dirty toilets
99% of the time i'm proud of my chinese heritage. the other 1% of the time is when i encounter dirty toilets after the non-flushing, toilet seat splattering, floor wetting practices of people from the motherland.
WHY DO THEY DO THIS?????
i'm used to cleanliness, so encountering a toilet seat splattered with urine really what gets me disgusted and annoyed. not only is it unsanitary, but it's simply selfish. no one enjoys opening the washroom door to disgusting surprises on the toilet seat or nastier surprises in the porcelain bowl.
i think my first cultural shock was going to hong kong & then guangzhou for the first time when i was 5 years old. i suppose hk wasn't that bad back then, which was almost 25 years ago. encountering the "hole-in-the-ground" toilets in china was definitely an eye-opener. i distinctly remember being accompanied to the washroom by my 姑姐 and being shocked by not seeing the usual toilets i was accustomed to. i even remember telling her i didn't know how to use it!
over the years, during the subsequent visits to hong kong and china, i've encountered worse case scenarios. my only time in china was going to guangzhou when i was 5 years old. my 2nd time in china was not until in 2004 when i went to shanghai, beijing, chengdu, kunming, jiuzhaigo, dali, lijiang, etc. and as the cities got smaller and smaller, the washroom situation progressively worsened.
as one of the fellow tourists commented, 堆積如山(literally, an accumulation as grand as a mountain) had special meanings for all of us. i finally experienced the meaning of that by going to the almost archaic washrooms in some of my destinations. it was during this trip that i had mastered the practice of breathing where i didn't "smell" the air...
as more of "my people" have decided to call canada their home in recent years, the toilet situation has declined in cleanliness.
just the other day, some cantonese ladies were discussing this very topic in the changing room at my gym. i was very close to joining their conversation as i definitely had a lot to say about this topic, being one of my biggest pet peeves. on this note, we shared something in common. we were disgusted and annoyed at the dirty toilet situation.
the most interesting, yet disgusting information that i learned from nonchalantly eavesdropping was that they discovered the mentality behind this non-existent toilet practice was.... whoever goes to the toilet afterwards was responsible to flush the toilet....
WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THIS??! what if someone decided to go #2, and the toilet is not visited for hours upon hours?!
WHY DO THEY DO THIS?????
i'm used to cleanliness, so encountering a toilet seat splattered with urine really what gets me disgusted and annoyed. not only is it unsanitary, but it's simply selfish. no one enjoys opening the washroom door to disgusting surprises on the toilet seat or nastier surprises in the porcelain bowl.
i think my first cultural shock was going to hong kong & then guangzhou for the first time when i was 5 years old. i suppose hk wasn't that bad back then, which was almost 25 years ago. encountering the "hole-in-the-ground" toilets in china was definitely an eye-opener. i distinctly remember being accompanied to the washroom by my 姑姐 and being shocked by not seeing the usual toilets i was accustomed to. i even remember telling her i didn't know how to use it!
over the years, during the subsequent visits to hong kong and china, i've encountered worse case scenarios. my only time in china was going to guangzhou when i was 5 years old. my 2nd time in china was not until in 2004 when i went to shanghai, beijing, chengdu, kunming, jiuzhaigo, dali, lijiang, etc. and as the cities got smaller and smaller, the washroom situation progressively worsened.
as one of the fellow tourists commented, 堆積如山(literally, an accumulation as grand as a mountain) had special meanings for all of us. i finally experienced the meaning of that by going to the almost archaic washrooms in some of my destinations. it was during this trip that i had mastered the practice of breathing where i didn't "smell" the air...
as more of "my people" have decided to call canada their home in recent years, the toilet situation has declined in cleanliness.
just the other day, some cantonese ladies were discussing this very topic in the changing room at my gym. i was very close to joining their conversation as i definitely had a lot to say about this topic, being one of my biggest pet peeves. on this note, we shared something in common. we were disgusted and annoyed at the dirty toilet situation.
the most interesting, yet disgusting information that i learned from nonchalantly eavesdropping was that they discovered the mentality behind this non-existent toilet practice was.... whoever goes to the toilet afterwards was responsible to flush the toilet....
WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THIS??! what if someone decided to go #2, and the toilet is not visited for hours upon hours?!