrigerators full of all types of drinks, your own bartender, big comfy chairs with hookups for your gadgets. And a damn nice toilet.

Shanghai's lounge and snacks were out of this world, but when I went to the toilet, I knew that they had installed this just for me.


As I opened the door, the lid lifted itself for me. I knew that I'd found my soulmate. Oscillating. Pulsating. Rinse Cycle. Wand cleaning. AND A DRYER!!!!! I blew dry my hiney in Shanghai! And I controlled the heat of it. Damn, I want one of these so bad!

I should put up a Paypal Button for my Japanese Toilet Fund.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see I'm not the only one that takes pictures of AND posts out of country toilet experiences.

I get the first one, still trying to figure out the second one. Love the third and am totally amazed there's two options for the rear cleansing.

Real Live Lesbian said...

The dual option rear cleansing is what totally sold me! One's a single stream, the other is a spray. Niiiice.

The second toilet, you straddle the trough. I'm still trying to block it out of my mind.

Karen said...

I don't get it at all. How do you flush with those first "toilets"? I think I am too Westernized for this stuff.

Melissa said...

LOL! A memory to last a lifetime! The first time I ever saw one of those holes in the floor, was in a public toilet on the Italian side of the Austria/Italy border, back in the 60's. It took me a few minutes to figure out what I was supposed to do. They are pretty ubiquitous throughout the third world, although I have been in number of older hotels in Saigon, and one in Jerusalem, and they all had standard flush toilets.

Real Live Lesbian said...

Actually, there is a flusher on most of them.....or you run some water and mop. Nice, huh?

Jay said...

Those fancy toilets with the control pad are so freaking cool. If I had one of those, I would invite people over just to try it out. haha

Evil Twin's Wife said...

You can get a simple bidet from Amazon for around $60. It's not all fancy with choices, but (haha) it will rinse your naughty bits (and butt). LOL

Charlene said...

The idea of having my hind end dried after sounds marvelous.

I think after Jay's poop post, he is in love with the electronic choice panel.

Jaimey said...

wow, you are more woman than me. I would have a hard time squatting... too many babies not enough lunges. Then again when you gotta go, you gotta go! :)

JFBreak said...

What exactly do you get with the "wand", and do they clean it off before the next person uses it?

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Squatting...ugh

The toilet with the gizmos and sprays and all...I might never leave the bathroom!

Akelamalu said...

One would think that Japan would have western flushing toilets everywhere!

That one with all the gizmos is fantastic though!

nitebyrd said...

OMG! Wow! I never thought about toilets before. I couldn't imagine that there would be places with such primitive facilities. Well, maybe in really poor countries.

The Japanese one is like the control panel on a 747! That must have been amazing after all the squatting!

Anonymous said...

Never seen the last picture before, nice!!! We need those out here!

Dana said...

I've used my fair share of trough toilets and holes in the floor, but I have NEVER in my life seen anything even remotely close to the Shanghai toilet.

I think it scares me ...

Ileana said...

Great pics! Love the rose petals in the toilet...I'm going to have to remember that. :)

PS - I want to blow dry my hiney with that thing! It's not fair they get all that great technology before we do! Next time you go to China, bring a bunch of those back. You'll get RICH!

SkylersDad said...

I have expected a button on there labeled "Give it to me hard and fast"!

southernfemme said...

Oh my goodness. Yes, please. Sign me up for the gizmo toilet!

LSL said...

OOPS! Did we forget to mention the squatty potties? I do have sympathy for you, but how about this: FOUR YEARS IN JAPAN with those. I don't think I used them one time without peeing on myself.

I did, however, have a wonderful Warmlet (the lower pictures) in my house, so that almost made up for the rest. :)

Jill said...

Oh! I do that sometimes at home! If we have roses from the garden inside and their just about ready for the compost, but not quite, I put rose petals in the toilet! Well...sometimes I do.

And very cool! I never saw a hiney blow dryer! That's definitely a big improvement over the squatty hole.