how prevalent are squatting toilets

[xuechengfeng]

people always talk about these and it scares me girlfriend to go to china with me because she thinks this is highly unsanitary. is there modern toilets in most modern cities ?

[Quest]

is there modern toilets in most modern cities ?

yes, but depending on where you go though.

However, most people who have been to China would prefer squatting toilets and would find them much more sanitary.

[xuechengfeng]

hmm.. i suppose it would develop strong legs

some of the pics i've seen though don't look too sanitary. tissue paper in buckets. no flushing. going in buckets. "stuff" all over the floor.

maybe that is rural areas.

[TSkillet]

ones in homes (and kept up well) are actually more sanitary - at least you're not sitting on anything.

but then again, this is china, a country which has problems with "upkeep"

[sunyata]

in rural areas, there is sometimes just a hole in the ground, no toilet at all...

squatting toilets are the best - sometimes they may be dirty, but at least you avoid direct skin contact with a place that who knows how many arses have used...

after I came back from China, for a while I had to squat on top of the Western toilets - I was so used to squatting

I think it can be a more "satisfying" experience than a Western toilet...

the only negative side i've heard is that it can supposedly lead to a hernia...hopefully that is not so, because then every second Chinese person must have a hernia

[xuechengfeng]

i always wipe the toilet seats off in western public toilets, assuming i am desperate enough to go.

[sunyata]

haha, yeah, I do that too, but it's still not the same feeling, because you are actually sitting on top of something other than your legs

[amperel]

after I came back from China, for a while I had to squat on top of the Western toilets - I was so used to squatting

omg! i never thought there'd be someone else besides me who does that! ... oops! should i be revealing this? ... sitting does have one advantage if you have "accident" which require you to be in there for a long time 'cause squatting for too long causes cramp! k i should stop now lest i further embarrass myself.

[xuechengfeng]

this is what i wonder about..

me myself i get the business done with a minute or two but i know people who take a hour.. they would develop some serious legs

[amperel]

you might want to avoid hot/spicy food

[beirne]

I was in China for two weeks in 2001 and generally preferred the squat toilets. The hotels I stayed at as well as the hospital where I spent the night all had commodes, which was fine, but public toilets tended to be the squat model. I agree with the others that is nice not having to touch anything and the squat toilets were generally clean enough. (See my picture of a toilet at a pagoda in Beijing.

The only exception was the toilets at an elementary school where we stopped to use the bathroom at the start of our bike ride through the Chinese countryside. These will definitely scare xuechengfeng's girlfriend. I didn't take an overhead view because I didn't want to gross out the folks back home, but the cutouts need to be hosed out from time to time. Having said that, they are still sanitary to use because you aren't touching anything when you squat. Using these may require more togetherness with your traveling companions than you want, though.

[roddy]

is there modern toilets in most modern cities ?

If you are in a big city then more expensive shopping malls and hotels will have sitters. En suite bathrooms in hotels are almost always sitters, although shared bathrooms are usually squatters.

Even public toilets in Beijng now (at least the more recently built ones) have sitters -but as they get used so little you may have to get them unlocked specially.

Everywhere else will strain your thighs - but it ain't that bad when you get used to it, and there's a lot to be said for not making physical contact with public toilets. Just make sure everything in your pockets is secure, and your girlfriend might want to avoid long flowing skirts . . .

Roddy

[xuechengfeng]

my g/f is scared now! haha. she just said "i can't do thattttttttt"

are the restrooms like this in most places in japan and taiwan also? we/i plan to go to taiwan to teach after college.

[geek_frappa]

bring your own toilet paper....

[Ian_Lee]

Actually in most establishments, i.e. department stores, in Korea and Japan, the toilet is still divided into western style and squat toilet -- usually half and half.

I think the sanitary part doesn't lie on whether it is western style or squat but on its upkeep. For Mainland China, usually it is the upkeep part that fails.

For me, I hate most at those who squat on the western style toilet whose shoe bottom dirties the toilet bowl (some squat on the ring itself) for the subsequent users. Actually now many public toilets provide toilet cover paper so that your body won't be in direct contact with the toilet itself.

But for the western style toilets, there is slight difference between those used in US and Europe. For those in US, there is usually an opening on the front part of the ring (plastic or wooden) so that your genital will not accidentally touch it. However, in Europe usually they don't have such feature.

However, the best toilet is the one produced by Tojo, Japan which isdesigned with the device of bidet. They have heat circuit on the ring to warm up your butt in the winter and water jet to splash your butt after it is over.

Nothing can beat that feeling.

[geek_frappa]

However, the best toilet is the one produced by Tojo, Japan which isdesigned with the device of bidet. They have heat circuit on the ring to warm up your butt in the winter and water jet to splash your butt after it is over.

japanese toilets are amazing.

some have massagers and dehumidifier.

many of them are self-cleaning...

[Ian_Lee]

Actually there are many forms of squat toilets in China.

Even in the '90s, there were many squat toilets in the rural area of Guangdong that were constructed right above some small lakes where fishes were farmed.

I have squatted on this kind of toilet where you could hear the sound of "boo-doon" and the fish swarmed to feed on it.

Of course, 10 days afterward the fish might wind up in the market and end up in your stomach.

In some rural toilets, the hole is so big that if you are dozing, you may risk falling into it.

And of course, if you join a tour to the grassland in Inner Mongolia, you just go dig a hole.

In Xinjiang, the toilet is full of mutton smell since they are dry toilets and won't clean up until weeks later.

In '80s, when most of the Guangzhou households still used squat toilet, every night somebody would come to collect the excrement buckets in front of every house as fertilizer. When you passed by at that time, you got to take extreme precaution.

[Jamie]

If she won't go I'll happily take her place, squatting toilets and all. Tell your girlfriend that other women are making you offers.

[Quest]

In '80s, when most of the Guangzhou households still used squat toilet, every night somebody would come to collect the excrement buckets in front of every house as fertilizer.

not in the 80s haha, no buckets in the 80s.

but even today, most Chinese prefer squatting toilets.

[geek_frappa]

squatting feels more natural... IMHO