Bathrooms and personal hygiene are quite different here. You may already know that in most public places, the toilets are “squatters.” There’s a hole in the center of the floor and a ridged area on the sides on which you are supposed to put your feet while you squat. The floor is usually damp and muddy, which I don’t get because most restrooms have an attendant in them. However, they seem to merely sweep and pick up toilet paper with long handled tongs and wipe the side of the sink with a single dirty rag and they very rarely mop. There’s generally no toilet paper. People bring their own tissues and then they throw them in the trash rather than the toilet. I think that the plumbing here in most places can’t really handle the toilet paper. Even in nicer places they sometimes have signs telling you to put your toilet paper in the trash can. There’s rarely soap or paper towels in the more public places; in nicer and Western restaurants the situation is better, although I have to say that the Disney office bathroom in Shanghai is not as nice or clean as the Disney office bathroom in Burbank. (Eric tells me that the Disney office bathroom in Tokyo is exceptional with those toilets that have an integrated bidet (a washlet).
On a similar note, most casual fast-food type restaurants do not have napkins. In some, you can buy a pack of tissues for 1 RMB (like 20 cents). In some sit-down restaurants they don’t give you a napkin, but instead give you a wet washcloth which you are supposed to keep on the table and wipe your hands with (but it’s a bummer if you reflexively put it on your lap as I’ve been trained). Even more bizarrely, on China air, they use paper towels as both paper towels and as tissues.
On the first Saturday when we took the kids to buy bikes and then sent the driver home with the bikes (there was not room for us at the same time), we decided to have lunch in the very crowded food court under Carrefour. Afterward we went to buy a few things, and low and behold, Allison, Rebecca (and I) had to go to the bathroom. It took several minutes for me to find the bathroom in Carrefour (even though Eric had given me directions) and when we got there there was a huge long line (and I had been forewarned it was not a nice bathroom (which generally means all squatters and all Chinese patrons). So, even though Eric and Henry were holding all of our jackets, we decided to venture out into the snow and go across the street to the Green Hills complex, which caters more to Westerners (and hence, is less crowded) and home to the Pines, which was our next stop. So, we went there and got to the Westernized restroom to discover that despite the fact that it was nearly empty and had real toilets (always a good sign), that there was no toilet paper. Unfortunately, I had used most of my two packs of tissues as napkins for the lunch at the food court (trying very hard to conserve them when Allie spilled some of her drink), and had only one tissue left, which went to Rebecca. I then had to take both girls to the Pines where I bought several more packs of tissues before we could return to the bathroom and finish our business.
Sorry, no photos for this post. If I think about it, I will take a photo of a squatter some day. BTW, the Disney school will have one squatter for each sex because some of the Chinese feel they are actually more hygienic.
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