Squatting, bidets and searching for paper
As soon as you cross the border, you have to deal with different habits and customs. Even in that small room that you visit a few times a day. What can you encounter when you make a sanitary stop abroad?
In the Netherlands we have two types of toilet bowls. The flat coil variant has a plateau on which your message remains until you continue. This way you can easily check whether your stool has a healthy shape and color. With the second type, the deep-flush toilet, the faeces immediately splash into the water. That reduces bad odors.
Squatting in France
You don’t even have to drive that many miles for a confrontation with an exotic toilet. Anyone who has ever peed on a French highway knows them: the squat toilets. They consist of a hole in the ground with two footrests.
It may take some getting used to, but by squatting you will automatically be in a good toilet position. That would be better for bowel movements and help prevent the development of hemorrhoids. And at least you don’t have to touch a dirty toilet seat. Although such squat toilets are sometimes called ‘French toilets’, they are found all over the world.
Bidet
A little further south you can come across a bidet in your hotel room. Some Dutch people who are in Italy for the first time wonder what that second toilet without a seat is for. With such a bidet you can easily wash yourself after a visit to the toilet without having to undress completely. Or freshen up your feet with it. Also in the Middle East and East Asia such a bidet is nothing strange.
On Greek islands, there is often a sign in the toilet with a warning that you are not allowed to flush toilet paper. The narrow sewerage system is not designed for crumpled paper, so it would otherwise become clogged. There is a bucket in every toilet for the paper to go in.
Paper? Water!
In some countries you will search in vain for a toilet roll in the toilets. In India, for example, they don’t use paper at all, because they find it unhygienic. They prefer to clean themselves using some water and their left hand. The left hand is therefore ‘unclean’ and that is why you can only eat with the right and take or give something.
In many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America the toilet roll is missing, because toilet paper is too expensive for the local population. In public toilets you will therefore sometimes find a water hose with a tap next to the toilet. Or, as you can see in Indonesia, there is a large bowl of water with a smaller bowl or pitcher. With the bowl you scoop some water from the basin to rinse your buttocks. For the inexperienced tourist, that is quite a difficult job. If you don’t feel like a water ballet, take some toilet paper or tissues with you just to be sure.
toilet day
A toilet where you can sit privately for a while seems so normal. But in China there are also toilets – well, no more than a hole in the ground – where you squat next to your neighbor. In developing countries where there is no sewerage, residents relieve themselves in rivers, in a quiet spot or just on the street.
According to United Nations figures, approximately 2.5 billion people do not have hygienic sanitation facilities. In addition, there is no clean drinking water or the possibility to wash your hands. This is how infections spread quickly. A major health problem: every year 800,000 children die from the effects of diarrhoea. To draw attention to this, it is World Toilet Day every year on November 19.
Intestinal problems on holiday
In countries where hygiene is less than ours, you can also suffer from diarrhea as a holidaymaker. Infection with a bacterium, virus or parasite is often the cause of watery stools. It will go away on its own after a few days, but you have to be careful not to dry out. Drink extra, eat what you feel like and replenish the lost sugars and salts with ORS. If you have to travel for hours without a toilet nearby, you can temporarily use a ‘stopping agent’ such as loperamide.
Others invariably get constipated on vacation. Stress, a different diet and less exercise play a role in this. A different environment and cramped, dirty toilets with little privacy can also cause your gut to get upset. Eating fibre, drinking plenty of water and exercising helps. Go to the bathroom as soon as you feel the urge.
