Our Story

Les' Story

The year was 2001, and I was travelling by car with some Thai friends from Chiang Mai (north Thailand) to Bangkok – a fairly comfortable 7 hour drive.

The roads were good – not too much traffic – pleasant company, everything was going fine until about half an hour out of Chiang Mai, when the all too familiar pressure of a No.2 began to build, and I knew lasting 6 more hours to Bangkok was not an option.

No big deal you say – just drop in at petrol station, visit the loo, and equilibrium will be restored. Except this was Thailand – you know, third world county, people too poor to buy toilet paper so they wash instead?

Fortunately we had to stop for fuel, so not wanting to be embarrassed in front of my gracious Thai hosts; I slipped off quietly to the toilet block while the car was being re-fuelled. Apprehensive as I approached, my worst fears were soon realized. Clean but basic, the toilet consisted of a low bowl that you squat over, with a tub of water on one side for washing, and a small plastic bowl as a dipper to facilitate the operation.

I had seen wash-guns in toilets before, and had often idly imagined how they might be used, but I had never attempted to actually use one myself. I always made sure that my trusty roll of toilet paper was never far away. Alas – it was now far behind in the hotel room and I had not even so much as a tissue to bless myself with!

But this was something totally different, how do you get water to go up, onto something that is pointing down, without pressure?

I’m an Aussie I thought, resourceful, and proud of it – if millions of Thais can clean themselves like this – so can I. Anyway the matter at hand was now demanding urgent attention, so without further contemplation as to exactly how I was going to clean up afterwards, ‘I let her rip’. Ahhh – sweet relief.

Now the messy part.

Surprise, surprise, I found that so long as I remained squatting, it was relatively easy to pour the water down my bum crack onto my free hand, and from there to sort of splash it up onto the affected part.

It really was surprisingly effective. The hand that had to do the dirty-work was even clean when I had finished!

Pulling my pants back over a now clean-but-wet posterior, I was amazed at how comfortable it felt as I walked back to the car – head held high – confident and smug in the knowledge that I had conquered toileting in Thailand.(I might add – the 40 deg. heat quickly took care of the drying)

Wonderful stuff water – a resource seldom lacking in S.E. Asia.

‘Not for me’ I hear you say? Well, it’s no different to how you clean yourself in the shower really, only easier, because those particular parts of your body are already in the ideal position for cleaning.

The level of comfort I experienced after my service station emergency had never been achieved previously with just dry toilet paper.

That day, I became a convert to washing.

Usanee's Story

Because I grew up in Thailand, I had never really considered cleaning myself any way other than by washing.

In 2004 Les and I were married, and after moving to Australia I was curious and did try cleaning the same as Australians (by only using dry tissue paper).

I found it was definitely not as comfortable, especially afterwards; I just did not feel completely clean.

If I have to ‘go’ when I’m out somewhere (that doesn’t have any facility for washing), I will clean with tissue, but as soon as I get back home, I wash.

Normally I only use the toilet paper for drying.

As a woman, I can personally recommend using hand-held-bidets, (or ‘sink sprays’ as we call them in Thailand). It’s the only way I can feel properly clean, especially during “that time of the month”.