Thursday, April 13, 2006

Traditional Indonesian bathroom

Bathroom in Bahasa Indonesia is called 'Kamar Mandi'. It can be indoors, in an outside shed like an outhouse, or open-air. It has only two essential components: a concrete or a ceramic-tiled rectangular water basin and a ceramic squat toilet. And, as accessory of course, the all-important plastic-cup-with-handle. it is a simple, elegant system.

You squat, shit. When done, instead of pressing down on the flush handle, you wash yourself with a cupful of water, then create your own flush (repeat as necessary).

To bathe, just dump some water on yourself with the cup, lather up, then rinse off. There is a drain on the floor so the entire area is used for bathing.

For maintenance one, just scrubs down the floor, the toilet and the basin, then refills the basin.

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