I was horrified to see the toilet brushes in some public toilets in Taiwan hanging in the air, dripping whatever was scrubbed from the bowl onto the floor of the cubicle, for people to step on and bring hitch hiking bugs out to greet the wider world.
In other countries the brushes and a receptacle to hold them (I usually keep mine soaking in bleach) are sold together.
Please tell me I just came across particularly grim examples of public toilets, and it isn’t what Taiwanese do as the norm in both private and public toilets?
Saw one in Taipei full of overflowing toilet paper, still see signs in older places to not flush paper and put in the bin. Kaohsiung has big sewer factory to process it, but seems not all places in Taiwan are connected thus can not flush paper. I avoid public toilets if possible.
I always bring my own toilet paper, toilet brush and toilet seat when using a public bathroom. For that, I carry a small bag pack everywhere I go. I think that’s the most hygienic way
Am I about to discover I’ve been doing something horrifyingly unhygienic all my life? One of our toilet brushes is in its container - but the container has a small drainage hole in the bottom, so I don’t see how that’s any different in principle from just hanging the brush up. And anyway, I hang it up to dry before putting it in that container. The brush in the other bathroom is on a hook behind the toilet. Both brushes get cleaned (probably not well enough) before being hung up to dry after use.
Is it common to keep the brush in a container of bleach or something? (No way I’d do that given my cats’ idiotic enthusiasm for drinking anything they’re not supposed to drink.)
Clean the toilet, wash the brush, hang the brush up to dry before putting it back into its receptacle … in public areas that toilet should perhaps be getting cleaned often enough that the brush never has a chance to thoroughly dry. I’m not sure what else should be done, except storing the toilet brush somewhere else. But if you do that you’ve likely got a wet toilet brush dripping a trail behind it.
In other countries the receptacle for the toilet brush is impermeable. It usually sits in whatever water is picked up from the brushing operation, and sits there to fester. But at least it is festering in a container, away from the floor to be taken into the rest of the building.
What upset me the most is in Madeira, people shit in the woods along the hiking trails. No big deal, shit is shit, but the fuckers have brought toilet paper, wiped their arse and left that in the woods!
That particular route was only a 5km hike anyway, for fuck sake.
I’ve never been to a 7-11 washroom after 5 years in Taiwan but what were you expecting? Have you tried to enter a 7-11 washroom in Oakland, California or the Burger King washroom at Spadina in Toronto where the homeless camp for 4 hours and inject drugs, leave needles on the ground, shit everywhere on the floor, walls, etc?
Yeah, that’s true - despite “horrifying” the OP, a hanging toilet brush probably doesn’t rank as particularly high on the global scale of public toilet grimness…
Seems a pretty minor thing to complain about, IMO.
