Maybe you’ve never really thought about it but, are bathrooms the same everywhere on earth? Of course not. So it shouldn’t surprise you that in China one must often squat to use the toilet. There are western-style toilets around, usually for the handicapped, or in western-style places, like hotels, KFC, McDonald’s, etc. I guess if you wanted to, you could probably manage to visit China and never use a squat toilet, but why miss out on the fun? Shortly before the 2008 Olympics and my first trip to China, my dad forwarded me a silly email, (clearly written by someone like this guy (not my dad)), ridiculing China for having squat toilets. I think my dad was trying to scare me or at least just jesting. Personally I wasn’t afraid of squat toilets per se, but afraid of using them incorrectly. Like what happened if I uh,..went to the bathroom, on my pants? That’d be a shitty situation. (har har!) Long story short, that never happened and I learned it wasn’t all that difficult, in fact now I’m totally okay with it. All it took a little practice, and remembering to bring a package of tissues with you wherever you go.

I had,in fact, considered writing a blog post about toilets in China, but this post from the Lost Laowai Blog covers it pretty well so I’ll share it with you.

“The Women’s Bathroom in China — The Honest Truth about Chinese Toilets”