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What's the deal, am I obsessed with toilets?
No, I'm just willing to admit that I find it somewhat
interesting.
I've taken
lots of other travel pictures.
And hey, I'm not the person reading this page,
probably after doing some sort of web search for toilets!
Why are you reading this?
On the other hand, I am
described by Yahoo
as:
We've all been there.
Nature calls and the only answer is a toilet with more
levers, switches, and buttons than
Wile E. Coyote's latest invention.
What to do?
If you're Bob Cromwell, the answer is obvious:
You take a picture.
Dedicated to the man and the latrines he's dared to
use, Toilets of the World features photos and captions
from Bob's many encounters with the cryptic,
the seatless, and the downright weird.
During his travels through Russia, East Asia,
and South America,
Bob never met a commode he didn't want to remember.
From an Ottoman-era throne of a more modest variety
to a hole-in-the-ground kind enough to offer tips
on feet placement, you're bound to gain a quick
appreciation for Bob,
the Indiana Jones (and Ansel Adams) of latrines.
Do Foreigners Have Strange Toilets?
Whoever you are, you are going to think that other
countries have strange toilets.
But remember, they are thinking the same thing
about your peculiar plumbing.
Someone from the U.S. wrote me:
"I visited Italy 3 years ago and had no idea
that some restaurants had in-ground toilets.
I was just aghast when I went into the john,
but eventually figured it out."
As I replied to her, just imagine the poor visitor to
the U.S.
They have just been subjected to what is among
the world's rudest and
most intentionally intimidating border crossings,
and then they enter a dirty airport restroom.
They are now expected to press their bare flesh
against a plastic seat against which
untold thousands of strangers have rubbed their
bare buttocks since its last thorough cleaning.
And just what is this mysterious fluid dribbled all
over the seat?
This is the product of an advanced civilization?
So, yes, everyone's toilets are different.
But "different" doesn't mean "worse".
For example, the squatter is a far cleaner
design for a public toilet.
Sadly, squeamishness and a fear of the unfamiliar
contribute to keeping so many Americans from learning
about other countries and cultures.
I started collecting these pictures and building
these pages after so many Americans told me something
along the lines of, "Well, I would like to travel,
but I just could not deal with
foreign toilets."
Then they smile proudly,
as if this fear was somehow a virtue.
If foreigners can put with with
nasty American public toilets,
then surely Americans could deal with other countries'
relatively clean ones.
Before venturing overseas for the first time,
Americans really need to understand:
— What is a bidet?
— What about seatless toilets?
This Page is Scientific,
and Award Winning!
Or at least some of the imagery was used in a
medical journal.
See "Extract from Clinical Evidence: Diarrhoea",
in
"Student British Medical Journal",
British Medical Association,
v8, April 2000, pp 107-108.
It may still be archived on the net at
http://www.studentbmj.com/back_issues/0400/education/107.html
Some of the images were used in the
"Flushed" episode
of the program Ordinary Things
on the National Geographic Channel,
November 2006.
It was featured in
the 12 Feb 2003
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
One of the photographs was used in
"Angie's List",
November 2006 (pg 17),
published by William S Oesterle, 1030 E Washington St,
Indianapolis IN 46202.
It's to appear in Phillip Milano's
UP-syndicated column
"Dare to Ask"
originating in the Jacksonville
Florida Times-Union
and appearing in more than
20 Morris papers in 14 states:
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/enmilano/
It was going to be mentioned in the
Chicago Tribune
in 2005, although the article kept getting postponed.
And despite some controversy over the page's
claim
that the Germans are overly interested
in some toiletological details,
it was mentioned in
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
No 15, 2004-04-11.
Also, despite the complete lack of Cypriot toilets,
this page was awarded the
Window on Cyprus
award for captivating content!
Just What Sort of Sicko Puts This on the Internet?
The Aftermath
This is the
Hyperion Waste Treatment Plant
in Los Angeles, California.
It's right on the coast, just south of
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and between the
city of El Segundo and the beach.
This is the only sewage treatment plant for all of Los Angeles.
The sewage is dried into a highly flammible powder
and used to run generators, so the sewage treatment plant
has a surplus of power and actually feeds electricity
back into the grid.
Keep up the good work, Los Angeleans!
Your city counts on your contribution!
Toilets I Won't Show
While a "Toilets of the World" web page indicates low standards,
it doesn't mean the complete lack of standards.
That shot from the Chungking Mansions was borderline, I'll admit.
But there are some things I won't show here — as a general
category, Egyptian public toilets, where the plumbing, if any,
is considered as only the vaguest of aiming suggestions.
Or Syrian truck stop toilets.
However, the flat-out scariest toilet I've ever seen,
a vision of Hell to give Dante the heebie-jeebies,
was an underground public toilet in a park near Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.
The "toilets" were knee-high stubs of culvert drainage pipes.
The floor was covered in about an inch of liquified filth continuously
replenished by a couple of "toilets" in reverse ooze mode.
The atmosphere had an ammonia content about equal to that of Venus.
Plus, this being Russia, one had to pay a fistful of Rubles
for the privilege of visiting.
If you're not bored yet, you might be interested
in (or at least tolerate):
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