Buddhist Toilets

The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees is one of the few Buddhist temples left standing in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China, where any religion other than worship of Communist leaders is strictly forbidden.

Above is an overview of the facility, and below is a detailed look.

Notice the floor covered with small tiles, and the raised footpads. Those are specially designed ceramic blocks. I suppose they might make for a less inconvenient souvenir than an entire toilet....

Notice the long hose for cleaning yourself. The floor in the stall drains into the toilet. Of course, with a hose running it isn't all going to drain into the toilet, but there's a shallow channel along the row of stall doors that will catch most of the overflow.

As collectivist Chinese toilets go, this one provides a much higher degree of privacy than usual. See the toilets at the Tomb of the Martyrs of the Guangzhou Commune W.C. for more typically communal Chinese toilets.

Other pictures from China:

• Click here for other Chinese toilets on the mainland.
• Click here for lots of pictures from Guangzhou and other places in China.
• Click here for toilets in Hong Kong.

This is their sign pointing the way (to the toilet, not to enlightenment).

Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters is a fascinating description of sanitation conditions around the world. "2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. [....] Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box."

In September 2009, Morna Gregory and Sian James published a book titled Toilets of the World. It's pretty much the same theme that you find here — photographs and commentary on other people's plumbing.

If you're not bored yet, you might be interested in (or at least tolerate):

• Travel suggestions
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