#byotp

In the summer of 2012, I studied abroad in the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan. As I was packing, my grandfather brought me a roll of toilet paper. He’d gone to China on a few business trips and told me I’d need it. I knew I went to the bathroom a lot but it was a still a strange pre-travel gift.  Confused I accepted. I didn’t expect that he would be right. 

He would be. 

Is starting with my grossest bathroom stories a bit much for an introductory blog post? I don’t want to scare people away. But, let me just say that whenever I am faced with what seems like a disgusting bathroom in the US or in some other “developed” country, I close my eyes and think of Sichuan. I think of paying 0.75 RMB to go into a dingy stall and squat over a stream of water and realizing that I only had one tissue left in my pocket to wipe with. I’m not even going to get into the relative lack of privacy in rural public restrooms or what spicy Sichuanese food does to your insides. 

After spending six weeks in Sichuan, I learned a valuable traveler lesson: When in Asia, BYOTP. Bring you own toilet paper. The more modern areas of China, such as when I visited Shanghai for the first time two years ago, are no exception and this adage rang true. The same followed for my experiences in Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. Even in parts of Asia that aren’t generally considered Asia like Israel, the TP I’d swiped from the hotel came in handy when I was on the go. Only Japan passed the test (and the bathrooms in Japan are on another level from anything I’ve ever experienced).

I suppose that BYOTP could be considered a corollary the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy advice about bringing a towel everywhere you go. Just as the Guide states that “A towel  is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have,” toilet paper can be the most useful thing that an earthbound traveler can have in their backpack. 

Now, I live in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China. This means that it became a British territory in 1841 but the majority of its population was ethnically Chinese. Then, after a deal made by Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping in the 80s, it was “returned” to China 1997 and allowed to remain semi-autonomous within a framework called “One Country, Two Systems” (one of many, many Chinese phrases that is catchy and concise in Chinese, 一国两制, but sort of awkward in English) for another fifty years. I have a Master’s Degree in China Development Studies and like to feel that I’m using it, even just a tiny bit. 

As a traveler and frequent bathroom user, I’d like to contribute my nuggets of bathroom advice to the world. I mean, restaurants, stores, hotels, malls, offices, parks, and public transportation have ratings and reviews online. Why not bathrooms? Hong Kong is a massively international city with millions of visitors each year. If I can make someone’s vacation a little smoother by giving them a heads up of what to expect in their international restroom experience, then I’d consider it a job well done.