I am surprised that most foreigners here seem to embrace the squatting and bum spraying as hygienic. Is it a psychological mechanism of denial, as it can be disturbing to realize the lack of hygiene? I might be wrong, but I cannot see how this can really be hygienic. I believe it is more important to have clean hands than a 100% clean bum. Especially if people have long nails and jewelry on their fingers, it is really unhygienic to use ones hand to wash the bum. Even by washing the hand carefully afterwards, it is kind of risky, I would say. And many places they do not have soap. From a western perspective, this is insane.
Splashing water into ones bum does not in itself give a thorough cleaning, one has to use a hand as well. And to really get it clean, it may take some thoroughness, which will inevitably leave the hands in a suspicious condition. Better to do that job with toilet paper. A lot of the shit in ones bum needs to be met with a certain resistance to be cleaned off. Can’t see how water and a light touch with ones hand can do that job as good as toilet paper.
As far as the bum sprayer goes, I cannot see how the device in itself can be hygienic. A lot of shit might fall on it when using it – at least: how can you control whether that happens or not? It seems to me that both the water and the shit may easily go places where it should not.
And if one has a western toilet and a bum sprayer – does one sit on the seat while using the sprayer? Then the sprayer and the hand have to go almost into the toilet bowl – this in itself does not seem very hygienic. Then one should at least flush down ones piece of work before using the sprayer. And the wire can easily get into the water in the toilet bowl, right? Or if one stands up a little, and uses the bum sprayer, this seems likely to increase the chance of the water and shit going places where it should not.
In India too they usually squat and use water buckets. Or they have bum sprayers. In the 70s a medical doctor (Was it Doctor Meredith or something?) conducted some research in the Indian city Pune. He found that almost all items, including vegetables etc – had shit on them. It certainly had a connection with the toilet etiquette. He tried to bring this problem to awareness, as he thought the lack of hygiene was the main reason for many health issues there. But it was very taboo to attack the toilet etiquette. They rather wanted to explain all the health issues by the “tropical climate”, than to face the truth. I have always been sick several times when I have been in India. I have not heard about anyone who has not had that problem.
But Thailand seems to be different. Here I have not gotten really sick. I would say the streets, hotels etc are generally cleaner here in Thailand (the big cities) than in India. There is a better system to get rid of garbage etc. This might be one reason why Thailand does not seem to have these problems so much. But taking into consideration the toilet etiquette and that there is often a lack of soap, I am surprised things seem to be going so smooth. In a hospital in Sweden, one of the staff had diarrhea and did not wash his hands well enough. He was working in the kitchen. Soon a lot of people got really sick, and it was a big issue. Strange that this kind of thing does not seem to happen so much here in Thailand.
Certainly using toilet paper can also be kind of unhygienic if one is not wiping very consciously. But then at least ones hands are likely to be still quite clean, if washed with some soap. I believe that using toilet paper thoroughly – wiping many times both in the middle and on “both sides” of ones bum – is the best way. And to wash ones bum carefully with soap once a day, in the shower.
Would be interested to have the hygienic benefits of using water/hand or bum sprayer explained in detail – taking into account the things I mentioned above.
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Thai Toilet Etiquette
in General Topics
Posted
I am surprised that most foreigners here seem to embrace the squatting and bum spraying as hygienic. Is it a psychological mechanism of denial, as it can be disturbing to realize the lack of hygiene? I might be wrong, but I cannot see how this can really be hygienic. I believe it is more important to have clean hands than a 100% clean bum. Especially if people have long nails and jewelry on their fingers, it is really unhygienic to use ones hand to wash the bum. Even by washing the hand carefully afterwards, it is kind of risky, I would say. And many places they do not have soap. From a western perspective, this is insane.
Splashing water into ones bum does not in itself give a thorough cleaning, one has to use a hand as well. And to really get it clean, it may take some thoroughness, which will inevitably leave the hands in a suspicious condition. Better to do that job with toilet paper. A lot of the shit in ones bum needs to be met with a certain resistance to be cleaned off. Can’t see how water and a light touch with ones hand can do that job as good as toilet paper.
As far as the bum sprayer goes, I cannot see how the device in itself can be hygienic. A lot of shit might fall on it when using it – at least: how can you control whether that happens or not? It seems to me that both the water and the shit may easily go places where it should not.
And if one has a western toilet and a bum sprayer – does one sit on the seat while using the sprayer? Then the sprayer and the hand have to go almost into the toilet bowl – this in itself does not seem very hygienic. Then one should at least flush down ones piece of work before using the sprayer. And the wire can easily get into the water in the toilet bowl, right? Or if one stands up a little, and uses the bum sprayer, this seems likely to increase the chance of the water and shit going places where it should not.
In India too they usually squat and use water buckets. Or they have bum sprayers. In the 70s a medical doctor (Was it Doctor Meredith or something?) conducted some research in the Indian city Pune. He found that almost all items, including vegetables etc – had shit on them. It certainly had a connection with the toilet etiquette. He tried to bring this problem to awareness, as he thought the lack of hygiene was the main reason for many health issues there. But it was very taboo to attack the toilet etiquette. They rather wanted to explain all the health issues by the “tropical climate”, than to face the truth. I have always been sick several times when I have been in India. I have not heard about anyone who has not had that problem.
But Thailand seems to be different. Here I have not gotten really sick. I would say the streets, hotels etc are generally cleaner here in Thailand (the big cities) than in India. There is a better system to get rid of garbage etc. This might be one reason why Thailand does not seem to have these problems so much. But taking into consideration the toilet etiquette and that there is often a lack of soap, I am surprised things seem to be going so smooth. In a hospital in Sweden, one of the staff had diarrhea and did not wash his hands well enough. He was working in the kitchen. Soon a lot of people got really sick, and it was a big issue. Strange that this kind of thing does not seem to happen so much here in Thailand.
Certainly using toilet paper can also be kind of unhygienic if one is not wiping very consciously. But then at least ones hands are likely to be still quite clean, if washed with some soap. I believe that using toilet paper thoroughly – wiping many times both in the middle and on “both sides” of ones bum – is the best way. And to wash ones bum carefully with soap once a day, in the shower.
Would be interested to have the hygienic benefits of using water/hand or bum sprayer explained in detail – taking into account the things I mentioned above.