Your best hygiene buddy in most Philippine CRs (comfort rooms)
Glad you asked. But first, what is a toilet bucket? It’s a plastic bucket of water sitting under a water spigot, which you’ll find in 99% of all restrooms in the Philippines. Especially in the country. Inside the bucket, you’ll find a dipper. And when you get the hang of it, you’ll find that the whole shootin’ match is much cleaner than toilet paper. In general, SE Asians are cleaner than the rest of the world because they wash immediately after using the restroom. The Thais have made the toilet hose into a national icon, and Filipinos aren’t far behind.
Here’s how it works:
After you’ve finished your business, grab a bar of soap with your left hand, and sneak it down the front of the toilet bowl, close to where you’re going to want to wash (hey, thank us, no one else is going to tell you this stuff!). Take the dipper with your right hand, scoop up a bunch of water, and dump the whole thing down your backside a couple of times. This washes away most of the detritus. Now that your nether regions are good and wet, use your left hand to soap up everything real good. Now use more water, and clean everything, soap and bottom, over and over, till you’re squeaky clean. You’ve just given everything a good bath. Once you’re completely rinsed (5 dippers’ full?), take a towel (or paper, if that’s all you have) and dry off. Now you’re convinced, aren’t you? Here are a few extra notes:
1) Walk into the bathroom with soap and towel (it’s easy to forget until you make it a habit).
2) Turn on the spigot, and fill the bucket constantly as you go. This is a courtesy for the next person.
3) Philippine toilets often don’t have flushing mechanisms. Instead, you simply pour water down the hole until everything goes down the pipe. If it hasn’t after you’ve washed, just throw more water down the hole.
You’re going to need this technique if you go off the beaten track in the Philippines. And some of the best stuff is off the track. You may even enjoy this technique so much that you bring it home and use it in your own bathroom.
Can you do this with your pants still on? If not, does that mean that Filipinos remove pants, underware, shoes and socks everytime they make a bowel movement in public? Also what is the size of the towel recommended to dry off…a full bath towel? A hand towel? And where and how do you carry this towel and the wet soap with you?
One alternative: Make a hole on the neck of a used small soft drink plastic bottle. Fill it with water. Turn it upside down. Position and squeeze it. But it might not totally flush clean. So use toilet paper to check. If you like, you can have two bottles: one for water, the other diluted detergent.
How do they dry off? Generally speaking, they don’t! Remember it’s a hot country, so everything dries fairly quickly
THANK YOU!
My biggest question has been, HOW do people dry off? So everyone is supposed to walk around prepared with a bathroom towel? Do women just always have tissues/towels with them?
mystery solved.