Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Little Rooms With Views

There was a funny article in the news yesterday about the toilets on the 18th floor of a hotel. The cubicles had a full pane of glass that looked out and supposedly, the people using the toilets thought that the glass was reflective on the other side. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case and some people found onlookers waving at them while they were in there. Here's the accompanying photo. I can't quite figure out why there are two people in that cubicle, second from the left.

Toilets hotel Standard

I love toilet stories and while it wasn't amusing at the times I needed to use certain toilets, they are funny memories to have. Here is my list of most 'interesting' toilets.

The most difficult decision I've had to make about toilet cubicles was in Lijiang, China. It was a choice between the cubicle with no door, or the cubicle that had a big window one side, looking out onto a car park. I chose the window because there was nobody outside at that moment and I thought I could be quick enough. Plus, when I was seated, only my upper body was visible.

The cleanest outdoor toilet was one on the border of Cambodia and Vietnam. There were only four low walls and no roof so the sun dried up the inside of the cubicles and vaporised all smells. The only problem was that the walls were only as tall as a person so it was possible the peep over.

The most confronting toilet I've visited was another one somewhere en-route from Dali to Lijiang in China. This was an outdoor, public restroom that was very 'basic'. I walked in and there were two ladies, squatting side by side having a chat. I couldn't even make myself try to go so I just left and prayed there would be another toilet stop soon. There was another similar one in Chengdu except it was in a government building and fully tiled - I went there because there was nobody else around.

The scariest toilet was the one on my father's farm. I was seven or eight years old when he had his farm so my memory might have exaggerated things. It was a big hole dug in the ground, with two planks thrown over for a person to squat over. There were walls, a roof and a door but those planks were wobbly and it was a long fall down to you-know-what.

I think its time I did more travelling to get some new stories. I'll be going to Adelaide at the end of this week but I doubt there are any interesting loos there.

4 comments:

Mike said...

In the second from the left, the guy looks like he is standing gaurd over the gal.

Amanda said...

Mike - I thought they were BOTH gals...

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure she's in a wheelchair? Or he moved her from wheelchair to toilet.

Bilbo said...

What a marvelous collection of toilet stories! I think you should consider writing a book about your travel exploits!