Have the bathrooms improved?
 

I read about all the squat toilets and the smell that lingers about 2 years ago. Have they improved much lately, especially with the Olympics coming?

some but not all! do your number2's at your hotel. You never know where you might be at a specific time in a day! haha

They usually don't smell, especially in modern places inside the large cities.

But squat toilet is still the norm.

LostinChina ...

You may want to do a few "simulations" while you are at home, or better still strength your leg/thigh muscles.

I go to the gym regularly, including doing squats. But when I went to Istanbul last year, I cam acorss some squat toilets - I just couldn't do it. I tried but my balance was so awkward that I was afraid that I might fall backwards into the hole or do a backflip!

Hmmm, squat toilets are still the norm, huh? That's too bad. We can try to use the hotel the most we can, but there are some things beyond our control! (:

Johnmango,
I seriously thought about the simulations. It is hard to do I would think if your thigh muscles aren't strong. Good to prep ahead of time!! THanks!

We did the usual tourist circuit and never used a squat toilet. Some places had both and marked them. Off the beaten track and in poor areas, squat usual but not in tourist hotels.

You're always fine in hotels. But in outside restaurants, parks, etc...

It's the touristy spots I'm concerned about. I've heard those toilets can be... tough to take.

Yeap - some places are really..tough to take..!

Yep, some have advised me not to drink to avoid the bathrooms. Of course there is dehydration to consider...

I actually think much of the bad smell comes from the practice of throwing used TP in the wastebasket instead of flushing it. This happens whether using a squat or western toilet.

Before concluding that a location only has squat toilets, check the end stalls in the row of stalls. I've found that if a location has a western toilet then it's located at the one of the ends - usually the far end from the door.

This is a strange thing to discuss, but some things to remember when using a squat toilet are to hike up the bottoms of your pants so they don't touch the floor - as some don't have great aim. Rolling the bottoms is a potential strategy. And squatting is not sitting. I think that trying to get to the sitting position in the air is much harder on thighs. I suggest to keep knees closer together, feet further apart and squat your tush down past your knees so you're kind of sitting on your calves. That makes it more stable, I think.

One time we attempted to use a bathroom immediately after paying our entrance fee to Zhouzhuang (a water village tourist site outside Shanghai) and not only didn't the main entrance have a door, but neither did the stalls! And the "toilet" was a maybe 3 inch deep trough in the ground that ran across all stalls. People were squatting sideways in the stall so as to straddle the trough. Worse still, it appeared the trough ran from the men's to the women's bathroom. Imagine the smell! We passed on using it and did use one further into the village that had doors on the stalls and might even have had western toilets. I can't recall. There was a fee of maybe 2 jiao to use this second one.

nagiffag - I just finished dinner, and I am going to throw up now.

nagiffag,
I found your descriptions very useful. Thanks!! It's always good to be prepared I think.

Oh, I almost forgot. I actually have pictures of some public restrooms in rural China.

Here's one at a brand-new highschool. Very clean, but still just holes in the ground (not visbible in photos) and no doors:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p528805423/?photo=483574365

Here's one at a very very old grade school in an extremely remote village. You do not want to click on the link if you have just eaten or is going to eat:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p212914365/?photo=497973835

rkkwan,
Thanks! As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...

Agree with nagiffag regarding technique. I initially tried to balance myself in a seated position - it's tough (and I'm in pretty good shape, too). After several attempts, it dawned on me that it might be easier to actually squat (duh, squat toilets). It makes all the difference in the world.

Alright, guys - I found a link in the internet to show the proper squat posture:

http://www.poopreport.com/Techniques...e/squatty.html

There is also a book from Prof. Jane Wilson-Howarth, called "How to S**t Around the World: The Art of Staying Clean and Healthy While Traveling". The book is available at Amazon.com for about $10.

That web site was interesting. They say it's even healthier to squat than use western toilets? Hmmm...

Ahh, but the most challenging are squat toilets on moving trains...

I can't bear the thought...