Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Korean Adventure Part 7: A Few Words About Restrooms

For this post, I want to pause for a moment to tell you about my experience with bathrooms in Korea.  Over the span of my trip I experienced the full range of restrooms from elaborate to well, lets say minimalistic.  Of course I encountered many "normal" restrooms while I was there too but these two particular restrooms left a lasting impression on me.

Most Hi-Tech Toilet Ever

When we were at T.G.I.Friday's at the Coex mall I went to use the bathroom and discovered the world's most high tech toilet.  Attached to the side of the toilet was a controller with a bunch of buttons on it giving the user several options including, bidet spray, seat temperature control, water sounds, etc.  I was a bit intimidated.  I just wanted to use it real quick and get out.  I mean seriously a warmed toilet seat and a butt wash?  No thank you. 


On the flip side....


Where's The Toilet?


One of the days that we took the train we stopped to use the restroom in one of the train stations.  I had used other bathrooms in the train stations without incident so I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary.  The restroom itself was beautifully decorated with tile and floral art.  There was a line but it was moving fairly quickly. Two women before me went in and then it was my turn.  I walked into the stall, shut the door, and promptly asked myself "Where's the toilet?"  Answer - there wasn't one.  Instead, there was what basically amounts to a porcelain coated hole in the floor with a lever next to it to flush.  "OK", I thought to myself, "how does this work?"  I was not amused but I braved the situation any way and managed not to make a fool of myself.  Below is a picture of what this "toilet" looked like.  I was too stunned to take my own photo and regretted it later but apparently I was not the only one who was shocked by these bathrooms because I found someone else who blogged about it.  I borrowed the photos on this page from them but I will include the link to their blog at the bottom of the page should you want to read about their experience!

The soap was also a bit odd in that it was not liquid soap but a bar that was more or less attached to the wall.  I am not sure how sanitary this is but I guess soap is soap.  Here is what it looked like.


Most bathrooms also have a call button that you can press for help... I wonder if anyone has ever pressed it.


I discovered later that in bathrooms with these traditional toilets, there is usually at least one stall that has the western toilet symbol meaning that it does have what I would consider a "real" toilet but hey I wanted to experience Korea right?  Well I guess using a traditional Korean restroom was just part of that adventure! 



If you think this is as odd as I did.  Feel free to check out this person's blog on the Korean bathrooms too.  I borrowed the photos from them.  http://www.shenventure.com/2011/05/21/encounters-with-seouls-public-toilets/

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