International Relief - Bathroom observations

As I have just circled the Globe, I consider myself an expert in comparative Restroom practices.   Here are my observations based on comparative studies in Frankfort, Germany, Chicago, Ill, Tokyo Japan, Bangkok, (Southern) Thailand, and Chiang Mai, (Northern) Thailand

Frankfort, Germany:   Stall doors go clear to the ground such that there is less intimacy with the person seated to your left and right, and less anticipation from those outside waiting, watching the “under door dance”.

Tokyo Japan:   Heated Toilet Seats!!!!   This gets my innovation of the trip award.  I’m assuming that there must be a hygiene by-product of heating, because the down side is that it discourages you from contributing to needed commode seat turnover.   In addition, Tokyo maintains a full-time FEMALE bathroom person who stays ever busy, even nudging gentlemen “in-the-act” gently out of the way in order to clear the floor around them.   Tokyo also has the most dependable high-capacity hand dryers that actually work.  Unlike the American version, these blowers do not contain instructions that inevitable have a 4^th step scratched into the aluminum casing “rub hands on pants”.

Thailand….without exception, ALL toilets come equipped with a little water hose, similar to those that accompany most American sinks and occasionally, showers.  At minimum, there is a water faucet with bucket, if no hose is available.   There are NO pictures available for Americans instructing them in the use of said hoses.  NOR are there paper towels that one might use to dry ones’self off after hosing their backside down, after all, this would defeat the purpose….said paper towels would inevitably end up in the toilet.

Most Thai bathrooms come with toilets complete with seats.   Urinals frequently come with a breathtaking view.  AS I was cycling down a mountain from Pye, I stopped at a roadside toilet and coffee shop.   (actually, this suggests they sell both….it was actually a coffee shop and a toilet).   The Men’s room had arrows pointing in two directions.  If you went left, you found a half wall with urinals attached.  The wall stopped about chest level, and afforded you a beautiful view of the mountains and country side.   If you went right, it took you to 2 separate stalls, both of which had the doors unattached and standing, leaning against the wall.   There were no toilets inside.  Just a 3 foot high Barrell that was half full of water.   I still don’t know what its purpose was.   I quietly mingled for 10 minutes and inauspiciously followed about 7 Thai men to the men’s room just to see what happened if you didn’t ONLY need the view of the mountain.    Unfortunately, the “view” seemed to be the need of choice on this given day.

By the way, I did make a brief foray into the ladies rooms at this roadside stand.   They were very clean and private.  Each had a separate door.  The toilet looked more like a white porcelain sink embedded in the floor.  A hose was nicely mounted near by.

Most bathrooms don’t have a separate shower.  Rather, a shower is mounted on the wall of the bathroom, and the bathroom floor has a sink drain in the middle of the floor.  I guess this is equally conducive for the bottom bathers, so why bother installing a full shower stall!