Sunday, March 4, 2012

Practicalities

     Odds are, when you travel, you are going to be forced to use a local toilet at some point.  Until you reach this point, I would bet you have taken for granted the luxury you find yourself in with using our toilets in the US.

     We have running water (except for a few instances).  You get to use a toilet seat (provided you aren't in a gas station bathroom where it has been stolen, or something).  We don't use a grab bar to hold onto while we squat over a hole in the ground.  We have toilet paper (unless someone was inconsiderate before you).  You typically have privacy (if you aren't in a bar or pub where the door is missing for some reason).  We even have a pretty standard system for flushing.  Typically just a push on a button or lever.

Yup.  We've got it pretty good.

     For all of the things we do have, a lot of countries don't (or are lacking in some departments).  Fortunately, Istanbul has delivered a very good experience.  The only weird thing is the size of the toilet.  I really don't know who these are built for.  The seat is barely larger than a 12" diameter.  And they then tuck some of them in the smallest spaces.  Like 12 square feet.  With a door that opens in.  I'm just glad I'm not that big a guy, because some of the guys I've hung out with complained about it quite a bit.

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