Random Weird Things You Didn't Know About Bathrooms In Countries Other Than The US (18 items)

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  (#1) France Introduced Open-Air Urinals To Combat Public Urination

  Paris, France, slowly started introducing open-air urinals in August 2018 to curb public urination. The urinals, which look like bright-red mailboxes, line the Seine River near the Notre Dame Cathedral and are peppered throughout the city. 

  The new devices, called "uritrottoirs" (blending the French words for "urinate" and "pavement") are easy to access for men. They have a layer of straw and sawdust inside to keep odors at bay, and the straw can then be used as compost. 

  As green and eco-friendly as these new urinals are, some people are not digging them. People were quick to point out the inherent sexism of the devices, while others feel they tarnish historic areas of the city.
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  (#2) In Cuba, You Have To Bring Your Own Toilet Paper

  While Cuba has finally opened up for tourism (thanks Obama!) it hasn't yet made the amount of money that allows for a crazy amount of paper products to be readily available at the drop of your pants. The country is woefully under-prepared for an influx of people, and when Marketwatch covered the filming of a House of Lies episode in Cuba they noted, "There [are] not hammers and toilet paper, and things that people need.”
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  (#3) Outdoor Toilets In France Used To Be Works Of Art

  If you thought France would allow for anything in their country to be not breathtakingly beautiful then you're very wrong. Nineteenth Century photographer Charles Marville documented street life in Paris throughout the 1860s and '70s, which meant capturing the architectural beauty of Parisian outdoor bathrooms, or pissoirs. At the peak of the outdoor bathrooms, there were over 1,200 in Paris, but that number has dwindled to one on Boulevard Arago. 
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  (#4) Make Sure You Face The Right Way On The Toilets In Japan

  Before you go to Japan and ruin all of their public toilets, make sure you read up on exactly how you're supposed to use each bathroom. In Kyoto especially, tourists have been making a mess of the city's pristine toilets and the people who have to clean up after everyone aren't happy about it. One of the biggest problems is that people are squatting over the toilets backwards, which is leaving a huge, smelly mess. In 2015 the workers of Kyoto began posting stickers across the city to make sure that the influx of visitors would understand how to correctly use their facilities. 
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  (#5) Please Don't Flush Toilet Paper In Mexico

  It's important to remember that while many places have incredibly modern plumbing systems that can handle pretty much whatever gets thrown at it, there are a lot of countries where this luxury is not available. For instance, in Mexico it's completely against the rules of bathroom politeness to flush toilet paper. The lack of a modern sewage system in Mexico means that it's harder to filter out toilet paper if it makes it into the toilet, and the pipes themselves might not be able to handle the excess material. You could clog up whereever it is that you're going to the bathroom if you're not careful. Keep that in mind next time you go south of the border. 
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  (#6) If You're In Sweden, Get Ready to Pay To Pee

  While traveling in Sweden you should keep in mind the fact that it's important to use the bathroom before traveling outside of your hotel room (or wherever it is that you're hanging your hat for the evening). The larger cities in Sweden have a pay toilet system, which means that every time you need to go to the bathroom while you're out enjoying their pristine roadways and construction you'll be spending some much needed Krona. The money goes into upkeep of the bathrooms, and there's the thought that if you're spending the money then you'll be taking better care of the facilities. 
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  (#7) Get Ready To Squat With Strangers In China

  If you're going to go to the bathroom in China you have to prepare yourself to get out of your Westernized comfort zone. First of all, most bathrooms are unisex, so get over whatever social mores you have about using the bathroom next to someone with different genitals as you. Secondly, while there are some Western style toilets in China, most of them are of the squat variety. If this kind of thing stresses you out you might want to get some practice in before you leave the country. 
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  (#8) Russian Bathrooms Tend To Be Poorly Constructed

  This isn't to say that every single bathroom in Russia is poorly constructed, or built without even an ounce of care, but when athletes went to Sochi for the 2014 winter Olympics they were greeted with some of the worst facilities of the 21st century. There were side by side toilets, toilets with lids screwed on backwards, and holes in the ground that look like they were made specifically to be ruined by drunk marathon runners. So if you have a chance to check out Sochi, make sure you make use of the Olympic facilities so you can feel like a world class athlete. 
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  (#9) In Scotland It's Customary To Let Strangers Use The Facilities

  While it's been reported as a law, it's actually an old Scottish custom to allow anyone who knocks on your door to use the bathroom. This likely sprung from an old law that gave free passage through someone’s land and morphed into the tradition of letting drunk folks (this is Scotland after all) take a load off in your toilet. That being said, now that you know it's not a law you don't have to let anyone into your abode, even if their bladder is about to have a wee blow out. 
   
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  (#10) Don't Pee In The Bidet When You Go To Spain

  This should go without saying, but it's possible that you've never encountered a bidet. If that's so and you plan on going to Spain some time soon then please heed this next sentence: Don't pee in the bidet. It looks just like a toilet, but there's no lid. A lot of modern toilets come equipped with a bidet so you can do your business and then clean off without moving, but some of the more historically intact hotels and residences still have the classic two porcelain throne system. 
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  (#11) In Antarctica Your Waste Is Pumped Into The Ocean

  This shouldn't really come as a shock to anyone who spends time thinking about Antarctica (and don't we all), but a lot of research facilities on the icy continent aren't equipped with the beautiful sewage systems that most folks in first world countries are used to, which means that there's a lot of scientist waste being pumped into the Southern Ocean. This is kind of gross, but to be fair it's not like there are millions of people up there going to the bathroom in the water. 
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  (#12) Irish People Hate Using Public Toilets

  Does anyone actually relish using a public toilet? They're smelly, noisy, and there's no chance of actually relaxing and being your perfect bathroom self when you're in that setting. But according to Initial Washroom Solutions, 62% of Irish people surveyed admitted that they absolutely refuse to use a public bathroom, while 76% said that they absolutely refuse to sit on a public toilet seat. This means that either Irish people are extremely clean, or their bathrooms are incredibly filthy, and there's only one way to find out. 
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  (#13) Don't Freak Out When An Older Woman Walks In On You In A South Korean Bathroom

  South Korea is a lovely place and they want to keep it that way, so the major cities have employee ajoomas, or older women, who clean up public bathrooms. Ajoomas don't wait around until there's no one in sight to clean up the stalls, they go right in while you're getting down to business and start cleaning up. It's very important that you're not weird about this, because it's a cultural thing and as an ambassador for your country you should be totally cool with whatever happens in a public bathroom. 
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  (#14) Good Luck Flushing Anything In Brazil

  Brazil, like Mexico, has a less than stellar sewage system. But the pipes are so narrow and decrepit in some parts of the country that flushing anything other than liquid down them is going to present an issue. That being said, one of the strangest things about Brazilian bathrooms is the popularity of the padded seat. While that might seem luxurious for a tenth of a second, let the idea of a faux leather toilet seat sink in. Nothing says hygienic like sticky fabric. 
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  (#15) Watch Out For Snakes When You Go To Australia

  Not every cliché about Australia is true. They aren't constantly throwing shrimps on barbies (read: barbecue grills), and they aren't spending their days showing off their large knife collections. However they do have snakes in their toilets. Queensland snake catcher Elliot Budd believes that when it gets especially dry in different areas of the country that snakes are getting thirsty and crawling through windows looking for hydration and they find it in toilets. Because this kind of behavior mostly happens during mating season: "They are using a lot more energy than they normally would so they need more water. They're non-venomous these snakes. They aren't considered dangerous. They're not something to fear but it's best if you come across them to leave them alone."
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  (#16) New Zealand Has An Entire Block Of Toilets That Doubles As A Work of Art

  When did New Zealand suddenly become so cool? Not only can you take the Lord of the Rings tour on this tiny island, but you can also visit the Hundertwasser Toilets, a public toilet located in New Zealand's North Island. The massive public toilet/art installation was designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser who used recycled materials from the community to construct the facilities. Not only are the toilets the main attraction of the city of Kawakawa, they're the most photographed toilets in New Zealand (and probably the world.)
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  (#17) Almost Half Of India Goes Without A Toilet

  According to Aljazeera, less than one third of the households in Indian villages have toilets, and while the more urban areas have an increased number of facilities, the methods of waste disposal and clean up are somewhat lacking. This statistic goes hand in hand with the percentage of women and children who have been affected with water-borne disease. According to a 2011 census, even though only 46.9% of India's 24.66 million households have toilets, only 3.2% of the population uses pubic toilets and more people in India have mobile phones than bathroom facilities. This leaves millions of Indians to defecate in the streets and out in the open.
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  (#18) If You Want Toilet Paper In Egypt, Get Ready To Pay

  Like many countries, toilet paper in Egypt is scarce, but that doesn't mean that it's not available. If you find yourself in the bathroom after you finish touring the pyramids then you should make sure you have some extra cash on you. According to multiple tourism websites one of the most important things to bring with you when traveling to Egypt is spending money to give to bathroom attendants who have no problem withholding toilet paper from you if you fail to pay up. And yes, this also goes for soap if you want to wash your hands. 

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