Thus far we have established that Thailand is a beautiful place, full of lots of crazy and exciting things. However, one of the hardest things to get used to is the squat toilet. We have differing strategies on how to approach this bathroom beast, with Hannah's being to develop a bladder of steel for fear of slips, trips and falls.
Those of you who have had the chance to trip out to Asia before have probably encountered one of these before, but for those that haven't let us explain. The toilet shaped thing on the right hand side is indeed a toilet, but instead of sitting down as you would on a Western comode, you put your feet on the two grooved footprints and squat, like camping. The problem arises from the fact that the whole thing is made of porcelain and therefore slippery as an eel wearing a banana peel. You best be careful to avoid a fall into the business end of this porcelain potty... The pleasures of the squat toilet compound with the B.Y.O.T.P. theme (bring your own toilet paper) and the bucket on the side, used to help gravity wash away any traces of your visit and to keep the porcelain nice and slick for the next sucker.
Traditionally, the left hand was used, along with the water in the basin beside the toilet, to clean one's self (some bathrooms have now upgraded to the aforementioned ass blaster) and hence all eating was done with the right. Thais have now generally shifted towards eating with fork and spoon, but no notice on whether the other traditional practise prevails.
Apparently it's not so bad once you get used to it... yup, that's what we tell ourselves every morning in the cold shower too haha.
So Hannah, where is this toilet in the photo? It does not appear to be the ass blaster in your apartment. It does not look like fun. I have been to Hong Kong and did not see any squat toilets there. But I was staying at the Mandarin Oriental -- on business, I was not paying for it.
ReplyDeleteThis toilet is the teacher's washroom at the school we are teaching in. Since it is a small rural school it doesn't have any Western style toilets. Luckily our apartment building has a lot of foreigners so they have gone with the Western style toilets...
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