Much had been made of Asian toilets. For those who don’t know, Asia toilets are usually flush (so to speak) with the floor and are used by squatting over them.

When I was in China I avoided them at all costs. One afternoon, my digestive schedule was out of whack and I had to go and I had to go right then. Rather than finally figure out how to use the damn toilet, I asked everyone to excuse me for about 30 minutes, took the elevator to the main floor, scampered across the street to my hotel, took another elevator back to my room to take care of things. I got back within my requested 30 minutes and didn’t bother to explain just what the emergency was.

I was reminded of this when I heard a coworker discussing her own adventures with these toilets. Her travelling companion wasn’t able to avoid the damn things and wound up having to figure out the hotel laundry as a consequence of not using the toilet properly.

Long ago, I’d heard a tale of someone who was very worried about “splatter” because he was adjusting to Asian food about as well as Asian toilets. He wound up stripping naked to avoid getting “stuff” on his clothing.

I used to think that this was an exaggeration but as time passes, it seems like a better idea.