Are you familiar with squat toilets?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (342491)
Rockingham, Australia
March 3, 2020 5:25pm CST
Have you seen squat toilets? Maybe you’ve used them. Maybe they have been part of life to you and it’s Western toilets that seem different, although I've seen squat toilets in France too. Individual cultures have a lot of differences and toiletry habits are just one of them.
In case you’re not aware, squat toilets have a footplate each side of a hole in the ground. You place one foot each side of the hole and squat down to do what you have to do. Airports sometimes have both types of toilets.
Some Asian toilets have, what Westerners would call, ‘regular’ toilet bowls but instead of using toilet paper, there is a hose to wash yourself with. I’ve never been brave enough to try using the hose. I don’t fancy a sudden jet of cold water on my private parts and anyway, what do you do then, drip dry? I now know to always have some tissues or toilet paper in my pocket if I’m travelling in countries that might have Asian toilets.
On my first trips I was arrogant enough to feel miffed if there was no toilet paper but really, Asian people probably feel miffed and put out with Western toilets when there is no hose with which to wash. It’s just what we’re used to, isn’t it? Not better or worse, not good or bad, just different.
In a West Australian town, in a public toilet, is a sign, with a big cross through it, of a person standing on a Western toilet, trying to use it as a squat. Are you familiar with squat toilets?
Photo of public toilets in Donnybrook. Jonathons and Pink Ladies are both apple varieties.
28 people like this
31 responses
@sweetashoney (3597)
• United States
3 Mar 20
I have so many questions about this.
1. How big is the hole?
2.Is this like an outhouse or does it flush?
3.What does a person do that can't squat, do they just stand over it and let it go?
Of course I've been in ladies bathrooms here in the US were some women here must use the regular toilet like they would a squat toilets. They will be pee all over the toilet seat.
6 people like this
@sweetashoney (3597)
• United States
4 Mar 20
@JudyEv Yea, I think they stand or squat over the seat thinking they won't catch anything this way. This reminds me of something I seen on a bathroom wall one time, someone had written :
It doesn't matter if you stand on your feet, crabs can jump up to 10 feet. lol
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Mar 20
The hole is perhaps the size of the top of a bucket. Some are outhouses but some are in separate rooms or in bathrooms. Some have a button to push to flush; others have a bucket of water and a dipper and you can pour a dipperful of water down the hole. If you can't squat I guess you just have to stand over it. I think some try to stand (then squat) on the toilet seat which is when pee ends up all over the seat.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Mar 20
@sweetashoney Haha. That's pretty funny.
1 person likes this
@Alexandoy (65308)
• Cainta, Philippines
3 Mar 20
I first saw the squat toilet in Beijing when we ate at McDonald's. The toilet has a choice of the modern and the squat.
4 people like this
@Alexandoy (65308)
• Cainta, Philippines
4 Mar 20
@JudyEv there was another country where the toilet were all squat toilet. I'm not sure if it was in Kuala Lumpur.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Mar 20
@Alexandoy I have an idea all the toilets in KL airport were squat ones.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (108824)
• Marion, Ohio
4 Mar 20
No thanks. Especially to the cold water.
2 people like this
@wolfgirl569 (108824)
• Marion, Ohio
4 Mar 20
@JudyEv Our ways would be strange if we grew up doing it that way. But I still dont like cold water except to drink. 
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
4 Mar 20
Constructing such a facility just went on your to do list.
2 people like this
@shaggin (72412)
• United States
4 Mar 20
I have never used anything but a regular American toilet. I am just used to that and would never want to have to use the toilet in any other way. Of course if I ever travel to another country with a different toilet as described in your post I will have to lump it. When in Rome do as the Romans do right.
2 people like this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Mar 20
I have seen squat toilets in Italy and France. I am able to use them, but I prefer Western toilets. When I was travelling around in Asia I saw many toilets with a hose, but I have never used the hose. I prefer to carry a bit of toilet paper in my bag. The hotels I stayed in all had toilet paper, but most of the public toilets had a hose instead.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
6 Mar 20
@JudyEv I also grew up with Western toilets. When I was a child my parents and I travelled around in France. Some of the public toilets were squat toilets, and I didn't like them. I asked my mother where the toilet was and when she showed me the room with the squat toilet my reaction was: "No, that is not a toilet, I want a real toilet"
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Mar 20
@Porcospino I was surprised to find some in France too. And sometimes it was the only type so obviously in some areas it must have been the norm.
@DaddyEvil (138024)
• United States
5 Mar 20
I've known about them for several years now but have never actually used one.
I've got a question for you, Judy... Have you seen a bathroom in India? Are they that much different from ours? (I'm asking this because my friend told me he is a two bucket man. When I ask what he meant by that he replied that his "shower" consisted of him pouring warm water over himself from a bucket, lathering up and dumping another bucket of water over himself to rinse off the suds. I was stunned by that... )
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (138024)
• United States
5 Mar 20
@JudyEv Oh, goodness! I'd never survive their heat, let alone primitive bathing facilities! 
I'm sure I could "make-do" but would prefer not to need to do that. 
I'm sure I could "make-do" but would prefer not to need to do that. 1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Mar 20
I haven't been to India, only Nepal. I only saw one domestic 'bathroom' as opposed to a toilet but that had a shower-head high on the wall in the same small room as a squat toilet. In the hotel, the shower, hand basin and toilet were all in one room. There was a shower head on a flexible hose but also a tap about waist height. If you used the shower, it used to spray all over the room unless you held it in your hand. I mostly washed my hair under the tap. Another hotel had a shower of sorts but also a tap, bucket and dipper. Sanitary arrangements were mostly pretty primitive.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Mar 20
@DaddyEvil I don't cope well with heat now. Nepal was very pleasant when we were there. Much more on the cold side.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (81127)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
4 Mar 20
That was the old and horrid system in Latvia when the Soviet Union finally was no more. Mostly all public toilets ate a hole in the ground that was it. It took a very long time to get everything up to modern and normal. Can you imagine some toilets where you had to climb up some stairs and stand on a platform? I tell you that was no picnic when we just visited relatives and I was glad when I moved there everything was finally normal
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
4 Mar 20
I have seen them. No thanks!
2 people like this
@arunima25 (87861)
• Bangalore, India
4 Mar 20
Squat toilets were quite common when we were growing up. But now more and more people prefer western style. But still you will find both at many public places. In rural area still squat toilets exist but they are becoming less and less in cities.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Mar 20
@arunima25 I do think they are more convenient for older people.
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (87861)
• Bangalore, India
6 Mar 20
@JudyEv Now more and more people everywhere are getting knee issues. So western toilets are getting more in numbers.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
4 Mar 20
@JudyEv
We have outhouses that are used on construction sites or for other things, but, not sure that is the same as a squat toilet or not. Is a squat toilet like a trench that is built in wartime that soldiers get inside of and use it as a toilet also?
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171927)
• Agra, India
4 Mar 20
Yes...all that you have pointed out is very common for us here.
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171927)
• Agra, India
4 Mar 20
@JudyEv yes....like if they have more than one toilets they can have both type of seats.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (342491)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Mar 20
Some towns in France had squat toilets which surprised me a bit. I know they are common in some countries.
