WatTyler said:
Travelling around India/Nepal for half a year in my late teens toilet paper was a luxury unavailable in rural areas. As were bidets
. I became surprisingly efficient with the Asian version- a plastic jug of water and your left hand. Fond memories.....
Seems strange looking back and I wouldn't do it at home, but as I recollect I though it was great at the time (once you got the technique down
). Truly sustainable
i agree. maybe TMI, but if you look in many bathrooms owned by indian people around the world, you may usually find a jug or plastic cup that can be used to fill with water for cleaning, if desired. i encourage you to snoop around the next indian's bathroom you use & confirm what i say!
i think its the way to go but many (american) people that have asked me about this "indian practice" were always disgusted by it. it never made sense to me, however, how people found it acceptable to wash their assholes in certain "sacred locations and times" only (bathtub or shower stall during your bath/shower) and it was unacceptable to do it elsewhere (over the toilet or a bidet after taking a shit). soap works just like soap anywhere you use it (as long as you add water) and cleans just the same when used. just make sure to wash your hands like youre about to do surgery afterwards, which should be the general hand-washing policy, anyways...(in westernized-indian households) the use of toilet paper is not
eliminated, just
minimized (this is for personal use and also for guests' comfort)...which is better for the environment, hygiene, & your wallet, also. but, in general, many indians find buying toilet paper unnecessary in india (but usually conform to it when they leave india) and feel like they are willingly getting ripped-off when they have to buy it for the vacationing kids of relatives that were raised in america (haha like me!).
left hand is used as a secondary protection because the right hand is used for food & other "sterile" human processes (although, in theory, both hands should be equally as clean).
maybe i should start a website like this one called fucktoiletpaper.com...?
about the hole-in-the-floor toilets that you have to squat over...man, try using those when:
1. drunk
2. severely hungover from cheap indian whiskey, which was drunk the previous night mixed with water (or just straight) out of stainless steel cups
3. if you have bad knees/back
4. if youre not used to balancing like that
5. if youre sharing the toilet with 3 cockroaches about 2 inches long x 1 inch wide each (basically they look like they could beat-up your poops)
6. if youre old & life has made you lazy (...like 65-ish and older maybe? it happens to almost all humans eventually...)
7. anything else you can imagine that might make this just a little more shittier to do...im not even talking about the PUBLIC RESTROOMS yet...this is what it can feel like to take a shit in the COMFORTS OF YOUR OWN HOME!!! (very few people do "upgrade" their bathrooms to western style toilets - more of them that do have relatives that stay in there home that visit from overseas & have become accustomed)
i know some travelers that MAKE SURE that they dont shit for like 2-3 days in order to wait for an encounter with a "western-style" toilet!!! now, that kind of self-control is almost yogi-like!!! its crazy what a human can achieve if motivated enough...mad props!
sorry if the details are gross...i just had to contribute to this one when i read through it!!! hahah it made me laugh!