What's Your Poison and What is the Strangest "Facilities" You've Ever Encountered on a Trip?
 

I'm having Chilean Chardonnay tonight and contemplating the question of the evening. IndyTravel gave me the idea for the topic, but I changed it up just a bit.

I've been in some strange facilities in my travels, but if I had to choose one, I would say it was in a pub in Paris in the Latin Quartier about six years ago. Male and female combined facilities with a turkish toilet that had only a set of saloon style swinging doors between you and the pay phone three feet away. Unfortunately, there was a really good looking guy on the phone and my bladder was saying "enough already!" I don't think I need to elaborate further. ;)

So, what's your poison tonight and what is the strangest "facilities" you've ever encountered on a trip?

Hey Statia!

I've been waiting for this post. Back from Paris and the "Traveling Sot" tour I'm ready to play "poison." :-)

Snowed in today so I had to work from home. Not my favorite thing. Odd things happen like personal hygiene goes out the window. I snack junk food all day. I knock off early for my favorite poison. Etc. I'm a much better person when I actually go to work.

Poison is the usual VO Manhattan.

The most unusual for me was Japan in '79. Mainly because things happened that I'd never seen before in my Midwestern years.

The public toilet at the local fair that had urinals in the front and stalls in the back. Try to be 18, male and relax enough to "start the flow" while Japanese babes whisper and giggle behind you on their way to the stalls.

The other was the bathroom of the Japanese family where I stayed. It was an outhouse but in the Japanese squat-style toilet. So it was pretty much an oval hole into a cesspool pit. Fascinating the first time or two but then just a little weird. Though I'm sure I'd be in better shape today if I had to use my thighs and squat whenever I wanted to use the facilities.

Hi Statia. La Crema Pinot in a few minutes, along w/Belgian chocolates that I got my DH for his birthday yesterday.

What exactly is a Turkish toilet?

The strangest facility I have ever been in was in Japan last spring. I had much warning about traditional style Japanese flush toliets, which are like porceline bowls set into the floor and you squat over them. So I thought I was all ready. But then I got there and went into the stall at the train station for the first time and man, oh, man, did it take some maneuvering. I am not that old but my knees hurt holding that position, adn there is NOTHING in the stall to hold onto while you squat. And my aim was not that great, ok? A major ordeal. After two weeks of this, as we were leaving the country and at the airport, my teen son said very nonchalantly, "Mom, just go in the last stall it's always a western toilet." I could have killed him for not telling me this sooner, when he knew how big an ordeal this was every time for me! Teen boys and their cruel/funny tricks.
And Japanese people say that these squat toliets are "more healthy for you." I honestly do not understand how that can be true, and no one has ever been able to explain it to me...

I will get poisoned later, but facilities... in Palm Springs, CA, there is an Indian Casino.

The restrooms have metal parts made of polished brass. Everything, including the seat covers holders. So whenever you pull your pants down, you see your reflection like in a mirror.

I just uncorked Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir. I saw a segment on the Today show about wine pairings for Thanksgiving dinner. Pinot Noir was suggested as going well with turkey and all the sides that typically accompany the meal.

I actually ate duck at a restaurant on Thanksgiving but the waiter also suggested a Pinot Noir to go with the duck so I decided to pick up a couple bottles on my latest foray at Super Target.

The wine has been in the trunk of my car the past couple of days and is very chilly (-4 wind chill this morning... brrr...) Anyone know what temp to serve a Pinot Noir?

:D Oh my eye, my eyes! The vivid images have forever scared me, lol!

Well, I have to say that what Indy described is exactly what we encountered on a trip to Ohio many years ago. I don't remember where exactly, but I was desperate (as I usually am on car trips) for a bathroom off the highway. I entered what I thought was a bathroom, but it only had a hole in the ground! Let's just say, from that time forward, I've learned to "hold it" :D

No poison tonight (not unless you count ginger snaps, lol). I'm trying to (over) pack for my trip, but I'm having too much fun on the computer today.

OK stw, where are you off to? It's probably here somewhere but I'm too lazy to argue with Fodor's search function. :-)

Remember put back half of what you stuff in a suitcase. You probably won't need it. Or can buy it there.

I am snickering big-time here, guys, imagining you in these *facilities.* :-d My 8 yr. old GD regales me with tales of her "bathroom adventures" when she travels to China! My poison tonight is my usual glass of Mountain Rhine, while I force myself to wrap a gift every hour or so! Happy Friday, Fodorville .... enjoy that poison. ((d))

Whoops.... about the facilities.... a traditional, very nasty and dirty Turkish toilet in the ancient town of Briancon where we had hiked up to from the modern town of Briancon while we were staying there during the Tour de France two summers ago.

DH and I were on a tour of the Tour de France with 50 cyclists from around the world crammed on a bus with our bikes pulled along behind. Every morning the driver would drop us off along the route, we'd ride our bikes on the route, watch the pros ride past then jump back on our bikes to ride some more.

The toilet on the bus broke down on day 2 of 14 so we all got very good at peeing along the side of the bus. As one of only about 8 women on board I can say we bonded well with our backs up against the bus.

amwosu dear, hold the glass part of the wine glass in your hands for a few minutes and your body heat should warm it up. Just do NOT put it in the microwave! [-X

Ha! I'm off to Boston and then New Hampshire. I know I need to pack for cold. I need my warm jacket and boots for the slushy sidewalks as we're out-and-about during the day. I need dress boots and my evening coat for the Holiday Pops. Half back, huh? How's about a 1/4 back :D

emd- the Turkish toilet is the same as your Japanese one.

Alright, I'm already rolling on the floor here with your stories and realizing that my "facility" experiences haven't been so odd in comparison to some of yours.

DH is getting off work earlier than planned tonight and I MUST have this notebook off my lap when he gets home. ;) In the meantime, however, keep 'em coming!

emd, a Turkish toilet is basically a hole in the ground, surrounded by porcelain, with actual "foot pads" to put your feet on as you aim. :D Yes, it gives new meaning to "thigh exercises" and playing "air wolf." BTW - I can't believe your son didn't tell you that sooner!

Okay women, raise your hand if you have ever used the men's room (on purpose). :-"

Being a man I've always used the men's room due to principal. The few times I've used the ladies' loo I thought them very clean and pleasant.

I've been with a few women who had to "go" in the men's room. They've mostly said the word "nasty" a lot. Men can be such pigs in the potty.

((Y))

R5

Drinking Sancerre and have often decided that the short line was a better option and used the men's room...always with an accomplice watching the door.
My own personal worst facilty was an open portapotty on the bow of a salmon fishing boat in Vancouver Island. We were told the bost had facilities so I drank water, juice and coffee with breakfast anticipating same.

stw- in France whenever our bus stopped for gas we all ran inside to get in line to use the toilets because there were 2 buses traveling together on the trip. Almost every time, the women's restrooms were closed for cleaning and everyone used the men's. That was common practice as mothers didn't hesitate to take their little girls right in with them.

I do know that boat is B-O-A-T.

What I don't understand is the weird double standard in Japan. They have squat toilets, but they also have these western toilets w/amazing bells and whistles. The toilet in our Westin Tokyo hotel room had a seat heating function ((Y)), a blow drying function =-o, MUSIC button (jazz, pop, classical) :-", a button that would flush quiet and slow while you were sitting down if you felt the need for a half-time flush ((I)), etc. Like the complete opposit of the squat toilets.

My funniest potty experience was taking two straight guys to a gay after hours club in Columbus, Ohio after an Ohio State game.

They didn't want to use the bathroom so we danced for hours but at a certain point they didn't have a choice. They went in the "ladies room" with me naively thinking it was for actual ladies.

It was full of transvestites and crossdressers doing Ecstasy in the corner. There were no doors on the stalls and there were mirrors in front of the stalls. It was the first time I was actually the lookout while a guy used the potty.

My favorite odd potty story is from a Grateful Dead concert. Back in the '90's before Cherry (sic) Garcia moved on. Lake Buckeye, Ohio. 90,000 of your closest friends at an open air venue.

There was a long row of port-a-potties lined against a fence. There were huge lines of ladies waiting for them. The men were being ever gracious and just whizzing against the fence. That way the ladies could have the port-a-potties. It had nothing to do with men having no patience. :-)

I was close to the row of potties whizzing against the fence when a young lady broke from the herd. She couldn't wait. She squatted down next to me, hiked up her skirt and let go. She was awfully chatty with me. Maybe she liked what she saw. :-D

STW - Count me in on that one. ;)

On that note, have any of you women ever notice that you can TELL when a man designed the ladies room? You know it when you sit down and your knees hit the door of the stall. :)

And what about those automatic flushers that go off at the most inopportune time?

amwosu, we must have been posting simultaneously in answer to emd's question.

My unsuspecting husband was shocked when recently, at a Broadway theater, he encountered women in the mens room. He was even more shocked when I told him that I have done that on more than one occasion :D Hey, it beats a hole in the ground!

emd, next time please take a picture of that "bells and whistle" toilet would ya. :)

I cannot begin to describe how hard I am laughing at this very moment. Indy, something tells me you gotta lot of these stories :D

OMG Indy! Buckeye Lake... in the 90s... Grateful Dead? Was that you? You know, maybe we shouldn't every try to have an Indy GTG after all.

Actually, I did all my peeing in public at Buckeye Lake in the 80s so it must not have been you.

Champagne to celebrate making it home tonight!!

In a Palm Beach restaurant. The seat had a fresh plastic (like Saran Wrap)cover that automatically recovered the seat when it was flushed. This was several years ago. I had to try it a few times because I couldn't believe it.

That concert was an eye-opener for me amwosu. I'd never before or after seen things like that.

I was smartly dressed in slacks and a polo. People treated me like I was security. There were no umbrellas allowed at the concert (don't know why) but I took my large golf umbrella anyway. No one said a word to me. Though people would huddle around me to get a litte break from the rain.

I guess I didn't look like I'd poke people with the umbrella. :-)

All your hilarious stories made me think of something else....when traveling, of course.

Has anyone else ever seen Ron White's comedy routine (from Blue Collar Comedy Tour)? He talks about traveling to an area where he rode the rapids (I forget where) in the summer, in inner-tubes with a bunch of other folks. He makes a comment about how everybody drank beer on the river ALL DAY LONG and yet nobody ever had to go to the bathroom. I won't go any further. :D If you've seen it, you know where I'm going.

A margarita tonight at a great local restaurant.
Two bathrooms come to mind...the public toilets literally ON THE SIDEWALK in Paris that clean themselves like a shower when you exit....
shopping in Hong Kong at the Chinese Imports Emporium; a lovely shop with chandeliers...went into the ladies room to find a pit-style hole in the floor and no toilet paper....the joys of travel!!

My teens love Ron White. I haven't heard his story of tubing and drinking but we love the airplane story.

He talks about being drunk even before boarding a small plane. When they begin to have engine difficulty his seatmate says, "How far do you think we can get on one engine?" Ron's response is, "All the way to the scene of the crash...and I bet we bet we beat the paramedics there by 30 minutes."

California white zinfandal, statia. Got out the pretty Christmas goblets. Tastes better that way!

Why is it that some people don't flush the toilet? I can't stand going into a stall, seeing you-know-what inside the water. Enough to make you want to gag!

Several years ago at a soccer game in Milan, Italy (don't ask), in a "ladies" room, with a hole in the ground for the toilet, I opened the door and it was filled with men. No more coffee for me!

AuntAnnie, I gave my kids 50cents to go inside one of those self-cleaning toilets in San Francisco (by Coit Tower). And yes, they even took a picture of it. :D

See the World: Your children will be such well-seasoned travelers that NOTHING will phase them!!

I'm with you kopp, but it comes under a Camile Paglia I'm asserting myself manly category.

Some men (NOT ME) do not flush due to pride. "Hey y'all look at what I low-pressure extruded out of my buttocks!"

It's the same way some men (NOT ME) wipe prize winning boogers above the urinal. "Hey y'all look at what I picked out of my nose!"

Gross and why most women, and men too, say "nasty!" when they leave a men's room.

If you're a woman look for the boogers above the urinal as you walk to the stalls. It'll be an eye-opener. :-o

A nice glass of Vouvray followed by a second in just a few minutes is tonight's poison.

Although I have a similar "squatty" story, I thought I"d share a jaw dropping one.

I had to use the restroom prior to a train ride while in France. I don't recall the town, but it was small and only had a unisex restroom. It was sufficiently clean and I was the only one in there. Plenty of time to sit and "think" so I started reading the graffitti on the wall. Well, some of it required my dictionary. Yup, got out the dictionary and my jaw dropped! I couldn't believe some of the "appointments" being made for my very toilet stall! I did double check my watch just to make sure I was "safe!"

Too funny moldy!

Did you tarry a bit to see if an appointment would be kept? :-D

Indy, I think I'll pass on that, thank-you-very-much!

Not sure why I read all the way to the end of this thread, but it has seriously reduced my desire for anything to drink.

indy, I think you're winning!! At a rock concert years ago the guys (to urinate) had to go into a semi-trailer and there was a trough where they did what they had to do. Never knew (nor did I want to) know where it went!