TP is not enough.
Whenever I go to the US or parts of Europe, I always bring a tabo. A tabo, for the benefit of non-Tagalog speakers, is a plastic receptacle (about 20 ounces) with a long handle, used for scooping and carrying water. Sorry, there’s no delicate way to put this: You use it to wash your butt after taking a crap, which is really the only hygienic way to clean up. True, the better hotels have bidets, but one has to be sure.
I’ve always been mystified at how Americans, who all have indoor plumbing and are so finicky about sanitation, are content to use toilet paper after defecating. What are they doing, tickling the germs, moving them around? TP is not enough, in fact it’s gross and disgusting. Somebody teach them proper hygiene.Â
Here’s an interview with Rose George, author of The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters. It discusses how different cultures deal with shit, an international health issue no one wants to talk about. Fortunately a celebrity has adopted toilets as his issue: big round of applause for Matt Damon. Our damn politicians need to be building proper toilets all over this country instead of going on junkets.
By the way, close the lid before you flush. We learned this from The Secret House, a book about the germs lurking in and around your house. When you flush, a fine spray of whatever you’re flushing rises from the toilet. Avoid.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 17th, 2008 at 01:01
Using ‘tabo’ is very Filipino.
October 17th, 2008 at 09:06
I think the spray from flushing was examined by the Mythbusters team. They placed toothbrushes (after Adam and Jamie used them) in the bathroom and at several strategic locations in the house, with a couple more in a plastic bag as a control group. What they found was the amount of e. coli in the bathroom toothbrushes was about the same as the toothbrushes in the other parts of the house. Even the control toothbrushes had e. coli in them although not in the same amounts. The conclusion: poop is everywhere.
October 17th, 2008 at 22:12
Thailand must be the only place where you won’t need to bring a tabo along. WCs in the ladies’ toilets there are equipped with a spray head attached to a hose. Even in the UK where toilets are taken seriously – what with official Loo Guides, Loo of the Year awards, and a Toilet Museum (see http://www.stoke.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure/museums/gladstone-pottery-museum/flushed-with-pride/) TP is pretty much the only clean-up-your-ass material of choice.
October 17th, 2008 at 22:46
Ohh-kay… I think I’ll go ahead and file this under “Too Much Information”.
October 18th, 2008 at 15:22
i remember a class session with benilda santos discussing the same thing. it jarred the sensibilities of my conotic classmates–them squirming in their seats knowing they still have remnants stuck in their divine arses. har, har.
October 26th, 2008 at 09:09
I totally agree. I wrote about this a while ago: “There is one thing I never leave home without and it’s not my American Express.” *g*