BootsnAll Travel Community

You know, I think I'm gonna stick with the "Hold it" method. Tried and true

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I find it best to strip off everything from waist down - that way you don't end up with any surprises in your back pockets!!! AND without any pants on you don't have the embarassment of trying to fish your wallet out of the hole!

I've thought of this too and almost attempted it if it wasn't for the wet nasty floor delima. Usually the floor is wet and dirty from people spraying their fecal matter all over the place with the hose. In the nicer public facilities bathroom attendants will spray down the floor to at least get rid of the dirt and poopy shrapnel. In either case the floor is almost always wet. Now, when taking your pants off you would want to keep your shoes on so you don't have to step on the floor. However, even if you're wearing shorts you can't expect to slide them off and not hit the side or bottom of you're shoe that has been exposed to the wet floor. So the only way you can pull it off is to take off one shoe, slide that foor out, then step on top of the shoe so you can lift your other leg to take that shoe off. I've tested this procedure before and I have a 35% success rate of not losing my balance and stepping on the floor with my socks. Not worth the risk, especially when during the 65% failure times you not only get your feet wet, you risk falling on your ass, dropping your pants, or ramming your shoulder into the side of the stall as you hop on one foot trying to catch balance. Then even if you do pull it off, where do you hang your clothes? You ever see a coat hook in those places? Not me. And you can't hold on to them. We've already discussed the number of other things you have to concentrate on when in the "position". Holding your clothes should not be one of them.

adult diapers anyone?

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Originally posted by poochythedog:
Being a vegan doesn't help with the bowel control. I go 4 times a day on average. That being the case, toilet paper runs out fast.

I saw a promo for something on tv where a poor lady went through SIX rolls of toilet paper every day. it was on one of those reality medical shows. ouch.

I'll bet that she was really wiped out at the end of the day.

Might I recommend self-induced consipation via a pepto bismol overdose? Save it for when you can get a western can.

This is actually very interesting to me, and not even because I'm planning to go to Asia. A Filipino friend of mine recently informed me that Filipinos in the US use a bucket of water to wash themselves. That explained the casino chip bucket I've seen in his bathroom and wondered about. I have been trying to incorporate this into my own bathroom ritual since I feel cleaner after washing with water (taking a shower) than after using paper. It would also be one less thing to have to learn when I do go somewhere where it's the only option.

Great first post

I got one word...."Bidet"


about 5 billion people use this method. Must work.

If you can squat down to pick up your backpack off the floor, then you can crap in a squatter.

With regards to the pants and shorts, am I being too much of an ameture (and poor speller) if I say that I always took my shorts off?! I never really wore pants out most of the time, so taking my shorts off was my best option.

And about the water bowl, you have to LOVE baby wipes! I learned that lesson while stationed in Iraq. You can say what you want about the war over there, but every soldier has a stash of baby wipes in his uniform and you never know when they'll come in handy.

Great thread, btw!

A Filipino friend of mine recently informed me that Filipinos in the US use a bucket of water to wash themselves. That explained the casino chip bucket I've seen in his bathroom and wondered about.


*******

I hope they change the water every now and then!

I do notice that in Asia (particularly Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia) there is almost always a spray doodad hanging on the wall near the toilet.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I HATE the holes in the ground and never squat. I make sure my feet are way in front of the hole and brace myself up with one hand on the wall behind the hole.

by Alex Deez, geez

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I have been trying to incorporate this into my own bathroom ritual since I feel cleaner after washing with water (taking a shower) than after using paper

This could be especially so if you have an extra hairy bum but as far as learning something new, it comes quickly if a diet change has you busting.

If you're in a city, might be a chance you can sneak into a classy hotel catering for westerners.

Maybe I'll have to put on the inventors cap - a couple of rings and three stays would make for a portable stooling stool to give you a nice ring of confidence.

A small (cheap) plastic chair - with a hole cut in the middle of the seat - is the easiest answer.

Damn site easier than testing your balancing skills.
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Originally posted by poochythedog:
Being a vegan doesn't help with the bowel control. I go 4 times a day on average. That being the case, toilet paper runs out fast. I read over the link pepdrug posted on this topic. It seams the consensus is to be a master of the water hose/cup or use your left hand to assist pulling out the jiblets with your fingers. Besides the fact that is completely disgusting (even if you are culturally open-minded), I still think this would create a bigger mess.

Eat more rice, starch.

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Master, I have done this training you speak of. The problem is not the squatting. It is the combination of squatting and control of the water hose without soiling or wetting my royal garments. One also has to have the self-control to operate the spigot with one hand to turn the water on and off, while holding the hose with the other hand and holding the squat pose at the same time. I may have seen that once at a Cirque de Soleil performance, but those performers are very strong and train relentlessly. I am just an average person. Maybe this is what Buddha was contemplating when he said "Life is suffering". Maybe if he had a porcelain toilet he would've said "Life's not too bad."

Close but not quite...

start building up those leg muscles and doing yoga for balance

To be honest after getting used to the squat technique and bum gun, I was quite a fan.

You people are making me seriously reconsider my entire trip to SE Asia.

I do believe I'm going to invent an inflatable Western toilet for backpackers to "pack it in, pack it out" of SE Asia as if it were a national park.

I second best thread ever. As for the squating and "bum gun" I found that after being in SE Asia for 8 months I missed it when I returned to the land of dirty butts. Its just not the same after using the water hose. If you have noticed walking around SE asia the people squat all the time not just to shite but eat do chores what ever it may be your ass that close to the ground will mean no poopy shrapnel. You'll figure it out or smell, one of the two.

Ahhhh...such wonderful memories, excellent thread.

this is one area where short strong thighed girls like myself have an advantage.

I never found instructions for squat toilets, but there is a picture of how to use a western toilet in the bathroom in the Siem Reap airport.

(and my ass has been laughed at by a half dozen Vietnamese kids after i paid them to bring me to a hole in the ground)