Our squat toilet
| Our squat toilet
Traditional Asian toilets consist of a hole in the floor and the necessary accoutrements. A white porcelain plate generally surrounds the hole, with two slightly raised footprints. You stand on the footprints, pull down your pants, and squat. It also gets easier, with experience, to keep your pants out of harm's way. The first few times, it may be simplest to just take them off. At first, you'll probably also need to hold on to something with one hand to steady yourself. In traditional squat toilets, a barrel of clean water sits beside the toilet. People use this water (a bowl floats inside) then empty a few scoops of water into the toilet until all traces of their visit disappear. The water barrel is gradually replenished from a spring or brook (or from a faucet, if available.) Since we're experts now, we always carry a packet of tissues with us. But in most cases, Asian plumbing often cannot accommodate toilet paper without clogging. In many toilets there's a nearby wastebasket for used tissues.
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