Squat toilets (yay or nay)

For females, I think squatting toilet is very clean and sanitary. They don’t have toilet seat cover here in Taiwan, and I would never, ever, sit on the public toilet of any kind. Therefore I would def. prefere the squatting toilet, but, when you gotta go BIG TIME, squatting is def. a bad idea if you don’t have strong legs. :blush:

  • MiakaW

It’s funny to see that the toilet roll dispensers in the “foreigner bars” are always broken, probably from people desperately trying to use them as handles. Why do you have to remove your pants and underwear when you use a squatter?

But why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?
Cause you run like a girl and sit down to pee

In Tai wan, most squat toilets usually have a rim around the basin that is surrounded by puddles of wetness… and folks seem to miss an awful lot. Other kinds of squats have slotted drainage under the feet that angles down to the basin(like a dish drainer by the sink) that keeps puddles from forming. The best ones have a bucket of water to flush with because then the water can be directed anywhere on the toilet to clean it (ie if someone missed) as opposed to built-in flush.

I can’t see any reason to undress to squat, though if you have a long skirt, you may have to juggle a bit to make sure no part is hanging down too low. Squatting with a heavy backpack is quite the balancing act - add a bag in one hand and you’re set for quite a challenge.

My main complaint is the filth. Not the position, even though I don’t really like squatting much as I have a bad knee from an accident years back.

Just somebody, MAMA PLEASE, make these Taiwanese women learn how to piss properly and not wet the entire surrounding region, whether it’s a seat or a floor. That’s all I ask. Or at least if they don’t know how to aim, they should clean up after themselves.

But then again, I suppose they can’t help it. If you’ve ever squatted over a cement troth on the floor with no door or running water, swarms of maggots down below your ass, like in Mainland China, then it’s no wonder.

Most restrooms you seen in Bars restaurants here are filthy, shitholes that smell of piss, that have dirty floors, poddles of piss or water, no soap, a shower head sitting over the toliet, the grandmothers jumbo underwear stuck on the fossit that doubles as a clean cloth, a bag of tissues that you need to touch the plastic covering that is probabily covered in piss and shit to get some tissue out, brwon fingerprints in the bowl, a door that is jammed ensuring you have to struggle with it and get your hands covered in some pricks piss and shit that he covered himself in when he pissed all over the floor and shat in his underwear… and to top it off on occasion a squatter smeared by the last guy’s bad shot and a piece of brown string that should be white dangling in your face as you try and concetrate and distract yourselves from passing out from the smell of piss and shit… as you frantically try and get the turtle out ASAP

how much more disgusting can it get

Thanks for bringing this up twonavels, I’d give you some guanxi points except I’ve got my few precious ones in the bank earning interest so I can save up for a lotto ticket!

No, pants and underwear do NOT have to be removed. The proper technique involves straddling the chasm, then pulling down the underwear with knees narrowed (to allow passage below knees) but in such a way that the underwear is drawn taught across the chasm and does not touch the floor or potty. Care should be also taken such that lowered pants do not touch the floor. At that point, squat down and you are ready to go into action. This should not require a lot of muscles initially, because there should be a natural balance if you are fully squatted. Finally, pee or poop, but do so BEHIND the underwear that has been stretched out across the chasm and is perhaps held in proper position with one’s hands. After a while, your legs will get tired though, and until you develop the endurance, I advise you to shit or get off the squat :laughing:

I once knew a guy who faced the wrong direction. (The raised bowl-like structure is the front.) That same guy thought squatting meant keeping one’s knees at 90 degrees with the thighs parallel to the ground. That must have been pretty messy, taking a dump from that high up!! Splat splat. :shock: :shock:

Clearly, there is a dire need for squat toilet training amongst the foreigner community. Maybe someone can do one of those videos like those pre-takeoff airline videos.

Ages and ages ago when I was a student in Mainland, I took a train from Canton to Beijing. I had a few drinks of Mao Tai with some old fellows on the train. A knarly lunchbox coupled with that nasty fire water took a toll on my stomach…run to the toilet…gonna explode…oh, no gotta squat…train is rocking back and forth…brain is doing the same…weird lights… I shit you not, it was just like a bombing raid over Berlin. :shock:

After that, I avoid squatting whenever possible.

http://www.taiwanscatgirls.com has all your loaf-pinching xiaojie bases covered.

Personally, one of the best things about getting out into the woods for me is the opportunity for a good squat. As for public toilets, I’d have to be literally touching cloth before I’d even think of laying any dog’s eggs in one of them, and even then, I’d sooner go in the street.

After reading all these posts, I am beginning to wonder if it really is the Taiwanese women making the messes in the ladies’ rooms…

(voted “yay” for squatters)

Ich…after reading this thread I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to use a public toilet again…anywhere! Before I just dealt with the filth, but now I’ll be examining it!

I think people are strongly conditioned by their culture and childhood experience regarding toilet behaviour. Obviously many westerners don’t like to squat, but I also think many Asians feel the same way about sitting. The footprints that you sometimes see on the toilet seat are evidence of this.

I think squatting is probably a more natural and efficient way of voiding one’s bowels. After all people have only been sitting for a few hundred years at most. Humans have probably been squatting ever since they came down from the trees in Africa.

I don’t think squatting should be seen as less clean either. When you sit your legs and bum come into contact with the seat on which dozens of people have previously sat (and possibly pissed or shat). When you squat the only thing that needs to come into contact with anything is the soles of your shoes (although admittedly the floor might be a bit dirtier than a room with a throne).

I spent five months travelling around India and this totally shattered any preconceptions I had about going to the toilet. Many people in India don’t even have a toilet and shit on the side of the road in full public view! I never tried it myself. Still I did abandon toilet paper for the left hand and water method. As long as you are conscious of hygeine then it is not a problem. The most disgusting toilets I ever saw (and unfortunately had to use) were in Western China, and I am not just talking about one place–the toilets are consistently disgusting out there :imp:

Just my NT$2 worth.

For guys doing a number two and for girls doing both, here’s how to have a relatively sanitary visit to a public toilet (non-squat).

First, wipe the seat with a whole bunch of toilet paper; use soap and water from the wash basin if this is possible.

Then throw this paper in the bowl. It will act as a soft landing for your turds and will prevent bacteria-laden water splashing up your asshole.

Once this is done, tear four foot-long strips of toilet paper and place them on the seat, covering every square inch.

The sit down and make sure you expose no skin (guys especially :wink: ) to the underside of the seat.

Once finished, flush using your foot to activate the lever, while making sure all the paper from the seat goes down with your baggage.

You’re done.

[color=black]This picture is my favorite.
It teaches the Western World how it it’s done
and shows them that it’s perfectly civilized.

[url=http://naturesplatform.com]

That website[/url] has an amazing amount of information!

– Jonathan[/color]


Yeah, but only if you’re wearing the “civilized” attire of bare feet, t-shirt and shorts. If you’re wearing an uncivilized suit and tie and a pair of brogues, I’d imagine the picture wouldn’t look quite so “breezy”. :unamused:

There is a bit of a tutorial at http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AD8Y-HYS/movie.htm.

[quote=“Maoman”]
Yeah, but only if you’re wearing the “civilized” attire of bare feet, t-shirt and shorts. If you’re wearing an uncivilized suit and tie and a pair of brogues, I’d imagine the picture wouldn’t look quite so “breezy”. :unamused:[/quote]

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
And a briefcase in one hand and a helmet in the other?
Yeah, the pic doesn’t even show him with his trousers down.

I really wonder about the handicapped people in Taiwan, like those with polio, the infirmed, elderly, etc. Squat toilets OBVIOUSLY don’t take their needs into consideration. But why would they? Taiwan shows a clear lack of regard toward facilitating those with disabilities.
:unamused:

[quote=“sandman”]

Personally, one of the best things about getting out into the woods for me is the opportunity for a good squat. [/quote]

I hope you don’t do too much hiking upwind of me, Sandman.

But I do agree about the delights of alfresco defecation – as long as one chooses an appropriate spot where no other foot is likely to tread, and of course one needs to thoroughly cover the offending matter afterwards.

Which are both things that a lot of locals signally fail to do. Perhaps this belongs in the pet peeves thread, but time and again I’ve been appalled and disgusted to encounter fresh piles of human shit in the middle of footpaths up in the mountains. Several times I’ve come across people in flagrante delicto – and the looks I’ve given them should have been enough to leave them constipated for the next month. I’ve learnt to be very careful to watch my step in several well-frequented places that double as open-air privies for these dog-mannered hicks.

[quote=“Omniloquacious”][quote=“sandman”]
Personally, one of the best things about getting out into the woods for me is the opportunity for a good squat. [/quote]

I hope you don’t do too much hiking upwind of me, Sandman.

But I do agree about the delights of alfresco defecation – as long as one chooses an appropriate spot where no other foot is likely to tread, and of course one needs to thoroughly cover the offending matter afterwards.[/quote]

Perhaps you need to read this book. Actually it is a serious topic. When I was studying Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania there were several students doing Honours or Masters theses about this.

I’ll never forget the time we went up the north cross-island past Baling and hiked into a remote natural hotspring in a river. Beautiful setting, lovely hotspring … and boulders all around strewn and splashed with human shit. It was EVERYWHERE! You had to see it to believe it.

Or the time we camped (at an actual campsite) on Chilaishan just beside the cabins they have up there. We’d already put up our tent, only for one of the climbing party occupying the cabins to come down.
“You shouldn’t camp there – that’s our toilet,” he says brightly.
“No, this is a camp site. Look, you can see the flattened gravel squares marked out for tents. That’s why we’re camping here – its a camp site.”
“No, its our toilet. Look over there. I laid that one just this morning.”
Amazingly, he wasn’t assaulted, although Timogan came mighty, mighty close. Needless to say, we struck camp and buggered off.
Flithy bastards. How long does it take to scape a hole and fill it in afterwards, fer chrissakes? Filthy, filthy bastards.

Taiwan is way behind the curve on this one. Much larger critical mass of nature lovers in the US, many of whom have been brought up through Boy/Girl Scouts, who have been taught outdoor etiquette. Same does not go for Taiwan, which is surprising because the Jiuguotuan is pretty big. You’d think they’d have a guy come up with a few rules of outdoor etiquette and start spreading the gospel.