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I found it--there is actually a website devoted to various toilets in the world. It's pretty funny and interesting in a weird way.
Toilets of the World

While I am sure the site is fascinating, what possessed you to search the world for toilets?? Is this some fetish you need to talk with CE about?

Many people forget that the seated toilet as such is a fairly recent invention in history, and certainly not the standard throughout the world. In Bulgaria, for instance, it was common to pay some mummified old woman at a publc restroom door in order to, shall we say, squat in philosphical rumination over a hole. This was by no means in the sticks, but in some very areas; and the flooring was well-tiled, the stalls spotless and unstained by grafitti.

Interesting fact: I just read today that in 13th century Japan noble quarters, the men used outdoor latrines, while the women used indoor chamberpots. I've no idea why.

Originally posted by fable

Interesting fact: I just read today that in 13th century Japan noble quarters, the men used outdoor latrines, while the women used indoor chamberpots. I've no idea why.

Perhaps men have a tendency to miss, and the outdoor latrine would be neater??

Originally posted by McBane


Perhaps men have a tendency to miss, and the outdoor latrine would be neater??

Now, come on. You should know better about this, unless you're withholding information regarding your non-Terran origins. Men have, how shall I put it...? A fairly narrow-designed front aperture for the delivery of waste. If anything, they are somewhat less likely to miss, as a result.

If you don't believe me, ask your father and mother.

ROFL
I find this particularly amusing because my mother was always quite interested in the general condition of public toilets...and my father and I took to teasing her, suggesting she write a guidebook entitled A Guide to the Great Toilets of the World

Where on earth do you people find these web sites.

Having just said that, the page is actually quite informative.

How remarkable....

I wonder what will come up next on SYM ..

No worries, The Linkmaster is with you

Beldin

I can speak for the seatless toilets in both Moscow and Olympia - improves the leg muscle tone, at any rate

I don't how in the world I got onto that page...was surfing for history of the ruins of Ephesus, I think. I love the web.

The only thing missing for me is a picture of the toilets in Mars Bar in the East Village--by far some of the scariest toilets in NYC.

Originally posted by Kameleon
I can speak for the seatless toilets in both Moscow and Olympia - improves the leg muscle tone, at any rate

Haven't been to Olympia, but my visits to Moscow were indeed good isometric exercise for the quadriceps (the big muscles on the front of your thighs)

My favorite toilets are the ones found in the Arab world, the ones you squat over, and then rinse yourself with water. Much more confortable and hygienic than the Western ones you have to sit on (or use the Russian technique). Toilet paper is also quite a messy concept.

However, as a former alpinist, I have learned many less civilised type of "toilets", and this and my travelling has made me a fairly unsensitive person when it comes to privacy and hygiene facilities. A little word of advice: In areas with vegatation, make sure you choose the right leaves to clean yourself with, it can be a very painful experience otherwise...

Originally posted by C Elegans
However, as a former alpinist, I have learned many less civilised type of "toilets", and this and my travelling has made me a fairly unsensitive person when it comes to privacy and hygiene facilities. A little word of advice: In areas with vegatation, make sure you choose the right leaves to clean yourself with, it can be a very painful experience otherwise...

This is also good advice in rainforests, trust me. It is also the origin of my wife's reliance upon a flattened role of emergency toilet paper, packed whenever we go overseas.

Originally posted by fable
This is also good advice in rainforests, trust me. It is also the origin of my wife's reliance upon a flattened role of emergency toilet paper, packed whenever we go overseas.

I can't agree more! I've only been hiking in a few different types of rainforests, but after I heard there are several different kind of plants that are very poisonous in the Australian rainforest, I also took up this habit!

Originally posted by C Elegans


I can't agree more! I've only been hiking in a few different types of rainforests, but after I heard there are several different kind of plants that are very poisonous in the Australian rainforest, I also took up this habit!

There's also the fact that, in true symbiotic fashion, many rainforest plants harbor various small creatures that don't appreciate being awakened or jostled. Placing your bum in their immediate vicinity at such times isn't a very good strategy.

roflmao!

Originally posted by fable
There's also the fact that, in true symbiotic fashion, many rainforest plants harbor various small creatures that don't appreciate being awakened or jostled. Placing your bum in their immediate vicinity at such times isn't a very good strategy.

That is very true indeed. I myself have not had the pleasure of becoming symbiotic with such creatures, but a friend of mine aquired an intimate relationship to a special kind of Namibian worm this way.

Originally posted by C Elegans


That is very true indeed. I myself have not had the pleasure of becoming symbiotic with such creatures, but a friend of mine aquired an intimate relationship to a special kind of Namibian worm this way.

I was thinking more of the symbosis of plant and non-vegetative lifeform than human and non-vegetative lifeform, but of course, the latter is an option, too. I managed to acquire amoebic dysentery outside of Merida, Venezuela, which was no fun at all. Thank goodness for antibiotics.

Well, yes. Under the circumstances, a toilet was a nice thing to have around, as well.

Originally posted by fable
I was thinking more of the symbosis of plant and non-vegetative lifeform than human and non-vegetative lifeform, but of course, the latter is an option, too.

Oh, I see. Well, it is always good to know there are several options to choose from.

I managed to acquire amoebic dysentery outside of Merida, Venezuela, which was no fun at all. Thank goodness for antibiotics.

Well, yes. Under the circumstances, a toilet was a nice thing to have around, as well.

Amoebic dysentery? Poor you, I have heard it is very unpleasant. Personally, I have been very lucky in my need for toilets while travelling. I have only been food poisoned once, that was in London, and I managed to throw up in a marble urn at a very posh theatre. I pity the person who had to clean it up... I went back to my hotel in a haze, threw up once more and then I felt fine. My friend who drank the same water at the same lousy restauarant, spend 1.5 days on the toilet.

Originally posted by C Elegans


Amoebic dysentery? Poor you, I have heard it is very unpleasant. Personally, I have been very lucky in my need for toilets while travelling. I have only been food poisoned once, that was in London, and I managed to throw up in a marble urn at a very posh theatre. I pity the person who had to clean it up... I went back to my hotel in a haze, threw up once more and then I felt fine. My friend who drank the same water at the same lousy restauarant, spend 1.5 days on the toilet.

Funny how it misses one person, and gets another. Well, not precisely funny; more like, disgusting. We figured out that it occured when my wife and I ordered some Cokes at a little roadside taverna. The ice was the local water. She vomited afterwards. I have a better stomach. I kept it down, and ushered in my amoebic visitors.

It was hot, there was nothing to read, and I couldn't even keep water down. I was too weak to sit up, and my back was bothering me from lying down so much. After a few days, we caught a flight back to Caracas, and a cab to a big clinic. The antibiotics worked like a charm.

Oddly enough, we never had any problem of the kind in our two trips on the Amazon. I suspect that's because the Canaima River (which formed our liquid refreshment, along with a packet of Kool Aid) is very pure, due to its mineral content. Good thing, too. I hate to think what it would have been like getting the dysentery in the rainforest.

Uack. What an unpleasant part of your holiday. Lucky you were close to antibiotics, one can get severely dehydrated quickly.

Originally posted by fable
Funny how it misses one person, and gets another. Well, not precisely funny; more like, disgusting. We figured out that it occured when my wife and I ordered some Cokes at a little roadside taverna. The ice was the local water. She vomited afterwards. I have a better stomach. I kept it down, and ushered in my amoebic visitors.

Ice is very trecherous, it is often made of local water.

It is always better the faster you get it out of your system. I have (perhaps like your wife) a tendency to vomit immediately if I have ingested something unsuitable, which is probably one reason why I have never had any stomach problems although other people who have eaten the same stuff as I, have been ill.

My poor husband caught something at the Kamchatka penisula. Unfortunately for him, the outbreak came in the middle of the night at our base camp at the slopes of a mountain where there were many bears. We had just heard this nice story from our local guide (you are not allowed to travel without one since the area still belongs to the military) of how a Japanese tourist were eaten alive by a bear. Also, the only water we had was an ice cold alpine river running through the area. Image how happy he was in this situation. Our guide gave him some pink stuff to drink as treatment - later, it turned out it was calium permanganate, supposed to make you vomit and thus "clean out" the system. I am not sure what my husband found worse - the illness or the treatment. Some days later when we were back in Petropavlovsk, my husband started to feel better and ate a local dish at the hotel. I had the same food and again, I wasn't affected, but for him it started all over again. This time he was quite happy he had the luxury of a toilet and hot water!