On Chinese toilets

We met a whole variety of toilets in China and, as an essential part of daily life, it's important to devote a blog to them.  

Most Chinese toilets are squat ones which I don't mind at all as they are quite hygienic.  I did, however, always have to ensure that my sunglasses weren't balanced on head before using these - I certainly didn't want to loose my shades down one of these.  (Picture below of outside of pleasant version).

Less pleasant is that, due to inadequate sewage plumbing, you couldn't throw paper down them, and had to place it in a basket next to the toilet.  Starting, as we did, in the north western side of China, the further west we headed, away from urban influence, the worse the toilets got.  This was mainly because they were quite remote and weren't cleaned regularly.  The pile of used toilet tissues stacked up in horrendous, smelly heaps at the more remote regions.  There were occasions when Chinese women refused to enter cubicles and I just strode past them.  There is a time and a place to be fussy, and halfway up a mountain pass isn't one of them.

As we turned back and headed east they improved km by km.

Our hotel toilets were, in contrast, particularly glam.  In Tashkurgan we encountered our first heated toilet seat.  We had encountered these last year too - strange and not terribly comforting.  There was an array of functions to improve the experience - needless to say I steered clear of most of the buttons (the baby one - do you wash your kid in these?).

One of our toilets had a remote control.

Alongside the build of the toilet, I amused myself taking photos of helpful signs associated with toilets.  

I wasn’t sure why the toilet paper was useless, then I realised it was missing a space - “use less”. 

The most high tech toilet event I saw was at airports.  There was a screen outside each bathroom with a floor plan layout and red/green lights showing if a unit was occupied or not.  It was kind of cute but kind of weird at the same time.

I apologise if you were expecting more photos but there is only so much I need to subject you all to ;-)