Ask Your Question today
I am from the USA and have visited a handful of countries for work. Usually the first few days I develop an anxiousness or shyness that prevents me from pooping because I am nervous that I will either clog the toilet, cause a water overflow, or create some other mess involving water (and none of these things have ever happened). Is this normal?
I always seem to have issues defecating in other countries for the first few days. I don't know if it's the dehydration, jet lag, change in diet, altitude difference or what.
Worst that comes to mind is China, where I took a laxative after several days of constipation and splattered diarrhea all over the floor wall, pipes, and handle of one their floor toilets.
I haven't been able to afford the luxury of travel outside the United States, but I will say that I probably would not be a fan of those hole in the floor squatting toilets that are common in South Asia.
Oh, I've seen those hole in the floor toilets too 😬, I went to and saw those types of toilets in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines years ago. Thailand was a crazy place, but fun and interesting too
I don't recall having seen Siamese cats there. But what I did see in Thailand, in the resort town of Pattaya where I was, were alot of con artist beggars and hustlers in the streets, many prostitutes, and many people trying to rip you off. And it wasn't just on the street. Many workers at the hotels there, I learned, made their own personal decisions on whims to charge different prices to different people, and it was same thing with the restaurants and bars, same with the taxi drivers. The locals in Pattaya live to take advantage of gullible tourists. The bars there had many women staff who both served drinks and would go back to your hotel room with you, for a price. There were also prostitutes all up and down the streets. It was still an exciting experience for me, but I was only in my 20s then too. I wouldn't want to go back there now at age 44
Honestly, savoring the excretory arts is one of life's great adventures. Just don't get too obsessed about it. How sad to die someday without ever feeling the sudden release into nothingness.
I think a nice Western seated toilet, and an accompanying Squatty Potty stool is the bees knees!
Well yes, good toilets are an experience to be savored for sure. Except I'm talking about adventure and the quest for a deeper cultural appreciation of anal expression. Hmmmm, thought provoking indeed.
Have you ever used one of those toilets with the little shelf in the bowl where you could closely examine your fecal matter before flushing it? They used to be very common in Germany and other parts of Europe. Those were an amazing cultural experience to me as a kid.
No, I can't see any reason to use one of those. I just don't need such a culturally accurate experience.
it might be a strange experience but it actually lets you position yourself in the best way to take a dump.
I've heard of a lot of people who can't go when traveling, even within the country.
I will admit I am one of them. Every noise you make is live broadcast to everyone else, and I will only go if I'm sure no one else is there with me in the bathroom.
Just to be funny, I used to make enhancement noises sometimes. Moans, groans, vomit sounds, relief sounds, etc. It was a good way to release nervous tension.
I practiced in the privacy of my own home. Then I practiced at roadside rest stops at night when no one was there. You could try fantasizing that a nude female kicks down the door of your stall and introduces herself. The possibilities are endless.
Watch out if you ever go to Thailand. Women, including the women janitors will just walk into the men's room whenever they want, they don't care if you are in there taking a shit. There was one bathroom I went to there, which wasn't very big, just 2 stalls, and I had to shit, and this woman janitor kept walking in there while I was trying to go, and it made me very uneasy. So I finally tried to ask her to leave until I was finished, that I needed the privacy, but she didn't seem to understand one damn word I said.
I went to Thailand once, and in some places, women will just walk into the men's room whenever they want, including like female janitors, they don't care if you're in there taking a shit. Made me really uncomfortable.
I've been to Japan and there it was a 50/50 for a squat toilet and a standard western toilet. I normally went out for day trips thus I didnt really go to the bathroom until I was back at base.
Well what do you thing restrooms are for? Everyone has to evacuate their system and you are no different than the next person. Besides, no one knows who you are so why are you worrying that a stranger, in the next stall, doing the same thing as you, even cares that you sound like a diesel truck when you go. You will never see or meet them again. And if you plug it up, so what. There are people who get paid money to unclog the plug. So in reality, you are aiding to the local economy and helping someone support their family. Poop on dude.
What you're saying makes perfect sense when pooping in public restrooms, but what about like in the bathroom at your job where the person in the next stall is someone you will see and meet again, every day, 5 days a week. It's hard to face them after them hearing you sound like a diesel truck and leaving a smell worse than the inside of the nastiest septic tank. I know that you can courtesy flush, but there will still be a nasty smell set off into the air for a long enough period of time for the person in the next stall to smell it before the courtesy flush has the chance to whirl that nasty shit away. He may only smell it for 2 or 3 seconds but that's still long enough to make facing him uncomfortable afterwards.
Well, where I work there are a number of buildings and every building has restrooms. I rarely have a bowel movement at work. I go in the morning and I don't have to do it again until the next morning. But there are some occassions where the urge hits me a second time during the day. When that happens, I go to another building and do my business there. That way I don't destroy the restroom in my office and no one associates me with the other restroom. If you work in a highrise, go to another floor. If you only have one restroom and there is a Starbucks (or similar business)next door, go there. Just buy something before you leave (afterall you just destroyed their restroom).
Why are so many people afraid of pooping away from home? If you have to go, just do it!
Flush as you drop the turd.
The brown pickle gets sucked into the whirlpool.
I noticed, which we don't have in America, that in Thailand and the Philippines, many toilets have those spray hoses that can use as well as toilet paper. They need to start putting those to toilets in American restrooms, that will get you cleaner than just toilet paper.
Ha. Haha. Hahaha. Everyone with a cell phone posting on this site does though...
There are clues indicating the OP is talking about flush toilets.
"I am nervous that I will either clog the toilet, cause a water overflow, or create some other mess involving water."
Generally speaking one doesn't have these concerns when using a communal latrine or pit.
Or we could just ask the OP what kind of facilities they are referring to.
I sometimes experience constipation when I travel but its because of a change in diet usually.