Southeast Asian toilet signs, No. 4 – Angkor Wat

No trip to Angkor Wat would be complete without visiting the toilet. Sadly, the ruins themselves and our guidebook are bereft of signs indicating where and how the long-lost inhabitants of this ancient and mysterious temple handled their waste. But there’s no lack of signs just a notch to the south, at the clean, well-stocked, and (for ticket-holders) free public toilets.

Southeast Asian toilet signs, Nos. 3a-3d

All four(!) of these signs were in the same stall. No need to take a magazine! The middle sign indicates the location: the Cikini branch of KFC in Jakarta.

The translation on the top sign is a little loose. More literally, it reads: “Honored customer, please do not throw toilet tissue or pads into the toilet because it can cause the toilet to be clogged. Thank you.”

The bottom sign says, “Honored customer, please do not urinate on the floor. Thank you.”

Actually, in referring to urination this sign uses the phrase, “throw little water.” And what everyone translates as “thank you” is literally the command, “receive love/affection.” While we’re at it, I’ve translated “customer yang terhormat” quite literally as “honored customer”; most people render it as “dear customer,” which is a bit of an alteration but certainly more colloquial.

I had to take this photo quickly because someone else entered the bathroom right then. (Just in case taking pictures in a bathroom somehow doesn’t look right to Indonesians.) The sign was above the toilet-paper dispenser. It says: “From each sheet of toilet tissue that you use, a tree has been felled. So using it effectively and efficiently saves our world.” I don’t know why it says ‘from,’ but probably you get the idea.

Southeast Asian Toilet Signs, No. 2

I photographed this sign in a men’s room stall at a bay-side restaurant in Manila. I hope that’s a fish in the corner.

Southeast Asian Toilet Signs, No. 1

I photographed this sign inside a stall inside a mall named the Jakarta Design Center. Translated a bit literally from Indonesian, it reads:

“Requesting attention for common comfort:

• No stepping on the toilet seat.
• Flush toilet after it is used.
• Throw used tissue paper into the trash bin provided.
• Take care that the floor remains dry and clean.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Jakarta Design Center”

Toilet trauma

Aside from eating fish eyes, using squat toilets might be the scariest aspect of living in Indonesia. But, for at least one Indonesian, the toilet is on the other foot: detikNews reports, and the Jakarta Globe repackages in English, one man’s ordeal of getting his foot stuck in a public, sit-down toilet for nine hours.

How can this happen? In case, like me until recently, you have no experience with the squat toilet, here’s a brief explanation of the relevant details. In the picture above, the toilet user – male or female, peeing or defecating – squats on the ridges beside the basin, facing the camera, and does what needs doing. S/he then washes off the relevant parts with a spray nozzle, with water splashed or poured from a dipper, and/or with a hand.