BYOTP

The public bathrooms in China are interesting. For starters, they're mostly squatters -- you can't sit down on them because they're embedded in the floor. You squat above them, hence the name. This takes some getting used to (how do I keep my pants out of the way? What do I do with my packages? etc.) Two additional factors make the experience even more of an adventure. First, the bathrooms are incredibly filthy. The women's rooms here are about as clean as men's rooms in the U.S. There's spit everywhere (people here hock up big lugies and just spit them wherever they want to, including inside buildings) and cigarette butts litter the floor. Second, you have to bring your own toilet paper. The only public bathroom that stocks it (that I've seen) is McDonald's. So, whenever you leave the house, you've got to carry with you a mini-packet of tissues. If you forget, you can purchase them for around 15 cents a piece from enterprising salespeople who hang out around public bathrooms.

Apparently, these are the nice bathrooms. I've heard that there are "trough style" squatters where only a partition about a meter high separates you from your neighbor. These toilets are flushed once an hour (give or take) by a worker who hoses them out.

Of course, little kids around here avoid this unpleasantness altogether. They just pee (and more) wherever and whenever they want. Unfortunately, the parents are not as responsible as dog owners; they generally don't "scoop the poop" afterwards. The only benefit to this arrangement that I can see is that at least diapers aren't filling up landfills here. People don't use them. Pampers seems to be wanting to make inroads here. I saw a commercial for them the other day on tee vee trying to appeal to the "new middle class" here.

For another westerner's take on the squatter, click here. Warning: it's a titch more descriptive than mine.