Korean Job Discussion Forums

[PGF]

Have you ever used the sqatter?

I tried once with ALMOST disastrous consequences. No I'm not a lard ass, I just have terrible knees.

[faster]

Apparently it's good for you, more natural intestinal position or something. I even know some hippy families back in the US who have installed modern squat-toilets in their homes.

I still don't like it and haven't had to use one since my first year here (2002).

[twg]

I can do the squat no problem now. But I always get paranoid about missing and it landing on the floor... or even worse, in my pants. So i always look for a chair.

On the other hand, given the grime on most of the toilets here, maybe I should just try to improve my aim.

[chaz47]

If our natural cultural resting position was squatting flat footed it would be a great idea. Unfortunately we're almost all acclimated to sitting on a chair. By extension the Western style toilet makes far more sense.

I can use the squatters if I have to, and believe me... I've had to. But I have to hunch up and balance on the balls of my feet or lean forward and hold on to the flusher, all the while trying to avoid the puddles of spit from previous occupants (what's up with that) or horror of horrors the remnants of those who have bad aim or in haste missed the hole and got the rim.

All in all, they are pretty f*cking unsanitary. At least in Korea. I've seen some immaculate squatters in Japan though.

To me, it's not a movement unless you can go in there with some reading material and rest. Let your bowels sort themselves out while your not utilizing major muscle groups to stop yourself from falling into someone else's excrement.

[spliff]

No problem...expert. I wish my apt here had one, though...

[faster]

[dogshed]

I've always squatted over the regular toilets unless I was
ill. I don't like sitting on toilet seats.

[Alyallen]

[sojourner1]

I squatted a lot when camping and fishing in the states in the same manner as you would to use an Asian toilet. I think it's the natural way humans poop since all this pooping began.

[mole]

[davai!]

In Taiwan, I once used a squat toilet on a bus moving through city traffic

[oneofthesarahs]

[Hopelessly Human]

The following is an abridged version of one of my blog posts from my
year long vagabonding trip to Southeast Asia. I was about four months
into my trip at this point. Part of the post had to do with squat toilets.
The title of the post is: Too Big A Number To Mess With. It's kind of
long, but I think you might enjoy it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have learned something that breaks my heart, and levels my soul.
I�ve recently discovered that I am not a true vagabonder. I had my
suspicions, but now it�s been confirmed.

As I mentioned in my last post, my next stop was the deep south of Laos,
to a place called Si Phan Don. This translates to 4000 Islands. Although
there may actually be 4000 islands in this region of the mighty Mekong
River, only a few are inhabitable . . .

. . . The island I really wanted to visit was Don Khon. That one is
supposed to be nicer, and I would have gone there sooner if it hadn�t
been for the sunburn. . . .

. . . There is a big difference between Don Khong and these two
neighboring islands. Don Khong is more civilized. Accomodations are
traditional guesthouses, with 24-hour electricity and western toilets. Don
Khon and Don Dhet are more idyllic, but also more primitive.
Accomodations are bungalows, and I believe electricity was just
introduced to these islands this January (but don�t quote me on that), and
it only works from 6:00pm until 10:00pm. And that means no AC, or even
fans. And toilets are of the squat variety. There is at least one upscale
accomodation on Don Khon which may have modern ammenities, but it is
way out of my price range.

The first place I saw that was on my list was Mr. Boune�s. I didn�t have to
approach him, because when you are walking with backpacks attached to
your body, you are a walking neon sign that says, �You can have some of
my money if you just ask.�

One advantage to these islands is that the bungalows are set right on the
river, with hammocks on the porch, offering stunning views. But Mr.
Boune first showed me a bungalow off the river, with the advantage being
a private bathroom inside the bungalow, but still with a squat toilet. He
said that this one was $4.00/night. Then he showed me one on the river.
This one had shared bathrooms with squat toilets. And both rooms had
mosquito nets over the beds. This one he said was also $4.00.

This is the kind of thing I�ve been looking foward to this entire trip: a
peaceful (except for the roosters) place on the river with a gorgeous
view, where I can relax in the shade on my hammock and read or write.
So I chose the riverside bungalow with the shared bathroom, which would
not exactly pass any hygiene inspection. Normally I always opt for the
private bathroom whenever possible, but this view was too good to pass
up . . .

. . . When I got back to my bungalow I was very hot, sweaty, and tired. I
needed a shower badly. But these bungalows are so basic that they did
not supply a towel, and I didn�t have one of my own. So I just took off my
shirt and laid in the hammock. Not that you really need a towel here,
because you could just naturally dry off in the sun. But how was I going to
cover myself from the shower to the bungalow? Yes, I did start to realize
that these questions were just excuses for me not to use that bathroom.
Eventually, I went in as I was and just wet my hair to cool off. While I was
in there the lights came on. It was 6:00pm.

I put on my long pants, socks and boots to protect my legs and feet from
the potentially dangerous twilight and evening mosquitos, and applied the
insect repelent to my arms, then I went to my bungalow restaurant to eat.
In the restuarant I had a long conversation with with a nice kid from
Sweden. In our conversation I�d mentioned that I�d never slept with a
mosquito net before, and had never used a squat toilet, at least for
pooping. He told me how to the use the mosquito net, which is actually
quite simple as long as it�s already attached. Then he took me into the
bathroom and demonstrated how to take a crap in the squat toilet. Man,
he had the longest . . . poop I�d ever seen, and so . . . brown. Okay, I
know you didn�t believe that. But he did say that he would rather use a
squat toilet as opposed to a western toilet, especially a shared one,
because it�s more sanitary: you don�t have to touch anything. Which is
true I suppose, except for the water bucket that you have to pour into the
toilet, and something to hold onto for support. but I�d never seen a
sanitary looking public squat toilet during my entire trip, and this one was
no exception. I�d used several to pee in, but not poop. I�ve been trying to
avoid it this entire trip. But I didn�t have to go yet, so I�d have to wait until
tomorrow morning for my moment of truth. . . .

. . . I shared this bungalow with a French couple. Our rooms were
separated by whatever the bungalow was made from, which might as well
have been toilet paper, because I could hear everything that went on in
their room. Luckily, they didn�t do anything perverse or strange. They
may have been discussing whether the guy could screw all the cows on
the island in under an hour for all I know, because they spoke French. But
it seemed like they were just a normal couple. But whatever separated us
was so thin that I could hear the guy breathing. Not snoring, breathing! I
was sure I was getting no sleep here, so I contemplated leaving the island
the next morning, and going back to Pakse to explore the rest of the
south a little sooner than I anticipated. But I decided to wait until morning,
after my squat toilet experience to make the decision.

Miraculously, I slept! When I awoke in the morning I was stunned that I
actually slept on that bed, in that room, in that heat, with no fan. I must
have been pretty tired. So I went into the bathroom to pee first, then I
would think about whether I would poop in there or not. And I did have to
go. When I went into the bathroom, I saw that the sink was filled with
water, and about 3000 dead bugs were floating in and a around it. Bugs
that were attracted to the light that shone from 6:00 to 10:00 last night.
But clean bathroom or not, I still had to decide if I would use that squatter.

Like I said, I�ve avoided squat toilets this entire trip, and held it for what I
know best: western, sit down, toilets. I�ve never even pooped in the
woods. What scares me is that I�m afraid I won�t pull my pants down
properly, or I won�t squat far enough, or something, and I�ll end up
getting it all over my pants somehow. Plus it just seems weird to me. In
fact, every single time I have ever pooped in my life, it�s been on a
western, sit down toilet, except when I was a baby and I would poop in
my pants. If you are into numbers, that would be roughly 14,000
consecutive, sit down and read a book, poops!

Ultimately, and shamefully, I decided that that was too big a number to
mess with. And a person cannot refuse to poop for too long. So my
decision was to pack my bags and leave this peaceful, idyllic island, and
go back to the mainland to extend my shi.tting streak. This is why I say
that I am not a true vagabonder. A true vagabonder adapts to the way of
life of where he chooses to travel.

So I ordered my banana pancake from the bungalow restaurant and
asked the lady how to get to Pakse. She told me she had a boat leaving
at 9:00am for $2.00 that would take me to where I could get a minibus to
Pakse. I agreed to that, and when I finished my pancake, I paid for
everything: The meal from the previous night; the pancake; the boat
ride; and the bungalow.

I watched her add up the bill on the calculator, and she only charged me
$2.00 for the bungalow. That�s odd, Mr. Boune had said it was $4.00, but I
didn�t say anything. She did it again and this time voiced the itemization,
and it was the same, so I wasn�t seeing things. On the minibus back to
Pakse, I talked to a guy who had been on Don Dhet for 5 weeks, and he
told me the standard price for bungalows there is $2.00. Damn, if I�d have
known it was only going to be $2.00 a night I would have sh.it in a God
damned ashtray!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If anyone is interested here is the link to the entire post.

[RACETRAITOR]

The way I see it, it's either a minute over a squatter or five minutes over a regular toilet. Sometimes it's nice to sit and relax, but the squatter really is more effective.

[timhorton]

What I find worse than the squatter concept toilets are those containers with no cover for tossing sh** tissue in...then have to wash my hands with one of those "soaps on a stick" that everyone shares. I hate those!!!!!!!


If there is one foreign influence I would like to see in Korea...it would have to be more sanitary bathrooms. They wear slippers to keep the floors clean but don't give a sh** about the bathrooms!




Absolutely dirty!