Someone just walked in on me in the bathroom. She seems to have been traumatized by the experience because she let out a high pitched yelp.

I'm not sure that was really necessary.

I am happy to report that toilets have not been hard to find in SouthEast Asia.

Toilets are an important consideration when traveling. I knew a guy in college who joked that his mother new every clean bathroom between Manhattan and Burlington. Probably not a surprise that they were Jewish.

Most facilities are reasonably clean. So far all of the guest houses and many eateries and Internet cafes have western toilets. Other then that it has been the porcelin hole that you squat over.

Personally, I find this to be a much more agreeable public toilet. I don't sit on public toilets anyway, and it is a whole lot easier to squat over a hole then a raised bowl.

Usually, squat toilets do not flush. There is a bucket of water and a scoop with which you pour water into the toilet. Sometimes people pour water all over the place leaving you with a very slippery and precarious perch.

Ultimately though, I still think it is the better option for a public toilet. That is unless you are dressed up or old and rickety.

Earlier I had reported that in Thailand many people live in their place of work. This is true here as well and often when you go to eat, if you use the toilet, you are using people's personal bathrooms. There are no shower stalls, just a nozzle hanging on the wall or a small tub that gets filled with water to be poured over you for bathing. So, you get to see their personal effects.

Generally, when you enter an Asian home, you take off your shoes. This is not always the case when people are running an eating establishment, but sometimes it is. I draw the line at entering what is essentially a public bathroom in my bare feet.

Last night Liverpool Matt (our paths keep crossing though he is headed to Vietnam and I have 2 more weeks in Laos) went to use the bathroom while we were eating and returned to report that he could not because the kids were bathing. None of us really thought anything of it at first.

How funny would it be if you went to use the bathroom at a restaurant in the States and walked in on someone taking a shower?

Pretty funny I think.

Definitely funny.