WHEN YOU GOTTA GO!

If blogs had been around when I took my first big international trip to Peru, I could have started writing then (and taking pictures) about all the many different “toilets” (and outhouses and holes in the ground) I have experienced in my travels.

It really wasn't until 2006 when I spent 22 days in China and Tibet that I learned about “holes in the ground.”  That trip took me to some off-the-beaten-track locations with pit stops at gas stations that can only be described as extremely disgusting!  But when you gotta go you gotta go!!!

Japan had the most extraordinary Western toilets I have ever seen (and used).  Every toilet had various symbols to show what function it performed.  I'm one of those people who must press every button to see just what it does.  You could get a wash and blow dry while listening to the sounds of a waterfall.  Some of the hotels I stayed at had toilets that knew when you approached the bathroom door in the middle of the night.  The lid would open and light up, and when you were done and left the bathroom the lid would close.  Other than being in the hotel rooms in Japan, there were usually only one or two Western toilets and the rest were porcelain holes in the ground everywhere I went.  And of course there was always a picture tutorial on the wall to show people the proper way to squat over the hole.

I have found the different toilets around the world interesting and sometimes entertaining.  But my experiences in Africa are by far the most memorable.  

WARNING…….you may consider this TMI!!!  

Before my trip to Africa I bought the small pink “Go Girl” contraption that allows a woman to “go” like a man when out in the African bush (or anyplace you have to squat).  Without going into detail I will say that after my first day in Africa using the Go Girl I put that thing away and have never used it since.  Much simpler to just squat and go and be done with it!  

And that brings me to a humourus incident that happened one day when I was in Africa.  Our group of 16 travelers were split up into three different safari Land Rovers to explore the bush each day.  On one of our outings the vehicle I was in, as well as our second vehicle, stopped so we could all “go.”  Five women made there way to the other side of a bunch of bushes and proceeded to drop their pants and do what needed to be done.  Mind you we were in the middle of the African bush and there are no other vehicles around except for the occasional game warden or safari vehicle.  While we five women were squatting facing the bushes, our white fannies were facing a small dirt road.  All of a sudden out of nowhere we heard a vehicle approaching.  Five women hastily tried to pull up their pants as our third safari vehicle arrived with the remaining people from our group.  Everyone was in hysterics laughing!  The people that had just arrived said all they could see were a bunch of white behinds as we scrambled to get dressed.  

I recently sent a link to a U tube video to a friend of mine who had never squatted in the bush and was planning a trip to Africa.  It’s amazing what instructions you can find on the internet these days.  She said she was going to buy a pink “Go Girl.”  I laughed and wished her good luck with that!