How To Use a Squat Toilet

  • August 6, 2008
  • 83,769 Views
Please install Flash

If you’re thinking "Aren’t toilets the same all over the world?” you don’t know squat.

You Will Need

  • Strong thighs
  • An ability to hold your breath
  • Toilet paper
  • Hand sanitizer gel
How To Use a Squat Toilet: Know what you're getting into

Step 1: Know what you're getting into

If you’re traveling internationally, be prepared to encounter a non-Western, or squat, toilet. It’s usually a stall with a hole in the ground that may or may not have a flushing mechanism.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Don't expect privacy

Step 2: Don't expect privacy

Don’t expect privacy. Public restroom stalls might only have two-foot-high walls and no doors.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Bring toilet paper

Step 3: Bring toilet paper

Bring your own toilet paper. It’s often not provided in public restrooms.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Practice your squat

Step 4: Practice your squat

To strengthen your legs and prepare yourself for the real thing, practice your squat. This will also help boost your confidence.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Position your feet

Step 5: Position your feet

Position your feet on the foot grids on either side of the sunken toilet.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Drop and squat

Step 6: Drop and squat

Drop your drawers and squat as close to the opening as possible for accurate aim.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Dispose of toilet paper

Step 7: Dispose of toilet paper

When you finish your business, dispose of your toilet paper in the receptacle placed behind you for that purpose.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Flush

Step 8: Flush

If you’re in a restroom with flushing toilets, hit the button on the wall.

How To Use a Squat Toilet: Wash your hands

Step 9: Wash your hands

Use your hand sanitizer and remind yourself that travel is all about broadening your horizons.

In some remote areas of the Chinese countryside, toilets are actually positioned over a pen of hungry pigs.

Something wrong?

Report This How-To

Cancel

Comments (16)

bleak

Unfortunately, this video omitted the most important aspect of using a squat toilet. When you flush, get the hell out of there because they have been known to reverse flush - in other words, the crap comes flying up at you.

over 3 years ago by bleak

Reply
Redfoxhound_Non

yeah... like ready set go! Boom! if you're lucky the thing will miss your face!

over 2 years ago by Redfoxhound_Non

Reply
Nerd_Ball

haha that is so funny

about 1 year ago by Nerd_Ball

Reply
akadane

we also have weak thighs over here. lol

over 3 years ago by akadane

Reply
dot1

I agree. The USA does have better public ";facilities"; most of the time. But I have been in some bathrooms where I thought it would be better just to go behind a tree... lol............ This video was weird but informative. I think the comment about the hungry pigs was GROSS and should have been left out. Sick!!!!

over 3 years ago by dot1

Reply
luckysod04

makes you think twice about those prok chops

over 3 years ago by luckysod04

Reply
jason

wow - we have it good over here

over 3 years ago by jason

Reply
knockoution

China is an old country, yet in its development it is still young; it is large but at the same time weak. Its steps on the road to modernization are just beginning.

over 3 years ago by knockoution

Reply
bolang

squat toilets rule! The toilet throne is one where the west got lazy and got it wrong! Squatting aligns the colon, and, as knockoution said, is much more sanitary because there is no contact made with the seat. The sanitary issue with Chinese toilets is that their exterior and surroundings can be filthy or they often have open tubing/ pits, but this is not the toilet's fault... after living in China for many years, whenever I return home to America I stand on western toilets and squat when out and about. Western toilets are nasty

over 3 years ago by bolang

Reply
knockoution

i am from china, and in our country, aquat toilet is a familiar facility in public place or in home several years ago. i think it is a better choice than sitting toilet for public palce. your know, there are so many unacquainted people in public place, such as railway station, mall or any palce else, it is obviously more healthyful to use toilet by a untouched way. For the comment about the hungry pigs is a history, i can not deny it had disappeared totally in remote district. and should be get rid of it as soon as possibly. acturally we did it. but most of chinese farmer are still poor and need help too. so it is a long way to improve their living conditions. thank you.

over 3 years ago by knockoution

Reply
deckard1

Ah the joys of third world comforts. As a lazy greedy western traveler your intestines haven't quite gotten use to the less than sanitary food handling in practices in these countries, you also at the moo goo pork. Unfortunately for you, the swine lived &; fed under a public squat hole and now you have explosive diarrhea. Seize the moment, now is your chance to get even with the relatives of that pig, the shallow walls, squat hole floor the guy peering over you from the adjacent stall and anything in a 4 foot radius of your Krakatoa like bunghole.

over 3 years ago by deckard1

Reply
kpfingaz

Hilarious video.

over 2 years ago by kpfingaz

Reply
Roofenol

Lol. in Vietnam , they have a squat toilet too. my big brother fell in before. i laughed soooo hard!!!! and when he was done. i fell in too.... this was our first time using a squat toilet.

over 2 years ago by Roofenol

Reply
Pigaroo

What toilet do people use before they have western toilet? Squat toilets are totally ok if they can be flushed properly. When i use western toilet, i worry about hygiene problems. Anyway, i have never heard of toilet with a pen of pigs under it in China. Anybody else has?

over 2 years ago by Pigaroo

Reply
Meggie_Cook

I travel to Japan, and they do have squat toilets, but they are almost the same... they have a front covered part.

over 2 years ago by Meggie_Cook

Reply
DeepFried

I shot the ";how to use a squat toilet"; video for Howcast during my last trip to China. It was a fun project to be a part of and I'm glad to see that it currently has 53,000+ views on Howcast's site alone. I just finished a collaboration with a blog columnist in which he wrote about squat toilets. We decided to embed this video into the article. Here's the link: http://beijing.weliveinchina.com/GroupNews/news2.rails?Nid=1000001261 Enjoy! Jeff

over 2 years ago by DeepFried

Reply

or to post a comment. Or, sign in using your Facebook to comment
and share your activity with your friends

Video is in Summer Olympics 2008 Beijing (7 videos)