The Inevitable

We all do it . . . use the bathroom that is. And recently a friend of mine was talking about how she likes and dislikes some restrooms and it got me thinking of all the crazy toilet experiences I've had around the world:

Now let me say that we have encountered many "sqauatters" while in Russia and China and in some places in European countries. This is different from my trough or dirt hole in the ground since this toilet is actually a flushing toilet, it is just in the ground and requires one to squat down over it. It also requires you to be very careful where you walk since we are involving aiming into a hole in the bathroom equation now.

Top picture: Sarah at a rest stop squatter, about 6 hours into her China adventure, on the way form Shanghai to Hefei. This is also the place where Leslie peed on herself using the squatter, which all of us would do eventually, and Jeff sad in some melted chocolate. That was our first impression of them. Bottom picture: Squatters at the school. 

The tie for the worst toilets ever (so far, that is) go to two different locations in China. The one  was along the road side as we took a bus up to the Yellow Mountains. I could smell it far before we got into the little building and when I got to the door and saw the filth filled hole that I was suppose to squat over; I opted for the near by bush along with another girl. The bush was much better than our other choice, although the semi-distant rice farmer definitely saw what we were doing. Oh well. The other one was a dirt hole in Beijing at the Great Wall that is too gross for words. So gross. No door even: just dirt, potty business and lots of Chinese people watching you.

Another great one was when we had to use a weird trough thing that we had to straddle over - also in China along the road side. 

In most of Russia we had to pay to use the bathroom and had to get toilet paper from a communal role before you entered the stale. One time I forgot to get the toilet paper ahead of time. It was an interesting experience to call for help in English to a bunch of Russians who already think you're dumb for not knowing how to use the public bathroom properly. 

It was exciting however to say that I've used the potty in the Vatican or Neuschwanstein castle. The bottom line is: we all do it, its part of life and it has the potential to make traveling much more interesting.