My Editorial "Pot Hole Potties"

[CuPoNoOdLe]

I wrote my own Editorial, so check it out! :D

Please enjoy. :)

[Saitou Hajime]

LOL, I never thought reading about toilets would be, well, something I'd do. :D

It was a little hard to read on the site, but other than that it was good. Also, I'd never, ever want to use those toilets lol.

[Jay]

...woah. I can't even read that.

Post it here, edit the thread and paste it in.

[Loc]

linky no worky :(
If Saitou likes it, it's probably weird...which is good ;)

[Saitou Hajime]

linky no worky :(
If Saitou likes it, it's probably weird...which is good ;)

She pees in front of other people. So... lol.

[CuPoNoOdLe]

Ok, since most of you can't go to my site.. i'll post it here :D

Pot Hole Potties

During sometime in my travels to Hong Kong and China back in the year 2000, i have stumble upon my path to finding different types of potties. No, i don't mean urinals, but in this case, it may as well be considered as one.

I remember the first time i saw my first pot hole potty. It was a summer hot night, and we were meeting up with some of our family friends in Hong Kong when we decided to go get dinner. I was lucky to find a friend among them who visited the states often, so i knew her. We decided we needed to go to bathroom before eatting and since she lived there, she showed me where the bathroom was. I don't remember the events that took place then, but the restuarant either had an outdoor bathroom or it was really hidden. I remember this because it was really small, dirty, had really bad lighting and was stationed right adjacent to the kitchen. As we walked in, there were only two stalls. She told me to go into the one in the left, and when I came out she so happened to come out at the same time. Since the bathroom was really small i took a quick peek into her stall to find a HOLE. Im not shitting you, it was a freaking hole in the ground. :confused: (Sorry im a Californian, born and raised, and I've never seen such things.) I remember giving her a face of "wtf?...you're kidding me right?" and i even said "how could you...??" in chinese. She told me she was used to it, and by my experience after visiting China, i can offically say... I learned too.

Although this was my first encounter, i didn't have to use one... but little did i know.. this will not be the first and last time i saw one.. ohh.. nooo.....(oh btw, since Hong Kong was under the British for a while, i guess they adapted the "toliet bowl".. in which we use in the US, CANADA.. anywhere else that has english influence. It was just by coincidence that they had one in that restaurant bathroom.)

So on we went, after spending a week or so in Hong Kong with my aunties, mom and grandma, (might i add.. it was the best vocational time of my life!) we left on a plane, boarded a bus and arrived at the house of my Grandma's Cousin (I'll just call him Uncle Joe, even though that is nowhere near his name, but it will make things easier.). I had been holding my pee in since the second hour that I had been sitting in that damn bus, so naturally, the first thing i wanted to do was to go to the bathroom at Uncle Joe's. After meeting the family I timidly asked my mom if i can go to the bathroom, she then asks Uncle Joe, and he points to where one of the three bathrooms are. I go inside... and yet again! I am face to face with a Porcelain Pot Hole Potty, and this time, I had to use it. I had nooo idea what i was doing, so i go outside and tell my mom that it's a hole.. and i asked her how to use it. She laughs at me and tells me that you squat. (Well.. DUH.. BUT WTH!) So i go back in there, hoping i'd be a formidable opponent, and just started to do my thing as my bladder cannot hold it anymore. It felt very uncomfortable, and at this time, i learned that i had to aim. (Don't ask how, but.. girls have to aim too) What also shocked me was that this wasn't only a potty, it was also the drain to when you showered. So basically.. you had a hose.. and you need to hose down your pee and dung, while you also use it to hose down yourself. (Oh, btw this is similar to the bathroom i had while i stayed in Hong Kong, they had a toliet, but no bathtub, so basically you used a drain on the ground and the whole bathroom is the bathtub. Needless to say, things got really wet and you always wore sandels in the bathroom, even when you're not taking a shower.)

Oh, and this wasn't even the worst potty i've been to. While on my stay in Mainland China, we did a lot of traveling around to different cities. I learned that different Cities equal different bathrooms. (Don't get your hopes up yet because, they were still all Pot Hole Potties, just structured differently.) We learned that you had to pay to use the potty. (It's not free like in America, because the janitorial services were operated by individals and they don't get paid to do thier job, so the public are the ones paying them to keep it clean.) If you were stealthy enough, you might get passed them and use thier potty for free, otherwise it'd cost you 2 Yuan. (Yuan = Unit of Chinese currency) Well, being the Americans we were, my grandma stubbled into one without paying, and the janitor was yelling at her while she was on her way out. As i recall, my grandma walked out coolly and pretended she didn't understand what the lady was talking about.

Opps, i went on a tangent, but anyway, there was this one bathroom in particular that i remember. It was at a train station and i had paid to go in, but when i took my first step in there.. i noticed something terribly wrong. The bathrooms had no stalls. Instead, translucent glass was used no taller than 2 feet high off the ground to seperate each Pot Hole Potty and there were no doors. The potties were parallel to each other so while you are walking down the aisle, you get a clear view of the people on either side. (Not to mention while u are doing ur thing, you look to the opposite side and you see someone else doing thier buisness while squating.) I kept my eyes to the back wall as i made my way down the middle aisle in search for the last potty on either end. It was really disgusiting because while u do your thing, you see someone else's ass in front of you or they are facing you. *shivers* So after i took my tinkle, i made my way out, and noticed the janitor was apparently having a conversation with a woman, while she was taking a dump. That was the most repulsive thing i've ever seen. Can you imagine someone constipating while a lady is standing next to you having a casual conversation? Not only that, but the janitor is standing to the side where there was no glass. *dies at that thought*

Oh, and there was another potty that has left an imprint in my mind. It was one of those "middle of the road, desperate measures potties". We were on a tour bus, and on our way to some random stop, (I warn you, if you go on vacation in China.. and need to use a public bathroom really really badly *public meaning.. the ones without janitors...it's as bad as the bathrooms in china towns, but much WORSE!) and I literally found a tunnel dug into the ground, bricks used to levitate yourself off the ground so you can squat type of potty. So.. it was another parallel potty, and this time nothing to seperate anything. It was one big hole and everyone took thier tinkles while facing each other, and when you're done.. you go to the end and pull a string to have water come flushing down. *gross!!* Also, it smelled soo bad from all the pee collected since who knows when.. and you would also find pads, tampons, and almost anything thrown around in there. Well, desperate times calls for desperate measures.. and yes..i can proudly zip up my pants and say i took my tinkle!

Yup, and there you go with my tinkle stories in China and Hong Kong. I hope you enjoyed this and im just really tired right now, and in a frantic to end this thing. Oh yah.. and also.. when you're in China and Hong Kong, the toliets don't have toliet paper, so you're always lugging around a baggie of paper towels with you. Gee, i can now say men have the easier life in Asia, but then again, when they have to poop, they'll go through what the ladies go through each time.

[Loc]

hahaha you were right Saitou :D
nice story Cuponoodle, I had to use one of those once in France (middle of nowhere) but was pretty easy really as I am male ;p
Never knew women could aim ;x

[Davey]

I'm glad I ain't there. Even them trough urinals are better than that. Seriously scary.

Amusing though.

[Myrsilus]

My lord. I appreciate America's facilities much more now. Great story.

[DJEvan]

haha, totally reminds me of my time in China. There was this one particular potty out in the middle of god knows where. no doors, no thing, just a drainage pipe like hold dug out. The first thing that hit me was the stench, at about 50 metres away. Snce i had to either use that or go into the bushes, i took my chances. turned out that people before me decided to have a crapper, so i'm staring at a very big pile of *bleep*. had no choice, unzipped and went on my merry way. Halfway through something caught my eye so i peered down and lo and behold, i see a goddamn EARTHWORM crawling out. Can't say i'll ever forget that image.

[Myrsilus]

Ewwww. Ha ha ha, I would have laughed at the entire situation once I was able to leave the stench perimeter.

The closest thing I've ever experience to these stories is when I went to a public bathroom at an old park. The toilets were made of freaking stone. And they had not been flushed since... god knows when. So there was stagnant feces and urine and stuff. I decided my bladder was strong enough to hold.

[CuPoNoOdLe]

haha, totally reminds me of my time in China. There was this one particular potty out in the middle of god knows where. no doors, no thing, just a drainage pipe like hold dug out. The first thing that hit me was the stench, at about 50 metres away. Snce i had to either use that or go into the bushes, i took my chances. turned out that people before me decided to have a crapper, so i'm staring at a very big pile of *bleep*. had no choice, unzipped and went on my merry way. Halfway through something caught my eye so i peered down and lo and behold, i see a goddamn EARTHWORM crawling out. Can't say i'll ever forget that image.

Oh gosh! X_X! Sounds like that public bathroom i found at the stop in the middle of no where. Well, i guess after you've used about your millionth pot hole, you just get used to them and they dont bother you THAT much anymore.

Although after reading my entry, my friend told me she found a pot hole potty in Tailand, and having no idea how to use it, she put toliet paper around and sat in the thing. :eek: Then after she asked her dad why the toliet was so low. Well, needless to say, after having to live in Vietnam, her father just laughed hysterically at her and told her she was supposed to squat.

BTW, thanks for the great comments =]!

[Saitou Hajime]

Although after reading my entry, my friend told me she found a pot hole potty in Tailand, and having no idea how to use it, she put toliet paper around and sat in the thing.



OMG, I don't know if I should laugh at that or be grossed out. I think I'll do both.

[tekkan]

:D

Ya, Don't you love how they charge you to use the washroom?

When you came back from your trip, did you ever find yourself pulling out your wallet when you needed to use a public restroom? :D

I know I did for a few days when I came back. :D The best moment is when there was a guy waiting for someone outside the bathrooms and as I was about to go in I took my wallet out of my pocket and was going to take out change and give it to the guy...but the I caught myself just in time and quickly feigned that I was just looking for something in my wallet...

[CuPoNoOdLe]

:D

Ya, Don't you love how they charge you to use the washroom?

When you came back from your trip, did you ever find yourself pulling out your wallet when you needed to use a public restroom? :D



Luckly, i can say i didn't plan on getting charged anymore after i got back. I never took out my wallet again when going to the bathroom. I guess, its partly because i wasn't used to being charged in the first place!

[Treayn]

Haha.
About bathrooms.
You know in Venice, when someone takes a shit, it falls into a canal below. They use the river canals as their sewers.

Now if someone was rowing a boat under it... hehe

[Soli]

My grandparents live on a farm in Vermont, although they don't own any animals. Anyway, there's a huge barn called the 'Hourse Barn'. That's where the bathrooms are... The first thing you notice is the stink. It's not as bad, but still noticable. So, in the barn is stuff like snowmobiles, freezers, and old junk.

There's a small rectangular room to the right. I'm going to guess, it's maybe 8' by 3'. There's a bench sort of thing along the right wall. In the bench are 6 holes with wodden covers. The holes go from small to extra large. A roll of toliet paper is hanging on the wall across. Do you get where I'm going?

Underneath is the biggest pile of... waste you've ever seen. It's not like it's right under you. You've got a good 6 feet of space. What's even scarier is that my Uncle Tom fell in it once when he was younger. Whenever we ask him about it, he'll ignore us. Needless to say I'm afraid to even get near that place. Recently my grandparents have instaled a toliet inside the house. Thank God.

So, I guess they are toliets like that in America. :D

[DJEvan]

Snip

This kinda toilets were highlighted in the GTO manga, and i recall seeing something similar in a movie once. Austin Powers maybe? Or maybe Hot Shots Part Deux

as for paying for using the public toilets, its a pretty common thing here. People have to make a living somehow right? :(

[tekkan]

as for paying for using the public toilets, its a pretty common thing here. People have to make a living somehow right? :(

But..but...come on. When someone has to go, and they have no money...what are they gonna do? :(

[DJEvan]

look for the rival toilet where they don't charge! :rolleyes:


no seriously, we have like tonnes of open concept foodcourts (Basically something like a campus canteen, but with alot of stalls selling different stuffs). all of them have their own toilets, although i might not want to comment on the hygine of some of them. And seeing that Singapore is like the size of Melbourne alone, with everthing squeezed together, i don't see the lack of toilets disturbing ^^;

[Sayaka]

Look, there not that bad. I'd rather use the so-called "pothole potties" than an unflushed toilet. They're used throughout much of the world.

[CuPoNoOdLe]

Oh, i agree.. pot hole potties arn't too bad. I'd rather go to a properly working pot hole pottie than a portapotty.

I also remember one time when i went to a restaurant in China, i came upon a restroom with 3 stalls and two were a pothole while the other was a toliet bowl. One of the potholes had a broken door to it's stall, but nevertheless people had a line waiting for that one working pothole. I was surpised to see nobody using the toliet bowl! I thought it was weird, but HEY! there's no line! (WOO HOO) so i chuckled while i cut in front of everyone to use the toliet bowl. My mom was with me at the time, and i asked her if she thought it was weird. She answered saying that well, people in China just arn't used to using toliet bowls.

Oh and there was a group of school girls in uniforms using the broken stall. Apparently one girl was holding the door while another one was using it.

[co_delphi]

Being in boy scouts I became familiar with the pot hole potties at a younger age than most people (when in the wilderness with no plumbing available there is no real other option). But the true experience was in the military. They made it a point to put the firing ranges a very far way away from normal civilization (for good reason) and in being so far away, there was no plumbing there either. Only problem is though is that the bathroom was designed to accommodate a large group of people. It was like a medium sized cabin held up by stilts above a large hole. Anyone within 100 yards of this cabin knew of it's existance immediately seeing as how the corregated iron roof in conjunction to the 100 degree weather and blazing sun of a Missouri summer beating down on it. Inside was a true engineering masterpiece. You had the typical stadium style urinal (for the ladies who are unfamiliar just imagine a elongated bathtub that is mounted to one wall). Then there were roughly 10 "toilets". I use this word loosely because in essence it was really air conditioning ducts with toilet seats bolted onto them. The smell we got a hint of 100 yards away was retch worthy within close promimity, and gave our gas masks a new purpose. We still pity the poor private who accidentally dropped his kevlar helmet down one of the air ducts (he was given the choice to go in after it or pay the $400 to replace it) - you can only imagine what happened next. Yeah it was pretty bad.

[Myrsilus]

Ew. I guess we've all dealt with these types of accomodations at one point.

But damn, I feel sorry for the private.

[paul]

The toilet that you know now was only invented at around the late eighteenth century anyway. So, you can imagine China, not then and still not very open to western influence not adapting to this idea :)

Plus, this is slowly changing, all the new houses being built possess this toilet. My home, where I lived my childhood, had the hole in the floor :) I suppose its because they were easier to make. With the high population, and the majority of the people not being well off, they were more concentrated on gaining other luxuries that has an effect on your status symbol (not a toilet).

Now, I know some people feel the call of nature in the middle of the night, and can't imagine the horror of finding the energy to squat at 2 AM. As far as I see, China has a more widespread use of chamberpots, metal mini toilets that you can sit on, take a crap and dump into the real toilet.

If you visit China, and does not want to visit these "pot hole potties", then I suggest you latch on to a adequate hotel / middle-upper class relative. When I visit my grandma's I have to use a pot hole potty anyway, and I don't really mind ;)

As for the bathrooms without divisions, I am puzzled. 'cause in my years in China, NO WHERE was it normal for people to TALK to you while you're doing your business. Maybe this race for money has driven them all mad.

[Jiant Flying Panda]

The fuck? Am I in the editorials section of the forum?

*Checks* Oh shit I am. I never go here or the IAJST and Stories.

Anyways. Good story. Kind of reminds me of the stories my friends used to tell me, haha.

[CuPoNoOdLe]

If you visit China, and does not want to visit these "pot hole potties", then I suggest you latch on to a adequate hotel / middle-upper class relative. When I visit my grandma's I have to use a pot hole potty anyway, and I don't really mind ;)

As for the bathrooms without divisions, I am puzzled. 'cause in my years in China, NO WHERE was it normal for people to TALK to you while you're doing your business. Maybe this race for money has driven them all mad.

Well, we stayed at my Uncle Joe's for 3 weeks. Needless to say, I got used to their potties. :) Although they did have a bathtub, isn't that rare too?

I don't know why those two women were talking while the other was doing her buisness, but i SWEAR it happened!

[Kustom]

This story got a bit old, but I think its great so I'll post it...

Ten years ago a buddy of my father made a fortune in China. Not that he was that good an entrepreneur, but he had a million-dollar idea : selling western-style bathroom, under the brandname Pierre Cardin, a famous French clothe designer. (He didn't even need Pierre Cardin to agree to that as, well, at the time the Chinese copyright system was not really up to date, still isn't)

It worked like a charm. You see, at the time in China, western toilets were a luxury item that only the rich could afford, so they had no problem paying 5 time the price for it to have the name "Pierre Cardin" written in bold letters! ^^

I'm thinking of becoming rich selling Louis Vuitton transparent umbrellas and Cartier onigiris here in Japan, but I don't know if I can get the brandnames...