Necessities

As new fellows from Joe’s organization slowly trickle into Khon Kaen, Joe has been busy showing them around and helping them gather the essentials. I have played a less prominent role, but there has been one thing I’ve made sure everyone understands—how to use a Thai toilet.

I am making this issue a priority since many months were spent here by the last fellows before someone explained the proper technique. Let me also add that if you don’t choose to follow this advice, you will inevitably end up peeing on yourself.

First, here’s a picture of a Thai toilet so you can properly imagine what I’m describing. This particular specimen is in our downstairs bathroom.

Now I’ve been building this up like it’s some complicated procedure, but in reality all you have to do is stand on the toilet (note the grooves on the bowl to prevent slippage), and squat. Oh yeah, and you have to face the wall (opposite from the direction one faces when using a western toilet). That last bit is the piece of the puzzle we were missing, the essential chunk that makes the difference between splashing and no splashing. I know you’re thinking you would have figured this out yourself, but I promise you, it’s not as obvious as it sounds. Also notice the lack of a flusher. The toilet is flushed by filling a small pail with water and pouring it into the toilet until the water is clear. This even works on western toilets (and thankfully we have a western toilet in our upstairs bathroom).

The showers here are also different as they are in almost all foreign countries. Most notably, there is no separation between the shower and the rest of the bathroom, which means the whole bathroom gets wet during a shower. Our bathroom is even more unusual; the shower is practically directly over the sink.

Most houses here do not have a giant hot water heater like they do in the states. Instead, there is a little device on the wall that heats the water as it runs through. Sometimes this works very well, and sometimes it doesn’t. I love the shower at our house, but most others that I have encountered did not heat the water quite to my standard. I did learn a trick from one of the other American Ajan, if you decrease the amount of water flowing through the heater, the water will be hotter. Of course you are then left trying to rinse soap off with just a trickle, but on all but the hottest mornings that’s better than a freezing deluge.

PS. If my blog updates aren’t enough to satisfy your hunger for news from KK, I’ve added links to Joe’s blog and our new awesome roommate Mara’s blog. And if that’s still not enough, you should just come and visit.