Yes.
Disclaimer: I was in China for 10 days so I'm in no way qualified to tell you why things are the way they are there. I've made judgements about what I like and dislike but these are founded on a very brief encounter and should not be considered informed nor even necessarily valid. You've been warned. That is all.
I had just arrived at the Hong Kong airport and had to go to the bathroom. I'm tired, I'm excited, I'm nervous and I decide to go to the bathroom before anything out of my comfort zone happens so that at least I'll be that much less distracted facing new things.
I'm pushing my way into a very normal looking public stall and almost trip. I look down to find that the floor, beginning right at the stall entrance, is raised by three or four inches. Hm, strange... and then I see the toilet. Duh, duh, DUH!!!
Yes. That is a hole in the ground, masquerading as a toilet. Sigh. I've heard of these before, of course, but I had always shuddered at the thought of ever having to use one. You straddle the hole and then squat.
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| Guest bathroom in one of Xinye's relative's house. Master bathroom had a regular toilet. |
I'm embarrassed to admit now, but I was too scared to try this. I waited patiently for the handicap stall to be available because it had a real life sit down toilet. In my defence, there was a sign on the toilet door that said "For the Weak" and I figured that included me. I did eventually use the squatting toilet. Twice, in fact. Once when there was no choice, and once more when I decided that it needed to be a part of my experience of Asia. (Side note: I had to hang onto a bar in front of me the first time and lean back because I was afraid I'd miss and get myself [pants, shoes, etc.] wet, but the second time I handled the squatting like a pro... I think)
Another harsh lesson learned in the bathrooms of China, is that they don't necessarily provide toilet paper. Cheap skates.
Nobody had warned me about this.
I was a little confused the first time I was caught in the bathroom without toilet paper. I wondered to myself if the Chinese had some way of going that kept them clean so they didn't need it. I was thinking, "Wow, they should share this with the world. Why hasn't it caught on? It must have something to do with the squatting toilet." Oh, my naivety knows no bounds. After that, I just tried to go only at home where they had toilet paper.
Finally, Xinye's cousins, Ben, cleared up the riddle. No, Chinese people did need toilet paper. Everyone carries their own around. If you're suddenly caught in a public place and find you need to use the facilities while unarmed with toilet paper, you're SOL unless the friend you're with is carrying tissue paper or is willing to go buy you some while you wait in the bathroom. Ben had studied in England so he'd gotten used to the Western bathrooms and the toilet paper being provided. When he moved back to China he'd been caught a couple times calling or texting friends to bring him tissue. Lol.
I was very happy, and very lucky, that the homes I stayed at all had western style toilets. However, this did not mean western style bathrooms.
The first home I stayed at in Shen Zhen had a normal toilet, but there was no shower stall or bath tub. There was just a shower head and a drain in the floor. Ok... That's interesting.
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| I know I look all pretty. That's because I'd just woken up the day after being awake for almost 24 hours. So there. |
Also, something having to do with the water, which I didn't understand, but you had to flush by pouring a bucket of water into the toilet bowl. Ok... interesting.
It's kind of a running joke, women constantly having to train their men to put the toilet seat down after using it to pee. Not in China!! There, the women put the seat up after they're done with it. They do this to keep the toilet seat clean. This kind of made sense to me when there was no partition to keep shower water from getting all over the toilet and when having to dump water from a bucket into the bowl, but even people with a shower stall kept the seat up. It was a real culture... well, not shock because it wasn't big enough to make me uncomfortable, it was just weird.
Another bathroom that I visited, but did not take a picture of was one in which the toilet was inside the shower stall. Why? I have no idea. You had to slide the glass door open to get to the toilet or make a slight right to get to the shower nozzle.
And that concludes my commentary on the bathrooms of China.
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