3 May, Guilin
Elan Hotel 148CNY

My 58th birthday was spent gazing out the train window... Finally in Guilin, we checked into a charming hotel, but our nearby dinner was mediocre.

A word on loos: Bathrooms can be a source of anxiety in foreign lands. Chinese loos have proved a mixed bag. Hotel loos are usually, though not always, of the western variety; public loos, plentiful and in general, though not always, clean, of the Asian squat variety. It came as a big surprise to us to find that, unlike in other Asian countries, China’s loos do not include a “washing” option. This post from our Turkey blog explains what I mean: “A word on bathrooms and toilets... For two main reasons millions of people around the world use water rather than toilet paper after using the loo. Firstly, they believe it to be cleaner and secondly, the sewage systems in developing countries cannot process paper. I have come over many years to agree with the former. On our travels we have encountered various mechanisms for delivering the water to the required arena, my least favourite being by hand over a squat loo. In Egypt, for example, a nozzle in the base of the loo will release a stream of water when you turn on a small tap beside the loo. I hated the placement of these as often the previous occupant will have pooped on the end of the nozzle completely negating the “cleaner” raison d’être. (On reflection, this is my least favourite!) In Southeast Asia, a small shower nozzle on a flexible tube hangs beside the loo. On the nozzle is a lever which releases the water flow. You can use the shower head as and where you like. This is my favourite mechanism now also installed in our home. In Turkey, traditionally, squat loos were the norm with nether regions being washed by hand after use. Nowadays, western loos predominate. Inside the loo, beneath the rim, is a nozzle. A small tap beside the loo releases a stream of water for washing. Toilet paper is provided for drying, but this is to be deposited in a nearby bin after use and not in the loo. This system is considerably better than that used in Egypt, but not as flexible as the Southeast Asian option.” As China requires one to deposit used loo paper in a basket beside the loo, the fact that one does not wash prior to wiping, means the loo paper is soiled and therefore somewhat odorous. Two additional oddities: (1) On one or two occasions I had to make use of public loos without doors; in a squatting position this leaves one feeling somewhat exposed to others entering the facility. (2) Once I had to make use of what I can only describe as a “communal” squat loo. Instead of individual loos astride which users squat facing the door or back wall of a cubicle, a single deep channel ran through a series of cubicles. Squatting astride this left one facing a side wall. This would have been OK except that as a novice I entered the first of the series of cubicles. This end of the channel held the only exit pipe. So waste flushed “upstream” from me appeared beneath me as I peed, more “intimate” than I had prepared for.

[Photos taken from train.]