Hot answers tagged hygiene
78
:D
I grew up using that thing. When I went studying abroad, I had problems with the toilet you guys called as the normal one (the sitting one). I literally wet my pants several times. Probably I should start a post about "How to sit on the normal toilet".
Here are just some extra tips so you don't wet your pants on a squatting toilet.
I will suggest you ...
50
Here is a video that explains how people use this thing.
Seriously, it's informative and visually presented and makes it much clearer.
34
Ok, I'll take the risk in answering ;)
Anyway, I'll take the notes from a Wiki How link, and add in bits from past experiences...
Bring your own toilet paper. I used to think this was ridiculous. How could a public bathroom NOT have toilet paper? Then I went to Egypt where the majority of our group had Delhi Belly AND you had to pay for a couple of ...
24
Nobody seemed to have given emphasis on what I consider the most important, the position of your arms when doing it: they must be extended away.
No:
Yes!
I live in China and got used to them squat toilets, they are actually better for the transit, and learning this position is good for many other purposes, like waiting for the subway, watching the sun ...
21
This is funny. When I first read the question, I thought it a humorous prank. But, half way through the page, I was sort of convinced that it may possibly not have been intended to be.
I have used squat toilets for nearly all my life. At home, we have both the squat toilets and the sitting ones. I don't mind either, but I find the squat toilets to be more ...
20
Towels are 50/50 possible, depening on country and hostel.
More hostels will rent towels, sometimes at a nominal price. One hostel I worked in in Australia used to provide free towels but we discovered we were often paying overtime to our laundry staff because people would use many towels just because they were free! We introduced a $1 fee per towel, ...
17
Use sodium bicarbonate. To translate that into English, use 'Baking Soda'. Sodium bicarbonate is the main ingredient for baking soda and it has this magical effect on bacteria, especially the ones that live in humid areas. Just put some sodium bicarbonate inside your backpack where it gets humid and leave it overnight, then remove it in the morning and NO ...
15
In the olden days you did do laundry with bar soap - but it was laundry bar soap - harsher and unscented. You can still get it in Mexico and probably lots of places.
I guess "hand soap" as it is (or was) usually called differs mainly by being more expensive and probably has ingredients to be less harsh on the skin, and it's usually scented.
Whether any of ...
15
I just try to make a conscious effort to use only my right hand for most things when I'm in public places - paying for transportation fare or items in a market, eating in public restaurants, even pushing doors open. If you're mindful enough, you should be able to manage most of the time; if you forget once in a while, just correct yourself as soon as your ...
15
Almost always, you bring your own, however...
Hostel sites like Hostelbookers often indicate whether or not items like towels are available for rent, or provided.
Some I've seen will sell toothpaste and deodorant and the like.
Personally, I bring a towel and toiletries, and almost always I've needed them. It's generally a surprise when I don't.
14
Most of the answers here cover most bases you need to know so I'll try to cover topics not mentioned yet.
Do a short flush / send a bit of water down the pan before you begin. It'll help sending everything down later.
Washing up after you're done: Sometimes, you find a soap bar left inside a toilet instead of liquid soap. I'd suggest you to use this for ...
12
Trains in Israel are hardly long distance. The longest is an hour and a half, two at a stretch. And yes, they have restrooms, but you can always go out at a station, and take the next train, if there's a real problem:-)
Your ticket is valid for a travel, once you pass the gate at the entrance of the origin station, till you exit at the gate of your ...
11
Well I can be evil and if people complain, I call them insensitive because I (genuinely) have no sense of smell ;)
However, logically you do have a few options:
hand-wash - a wash-cloth and some soap goes a long way, and for some reason even though the water is cold, it's never as bad as stepping under a cold shower.
deodorant, lots of it.
make sure you ...
11
I grew up with those as well and only positive that comes out from using those is that you get a good work out and avoid keeping reading material in your bathroom. I am not sure about other parts of Asia but in India they mostly have western toilets in metropolitan cities. I had a tough time adjusting back to the squatter when I went back after 10 years.
...
11
Well I wish you had used a photo of a cleaner European toilet for comparison. What will the Canadians think?!
Indeed this is typical of North American toilets. The same applies down in Good Ole USA too. In fact I've seen much higher water levels than this.
There are two answers really:
Man up and take it! In some places in Europe they have a much crazier ...
10
Shaking hands or handing over an item with one's left hand is
considered an insult.
I think this is exaggeration!
I live in and visited many Muslim/East countries and it is not an insult/wrong to hand stuff with left hand. You might just met some extremist in this train, anyway I never went to Uzbekistan .
and by the way, I have never saw any one ...
10
In most cultures where toilet paper is NOT used, people still need to clean up, right? Well the answer to that is they usually clean up with water. How this is done depends on how 'upmarket' your toilet is. The fancier toilets, even among squat toilets, have shower hose type attachments to a tap: use a stream from this hose down your nether regions.
The ...
9
I have seen these toilets in Indonesia a lot (in hotels, Malls...etc). This type of toilet comes in different styles.
Some have a very forceful tap that can literally make a second hole in your butt or make the one you have wider! These types do not need any hands to help with the cleaning as the forceful stream will clean everything. Some will be as you ...
8
Yes! Many of the train stations in New Delhi have rooms that travelers can use for showers and sleep - they are called retiring rooms. They can only be booked at the station and are given on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Sorry, I am not familiar with facilities near the airport area.
8
I use Lifeventure Hydrofibre Trek towel and must say that it is amazing. That's a subjective description and now for the objective one:
First my tests at home
I tried putting it in a pint glass (0.5 liter) full of water and it absorbed about 85% if not more of it. It did drip though but let's be honest, you'll never gonna be that wet to start with.
It ...
8
Nearly all plastics are made from crude oil by manipulating the molecules to form long chains (polymers) and are not the most chemically and physically stable of materials. What you're seeing are the effects of some plastics deteriorating, with the polymer chains breaking up and forming shorter compounds (the shorter the molecules, the more likely they are ...
7
If you attempt to book at Rail Israel site you could see the amenities that a train has.
For example Beer Sheva - Nahariyya for April 5th lists that trains have restroom in them.
P.S. Not sure that I would consider trains in Israel travelling long distances.
7
Yes, there are such a trains. The one and only model which doesn't have toilets is NS Sprinter Lighttrain
They are replacing original Sprinters, which do have toilets.
These are commuter trains, thus generally not intended for long distance travel. They do have some quite long routes (eg. Lelystad—The Hague), however for that kind of distances ...
6
Hand soap and laundry soap are two different things. What you want to do is to make the water "thinner" (destroying it's natural surface tension) so it gets the dirt out. You can get the same effect with pretty much any soap or dishwashing liquid. However most powder laundry detergents also have some whitener in it that make your clothes "appear" white and ...
6
It's very simple to use.
When you are done, use some paper to wipe the remainings just like you usually do.
Then use the tap to wash it WITHOUT using your hand in there. (use some paper to operate tap)
Then wipe with paper again until it's clean and dry.
That way, it will be more hygienic. Paper + water is better than just paper or just water.
Don't ...
5
I am a permanent traveller, and I wash my laundry with hotel bar soap or shampoo. Some is hanging over my hotel balcony to dry now, in fact. I've never ruined anything with it, and I've been hand washing silks and knit wools regularly. In my opinion it is more important to be careful in not using too hot of water, wringing or hanging things that shouldn't be ...
5
I agree with Mouviciel about the validity of Aleppo soap as an all-purpose product, but I find it a bit too expensive (at least here in Italy it is normally marketed as something posh), so I would recommend Marseille soap. If you buy it pure, i.e. with no perfumes or other things added, you can really use it for everything, and it is less expensive than the ...
5
OK then...warning, this gets graphic.
The problem
North American toilets tend to be siphoning toilets - that is, the water-ways in these toilets are designed with slightly smaller diameters than a non-siphoning toilet, so that the water-way will naturally fill up with water, each time it is flushed, thus creating the siphon action.
The recognised ...
5
According to Sleepinginairports:
Showers - Location: Freshen' Up International Terminal - landside, level G, Main Hall. Hours: 7:00am - 11:00pm. Fee: $15 for the Deluxe
Shower (30 minute shower + 15 minute massage chair with towel, soap,
shampoo, lotion, shower shoes, and a hairdryer if required) / $ 8 for
the Standard Shower (20 minute shower with ...
5
It's true. But it's not so much the short distance trains as the slow trains (which you typically would take for short distances).
I haven't seen these 'peebags' myself, but apparently, there at least was a plan to introduce them (in Dutch):
http://www.elsevier.nl/Nederland/nieuws/2011/10/NS-Treinen-zonder-wc-krijgen-plaszakken-ELSEVIER318700W/
However, ...
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