Chinese toilets

I have been meaning to write about the toilets here in China for a while, but never got around to it. Lucky for me, Tom did. So I'm going to post his little tidbit about toilets in China. It was spurred by someone asking how my mom could have a traumatic experience in the bathroom at the train station in Xi'an.

First off finding a western style (sitting toilet) is nearly impossible outside of private homes and select high priced hotels. A majority of the toilets are " squatters". A squatter is a hole in the floor that you squat over. In some cases it is not a hole but a trough in the ground with a continually running water so you get to see everyone else's gifts drift by as you do your business. In either case you straddle the hole and squat as low as you possibly can or until your knees are touching the bridge of your nose, balancing yourself only on your toes and you do your business.
The lowest grade stalls are nothing more than square wooden partitions that come up to about your waist when standing, so if you get a taller person in the stall next to you they are basically watching you...and the Chinese are very curious. If your stall has a door, consider yourself lucky, otherwise you are watching the world go by. (I should note that we have been to places where there are no walls and it is a completely open area.)
Furthermore the bathroom has not been cleaned in probably over a year and if it was, soap or any kind of disinfectant was not used. Because of this everything is grimy, slimy, and to put it gently it seems like a lot of people do not have very good aim. The smell is suffocating and stays with you for many many hours after you have left. The smell makes me feel like retching. On top of that, toilet paper is not provided and the plumbing is so old that you can't flush the paper, so next to where you are squatting is a waste paper bin overflowing with used tissue, toilet paper, paper towels, cardboard and anything else that you could possible use to wipe. To make matters worse, if it is your first time, as you pull your pants up from the ankles you realize that you accidently let the cuffs of your pants rest on the floor which is covered in waste.
In short you learn to plan your day around finding clean facilities.