Bad Toilets

Ya, the toilet situation when traveling abroad is always a topic of conversation and here in China the dialogue must continue. Many people living in Canada may have never conceived of the thought that you could encounter stand-up toilets. While such is the common case here in Daqing. Most toilets are infact stand-ups. There are the occaional thrones where you can sit. At EF 2 we are lucky as we have one sit-down in each of the men's and women's bathrooms. They were installed especially for us foreigners. Lucky me. Apparently the other EF school is not so well endowed as EF 2.

I was in the major shopping district last week and happened into one of the worst toilets I have ever seen in my entire life. If anyone has seen the movie Trainspotting there is a scene titled 'The Worst Toilet in Britain'. If you've seen the movie you might recall how lovely the scene was. I titled this washroom experience 'The Worst Toilet in China'. Ugh ... I just won't even bother describing it. Sometimes its best to say less to achieve the most grotesque mental images.

At least I was spared the surprise of the common social practise of not providing patrons with paper in bathroom stalls. This is the norm. NO public washrooms have paper. Everyone carries either facial tissue or rolls of toilet paper with them for such occasions. The first day I was warned by the other teachers about this. Thank God! I now follow suit and carry a roll with me everywhere but try my best to avoid using public facilities whenever possible.

Going to the washroom almost anywhere is pretty common place. I mean here in Daqing they 'GO' almost anywhere. On the way to school one morning on the major highway that connects one area of Daqing to the next I saw a van pulled over and a worker relieving himself against the guardrail. What was unique was that there is no shoulder and traffic was having to switch lanes so that this guy could just stop in the middle of the highway to do his business.

There are little squares in the brick streets for plants, shrubs and trees that are care for by an army of public workers who wear what look like OR masks all the time. Yesterday morning as I was having my tea I saw a father holding his 4 year old over one of these as the kid was going number two. This is common for owners of the typical, small lap dogs you see in Paris, France but the Chinese take it to a new level in Daqing.

I plan to refrain from using the square patches of dirt in the sidewalk for such activities.

I wonder if anyone has ever heard of a bidet.

(On a side note as I was searching for the proper spelling of 'bidet' [which means pony in French] I found some good pictures of stand-up toilets on the Wikipedia site. You can search there if you have a hankering for toilet photos. Just type in 'toilets' and you will find a crap-load of information.)