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Airport toilet awards, public defecation, and more...
The full article is at http://www.indonesiamatters.com/1518...t-toilet-2011/, and the quote below is from the end of the article, because it is more interesting than the beginning.
Can you believe there is a World Toilet Organisation?However, other statistics suggest that more generally Indonesia still has some work to do.
It recently placed 12th out of 18 Asian countries for its toilet facilities in a survey by the World Toilet Organisation. Indonesia was ranked above Vietnam, but below neighbours Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand.
Indonesia also leads the world in another less pleasant fact: Indonesia ranks third for public/open defecation, behind China and India. According to another report, as much as 30% of the population still doesn't use toilet facilities (whether by choice or necessity), using drains, rivers, etc, instead. It is said to cost the Indonesian economy Rp56 trillion - over $US6 billion - per year in lost productivity due to preventable illnesses in workers. Open defecation is apparently a "common sight" even in the province of East Java, location of the airport with the cleanest airport toilets: Surabaya.
The caption for the picture is Old habits die hard
No l cannot. However, l could name hundreds of toilets here in lndonesia that would rank up there with the worlds worst.....think of the toilet in the film Trainspotting and you have the picture.
Even though here they don't do the horrible things to toilets that some scumbags do in Oz...like smear crap all over the wall...or on the seat.
Last edited by motormouth; 19-10-2011 at 05:03 PM. Reason: Spelling error
On our last trip to the island we saw three incidents of public defecation in a matter of two weeks (and one case of public urination). I have to say that I was a bit taken aback from this, but it also seems to be the case that there is a shortage of public facilities. If you have to go, you have to go!
We actually bought a property a couple of years ago in Bali along a river, but then sold it because (on our second trip to the property) we were sickened by the smell of poop in the river. This is one area where Bali can definitely improve. The island's rivers remind me of that environmental advertisement that ran in the 1960s in American of the Indian man crying at the sight of a polluted river. Things improved dramatically once the U.S. developed its environmental consciousness (our rivers don't catch on fire anymore!). Things can improve in Bali.
My experience of this is a bit different: Living next to a river and its parallel stream supplying the rice fields in front of the house I can honestly say that in the last 3 years I've only seen one instance of "public" defecation it was a farmer doing it in his irrigation stream beside where he'd been working all day. Needless to say there were no available toilets.
And the river next to the house is so clean that all the locals come down of an evening for the family bath in it.
Having a bath in the river and a crap at the same time is quiet normal in many parts of indonesia. You always do this downstream of there you collect the drinking water. However one mans downstream is another mans upstream.
Regards Jimbo
I highly recommend the bathrooms at Lamak Restaurant, on Monkey Forest Rd: they are FANTASTIC (The restaurant's cuisine is superb also).
Keep on smiling.
Daniel
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"War is terrorism on a bigger budget."
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