S/O What are public restrooms like around the world? What level of privacy is common

[Tap]

I have not traveled internationally but have heard many stories from friends who have. What are the public washrooms like in different parts of the world? Is there general cleanliness? Toilets like the USA? Are they generally dirty, sanitary or down right sterile? Single stalls or a row of holes in the floor? Is there privacy? Do people seem to think that bm, menses and urination are all the same or do they require different levels of privacy? Are there hand wash sinks? Is there toilet paper?

[jamnkats]

oh baby that's a loaded one for sure. :)

 

They do run the gamut here in Mexico. In ex-pat areas you will find toilet seats and paper but not always. We always bring our own paper. Sometimes running water, sometimes flush with a bucket.

[HSMom2One]

Holland, Denmark, & Sweden - The bathrooms I was in were very clean and modern, but the plumbing and structure of toilets and bathtubs in the hotels was very different than ours. Very interesting!! Toilet paper quality varied from place to place, some being rough and scratchy, but otherwise the restrooms were set up very similarly as here in the states.

 

France - Same as other European countries listed, but some establishments had attendants in the bathrooms to assist you. There was a tip involved for this service. Don't ask me what service was offered, I was afraid to ask! In addition to this, the public bathrooms on the streets of Paris were amazing! They are set on timers once you go into them, and after you exit the bathroom the door closes behind you and is locked while the chamber is completely hosed down and sanitized. I was told that if a person stayed inside too long, the washing would happen automatically. This is supposed to be a way to curb improper use of their public restrooms.

 

S. Korea - Some buildings had western style public bathrooms, while others were eastern. I stayed in a hotel and then a dorm that was very modern and had facilities pretty much like home. Public restrooms were another story though... If you did not pay attention, you could easily find yourself in a stall with no toilet paper. I learned quickly to look for toilet paper as I ENTERED the restroom so as to avoid being stranded. Also, in Asian countries one does not flush toilet paper. It is to be deposited in a small can inside the stall rather than in the toilet. This was very, very hard to adjust to -- but lack of cooperation could cause major plumbing problems for them, so one must comply. Other eastern style bathrooms had a pit in the floor that you stand over. :D I tried to avoid that bathroom as much as possible.

 

I did not encounter any lack of privacy in any of these countries. Thankfully, I've always had a door to shut!

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

 

P.S. I won't even try to tell you about the bathroom descriptions I've heard from my husband's travels to Guatemala, Asia and other parts of the world!

Edited September 18, 2010 by HSMom2One

[eclipse]

I live in a big city in Mexico, and all the public toilets I've used have been equivalent to what you would expect to find in the US - seats, doors, paper, most of them relatively clean, etc. I've heard some of the bar toilets are pretty nasty, but I don't bar hop.

 

When I lived in Paris, they really ran the gamut. Most restaurant bathrooms did not have paper - we always carried our own. If the place was nice enough to have an attendant (that you were expected to tip) or charge to use (like at Versailles), they were usually very nice - clean, fancy soap, nice paper, doors, seats, etc. A lot of bathrooms did not have seats on their toilets. I noticed this at a lot of restaurants and museums. They had clearly all been removed, and I never did figure out why - they didn't seem to have broken and not been replaced, just bowls with the seats removed! There were also some really bad toilets at bars - a lot had the hole in the ground with handles to squat, and you "flushed" by running the sink water, which drained into the squat hole.

[eclipse]

In addition to this, the public bathrooms on the streets of Paris were amazing! They are set on timers once you go into them, and after you exit the bathroom the door closes behind you and is locked while the chamber is completely hosed down and sanitized. I was told that if a person stayed inside too long, the washing would happen automatically. This is supposed to be a way to curb improper use of their public restrooms.

 

 

 

 

Yes, I forgot to mention these. They were awesome! I still don't think they had toilet paper, though!

[In2why]

I remember being at a park in France and the public restroom was a hole in the floor, and a faucet above it. Being a teenager in jeans I literally could not use it becuase I couldn't figure out a way for my pants or hands not to touch the floor. It was worse then being the woods because at least there I could touch the ground. Freaked me out. But other than that the only one I remember as different than what I was used to here in the USA was in Luxembourg, and you had to pay to use it. The door wouldn't open without money.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Japan - old fashioned toilets are a hole with a porcelain surround. "Traditional" toilet paper is paper towel size single sheets in a "in-basket" like basket next to the toilet. In a home, there are toilet slippers outside the door to the toilet (otherwise shoes are off in the house). To not wear your toilet slippers in the bathroom or to wear the toilet slippers in the rest of the house is considered very unsanitary and bad form. There is a little sink (looks sort of like one of those old porcelain water fountains for washing your hands with some round soap that won't lather no matter how much you get water on it. I remember most houses not having a towel to dry your hands on though, which I always though was sort of strange. Most houses nowadays do not have old fashioned toilets though.

 

New style toilets range from what we are used to seeing in a US house to very fancy toilets/bidets with multiple buttons for everything from music to pee by, different temperature jets, a blow dryer etc.

 

A note on toilet paper. You can get regular rolls of toilet paper at the grocery store but you can also get the flat single sheets. Also there is a truck that comes around the neighborhoods (once a month? I can't remember this detail) that will trade you a stack of flat single sheets of toilet paper for your used household goods (a modern junk man). I traded a kitten to him for toilet paper once (he wanted a kitten for his little girl). The truck always plays the same song (Yankee Doodle? I can't quite remember.) The garbage truck always played "Camptown Races" and if you heard it, all the housewives would run to put their garbage out on the curb.

 

Philippines - Most toilets were western style toilets with seats. But even though they had a handle like our do, the toilets were not hooked up to the water. You run water from a small hose/faucet set up next to the toilet into a bucket and then flush manually with the bucket. Since you often had limited water in a house, if you had traveller's tummy, things could get pretty dicey in the bathroom. Sometimes you could flush the toilet paper, sometimes you put it in a bucket nearby. Sometimes there was toilet paper, more often than not, you were expected to clean yourself with the same hose and bucket as you used to flush.

 

There were "normal" sinks. Water coming out of them was not a guarantee.

 

If you were in a public place then toilets were even trickier. Often toilets were manned by an attendant who charged you 10? pesos to have about 5 squares of toilet paper. But toilet paper was often non-existent as was water.

 

In one aboriginal village they had an outhouse - just a hole but my ds says it wasn't as gross as some of the western ones in public places.

 

In both Japan and the Philippines there were doors on the stalls.

[Mom in High Heels]

It all depends. When we were in Verdun, France, outside one of the main tourist attraction (Ft. Daomont, IIRC), you had to walk through the male bathroom to get to the female bathroom. The male bathroom consisted of a big trough that the men stood around peeing in. Gross. In the ladies room (if you can call it that), there were 5 or 6 stalls with no doors. Each had a big hole in the ground with a footprint mark on either side and handles on the walls to hold on to. I decided I didn't need to go that bad.

 

Last Dec, we were driving through Normandy and stopped at a few gas station bathrooms. In the ladies room, there were several stalls (with doors) with toilets (no seats, like the pp mentioned), but there was also one stall that had a hole in the floor and bars on the walls. The hole was an actual toilet-like bowl that flushed, just in the ground. I wondered what woman would choose that over a regular toilet. Weird.

 

At Versailles, we had to buy tickets to use the toilet. It read (in French), "good for one person, one use." For some reason that cracked me up.

 

Here in Germany, you generally have to pay to use the toilet. Some you pay an attendant, who keeps the restroom clean, and others you have to put a coin in to open the door. At the ones along the Autobahns you have to put 50 cents into a turnstile to get in, but they give you a little voucher for 50 cents that can be used in the snack shop. There are generally no toilet seats unless the toilets auto-clean. The auto-clean toilets have little sanitation things that pop out after you flush and the seat rotates so that it gets cleaned all the way around.

 

The bathrooms I used in Italy, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Spain were pretty similar to those in Germany.

 

When we were in Monte Carlo, I had to pay 50 cents and the lady gave me a portion of toilet paper and a paper towel to dry my hands with.

 

Wow, I've peed in a lot of places.

[Laura Corin]

China: in town, there is usually a tiled trench with water running through it (intermittently) over which you squat. There are sometimes partitions between 'stations' on the trench, but usually no doors. There will sometimes be Western-style toilets for disabled people. No toilet paper or soap. Running water in a sink. In the country, the trench/hole will not be tiled and there may not be running water.

 

UK: pretty much like US toilets.

 

Laura

[Momling]

This will give you a good idea of toilets around the world... http://www.cromwell-intl.com/toilet/

[radiobrain]

Gotta love the "squat hole". I like the ones with the ridges for your shoes.

[Snickerdoodle]

Don't forget the see through bathroom:

 

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/toilet.asp

[Mothersweets]

This will give you a good idea of toilets around the world... http://www.cromwell-intl.com/toilet/

 

I've been reading through this site for the last half an hour! Fascinating! (am I weird?)

 

Between the toilet site and you very educated ladies here, I feel very prepared if I get to take a trip to Europe ( or anywhere else, really) now. Thank you! :) Really, I mean it - I wouldn't have even thought to consider how the facilities would be different from the US.

[Mothersweets]

I have a question - if you use a toilet without a seat, do you (being a female) just hover over the rim? That is what makes the most sense to me. Am I thinking correctly?

[LauraGB]

I have a question - if you use a toilet without a seat, do you (being a female) just hover over the rim? That is what makes the most sense to me. Am I thinking correctly?

 

I'm wondering this, too. Why no seat? I mean, if all the trouble to put in the toilet and possibly even plumbing has been gone to, why fore go the seat? They're cheap - $7-$10 - way less than the commode itself.

 

We came across several of these in Mexico. And flushing the paper is a big fat no-no. The paper thing I can handle (although the sanitary aspect is troubling). I just assumed the ones without the seat didn't work and this was the subtle warning, and checked the next stall or held it until we found a "working" one, lol.

 

My goodness. I don't get out much, I think.

[DawnM]

Yup! Squatty Potties is what we called them! :lol:

 

We found all kinds growing up in Kenya. Open floor squatty potties in many places, more Western hotels would have the kind of toilets we are used to but typically with the pull down chain flush. And then there was rural......maybe an outhouse with a hole in the floor if you were lucky....otherwise pick the best leafed bush and squat! :tongue_smilie:

 

Dawn

 

I have a question - if you use a toilet without a seat, do you (being a female) just hover over the rim? That is what makes the most sense to me. Am I thinking correctly?

[Luvmy3kids]

I really love America....just sayin'!

[Mothersweets]

Yup! Squatty Potties is what we called them! :lol:

 

We found all kinds growing up in Kenya. Open floor squatty potties in many places, more Western hotels would have the kind of toilets we are used to but typically with the pull down chain flush. And then there was rural......maybe an outhouse with a hole in the floor if you were lucky....otherwise pick the best leafed bush and squat! :tongue_smilie:

 

Dawn

 

Well! I guess I better start working on my thigh muscles, lol. Thanks!

[LG Gone Wild]

Yup! Squatty Potties is what we called them! :lol:

 

We found all kinds growing up in Kenya. Open floor squatty potties in many places, more Western hotels would have the kind of toilets we are used to but typically with the pull down chain flush. And then there was rural......maybe an outhouse with a hole in the floor if you were lucky....otherwise pick the best leafed bush and squat! :tongue_smilie:

 

Dawn

 

Ahhhh the much loved cho.

[Classical Country Mama]

I grew up in a village in the Philippines where the public "comfort room" was a little room with a hole in the floor. No stalls, no doors, though I suppose for politeness you could call out to see if anyone was in there before you walked in yourself.

 

Of course, I'm not sure if anybody really cared anyway; one of the most famous sights, even in Manila, were high, concrete brick walls with huge letters proclaiming (translated), "DON'T GO TO THE BATHROOM HERE," with a long line of men, er, openly availing themselves of the space anyway. :lol:

 

And then there was the time in a village in northern Thailand when I had to bring and pump my own bucket of water in order to flush....

 

Have also used the pay toilets in France and the fancy porcelain holes in the floor in China and the bushes in Guatemala, among other places... Let's just say that when I travel, I have learned to always take with me my own seat covers (being optimistic that there will BE a seat), TP, and wipes.

 

[[That's true in the U.S., too, especially at our county fair. But let's not go THERE, shall we? :D ]]

[ZooRho]

I lived in Uganda for 10 months, In our home and in some of the nicer places aound town there were rgular bathrooms, like american ones.

 

but even at our house we had an outhouse. BUT seriously I never ventrued to that corner of our yard.

 

The church where we did Bible study, had a squatty potty. I am pretty sure there were seperate sections. I only used it once. IT is a talent to use it. I don't remember if there was tp or if I had my own now.

 

But for the general population it was not unsual to see people going on the side of the road. Once as a friend and I waited on the side of the road a man stopped about 100 yards in front of us and reached in and did his business. It was EMBARRASING eek, My friend on the other hand was laughing as she totally gave a off handed play by play discription.

 

I also saw others including ladies going on the side of the road. Most ladies were in dresses so it wasn't quite as obvious

[Amira]

Personally, after the truly nasty toilets with seats that I've used in Asia and Africa, I'll take a squat toilet any day. There is much greater potential that they will be relatively clean, and they're really not that big of a deal to use. And I'd never dream of going without toilet paper and hand sanitizer outside the US (but I've never traveled in Europe, so that might be different).

[Farrar]

The "female urinal" seems to be becoming more common around here in the US. I've seen them at the National Zoo and a few other places. It's an unusually long and thin toilet without a seat. It's easier to squat over than a traditional toilet. However, I didn't find it as simple as the running trench of water that I got sort of used to when I lived in China.

 

The thing I wonder is what would little girls do when they're too small to squat over that but there's no seat? I guess children fall into the "handicapped" category in those bathrooms? I know at the zoo they have a bunch of the more traditional toilets as well.

[Ravin]

I'd think with a little one you could hold her over the toilet, rather than her squatting herself.

 

I still say I prefer squat-toilets (the modern version w/ porcelain fixtures like you find in Japan) to western seat toilets in public restrooms. I hate having to sit on a seat where who knows who did what to it before me, kwim? And you stand over it and squat down, for those who asked. The logistics aren't really hard to figure out.

[AHASRADA]

My only experience traveling outside North America was to France and North Africa. In both countries, one can find American-style bathrooms, as well as the "hole in the floor" variety (in France, I encountered these at a campground, but thankfully they had toilets as well).

 

In North Africa, public restrooms are typically a hole in the ground (cement and/or tiled, but still no toilet bowl :), as are most facilities in traditional/rural homes, and even in homes with full modern bathrooms, there is often at least one small "powder room" without a toilet bowl (typically a shower head on one end of the room, the hole in the floor on the other, so one can shower and "do their business" in one convenient location!) Toilet paper is rare (except in upper-middle class homes, and even then, it is not replaced regularly), and non-existent in public restrooms, so we always carry our own.

 

We have now learned to navigate these bathroom issues, but they have caused quite a few hilarious situations over the years. Like during my first trip (pre-kids), when we were visiting a family for tea whose bathroom consisted of a hole in the floor. My husband (fully clothed, of course), was trying to demonstrate how to squat and use the facilities, while he and the hostess laughed hysterically! Needless to say, after numerous attempts at learning how to use these facitilities correctly, I have resorted to simply removing all clothing from the waist down (including socks!) in order to avoid the inevitable contamination :001_huh:. I am convinced there are muscles essential to squatting in the correct fashion so as not to soil one's clothing which I never developed, since I grew up using "lazy people" toilets :lol:.

 

Back to the original question, these are all varieties in the quality and modernity of facilities, and have no relation whatsoever to privacy. In every case, toilet facilities, no matter how primitive, always had a door!!!

[JennyD]

deleted because I realized it was nonresponsive -- sorry!

[LauraGB]

deleted because I realized it was nonresponsive -- sorry!

 

I was just logging in to ask you a question! My question is probably off track, too, but I have to ask - how is the odor contained if these non flushable holes are in the house?

[AHASRADA]

I was just logging in to ask you a question! My question is probably off track, too, but I have to ask - how is the odor contained if these non flushable holes are in the house?

 

The holes actually are just as flushable as toilets are. They are basically just the equivalent of a septic drain, but without the toilet mounted on top. You just fill a bucket and dump it quickly down the drain, and it's flushed. Often times, there is also a cement drain stopper that can be placed over the drain to somewhat plug it when not in use. I don't know if this helps with odor or not, but it at least keeps anything from accidentally slipping into it (especially if showering near the hole ie: soap, brush, a foot, LOL!)