Chinese TP

[Bob Juch]

[nitrah55]

In an odd way, this reminds me of a conversation I had with The Bride the other night about naming dogs. (Stick with me on this, I know where I'm going.)

We discussed dogs named after planets: Jupiter, Mars, that sort of thing. I opined that the only planet off limits for a dog name is "Uranus," as my rule for naming a dog is, Only Give a Dog a Name You Can Yell Out the Back Door.

Which reminds me of a true story.

A nice retired couple had a chiwuawua, which, in a moment of whimsy, they named "Killer." It was only after they had spent a few weeks calling the dog in from the yard that they found out that the nice young man who lived next door had only recently gotten out of the joint after serving a few years for manslaughter.

[peacock2121]

You didn't tell me to laugh.

I laughed!

[thguy65]

While the picture shows the TP perched on a Western-style toilet tank, not every place in China has this.

Some visitors to the Olympics might still encounter the squat toilet. (Those with sensitive stomachs might want to avoid reading the link.)

[marrymeflyfree]

While the picture shows the TP perched on a Western-style toilet tank, not every place in China has this.

Some visitors to the Olympics might still encounter the squat toilet. (Those with sensitive stomachs might want to avoid reading the link.)

You reminded me of a funny story. I took my dad to Thailand a few years ago, with a stop in Japan. It was dad's first trip out of the US, and I decided to do little to 'prepare' him for some of the different things we might stumble upon. At one point, he wandered into a public bathroom, only to come back out a few minutes later asking if it really was ok to just pee into the hole in the floor. Later in the trip, he happened upon a toilet that had the sprayer but no TP, as is common in Thailand. I had to explain why the left hand is 'inauspicious' in some parts of the world.

Toilet experiences make the best travel stories, I think. I remember one trip to Mexico City years ago....my friend and I ended up in a gay bar there. Nothing unusual...I've been in gay bars all over the world, but women were not exactly welcome at this place. I got lots of dirty looks, being not only a gringo in a non-gringo part of town - but a chick at that. At some point I had to go to the loo...there wasn't a women's bathroom, but who cares. The mens loo was nothing but a large (and truly nasty) stone trough that circled the wall and a drain in the middle of the floor. Give me an Asian squat toilet any day over that!

The most memorable one, though, was in Beijing. We stopped in a nice looking internet cafe. It had a little grill in the back, so we were going to hop online and grab a bite to eat. I had to use the facilities, and was directed to a little curtain next to the grill. The curtain didn't quite cover the whole opening (in fact it didn't cover it at all), but I really had to go...so I sat there and did my business, facing all of the computer terminals (which were facing me) and the street (all the doors and windows were wide open). To my immediate left, and I'm talking maybe 8 feet away, was the grill with the cook hard at work. There was a little window above his grill, and I noticed all of this white stuff on the wall from the window down to the grill. I was having a surreal little moment doing my business in front of half of China, so close I could reach out and hand the cook his spatula, wondering what that stuff was. I got my answer as a pigeon sat down to roost in the window. Directly over the grill.

We ate elsewhere.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

While the picture shows the TP perched on a Western-style toilet tank, not every place in China has this.

Some visitors to the Olympics might still encounter the squat toilet. (Those with sensitive stomachs might want to avoid reading the link.)

I encountered a toilet like that in Italy, but it was much messier.