I’ve had assignments coming out of my ears these past couple of days (gaaaaarrr auditing sucks!! I never want to be an auditor!! >___<.
So here's just a quick post.
Toilets are very important, and can really make or break a stay in a foreign country, particularly when you're female. I guess guys just use the toilets and run away. Consider: the toilets in Beijing are terrible, so you walk around all day with a bursting bladder, only willing to go to a toilet in a decent place (ie only hotels). Well, you're not going to really enjoy your stay. It's either a bursting bladder or walk around extremely thirsty as you try to ration yourself so you don't have to go to the toilet so often XD. At least while we were in China it was summer and terribly hot. I cut down on water, so I think all my consumed water came out in my sweat, hardly had to go to the toilet, no bad toilet experiences (except for the train >_<)
Okay, on with the observations. First toilet observation: You know how it's disgusting using bar soap at public toilets because normally it's all water-logged and mushy? Well I guess soap-onnna-stick (TM) would solve this (the soap is the blue thing). I've seen this at a few toilets, so it's not just one weird toilet. I didn't use it though. I have a prejudice against bar soap. You don't know who else has touched that soap >_<.
Second toilet observation: Some Korean toilets are so cool. I’m guessing they just imported the weird toilet technology from Japan. The first guesthouse we stayed in in Seoul had a really complicated toilet, but hmm, they actually switched the advanced electronics all off, so you still had to just flush normally. Bit of a pity, really.
Anyway, here’s the toilet in the departure/arrivals terminal in Inchon International Airport. It’s not high-level oh-I-can’t-even-figure-out-how-to-flush-this-#%^$#%^$@%-thing complicated, but it did have some nice touches catered to public toilet usage.
The first feature is the automatic seat protector. You press a button, and the plastic sheet covering on the toilet seat changes. It slides from left to right, ensuring that you have a nice, clean, hygenic visit.
I actually I studied the instructions on the wall carefully before pressing anything. You don’t want anything untoward happening in a locked toilet cubicle XD
There is also an etiquette bell that emits an extremely LOUD flushing sound, thus masking any unpleasant noises you may make while going about your business. I don’t think I would care what random strangers in the toilet may think of the sounds I may make, but hey, a service is a service.
Eh, this entry ended up being decently long…