Western or Squat?

OK, I miss our bathroom facilities. It is not the fact that we have to carry our own toilet paper and it is not the squat toilets that bother me either; the kids are getting more adapt at using them too -- it is just the overall hygiene in the bathrooms here that makes me weary.

I find it so funny that we need to take off our shoes everywhere we go. When you enter your hotel or guest house you need to take off your shoes, when you enter a temple you need to take off your shoes, when we enter some restaurants we need to take off our shoes at the door -- then there appears to be no rules when it comes to the bathroom facilities.

They are wet and because of the heat and humidity, almost always mildew and almost always a stench. In public facilities, many times there is no place to wash after.

In our guest house rooms it is better; typically western toilets but the shower is right above the toilet so you just stand beside the toilet for your shower -- the floor in the bathroom is always wet yet our shoes are at the front door because we can't wear them in the hotel.....

Unlike Greg, I do miss my bed from home but then the only other thing that would be really nice here would be a clean, dry bathroom. Western or squat? I really don't care, just clean and dry would be nice.

The one thing we do know, is that the worst scenario is a 'half western' approach to facilities. Just last week Greg was pleased to see a Western style urinal in the men's room at our bus station. A 'half western' approach is to have a urinal mounted on a wall but not hooked up to any plumbing. So let your imaginations fill in the gaps as he moseys up to the urinal ... and then quickly realizes that he has actually just pee'd on his shoes.

Lana