Carrying around enough tissue paper in my handbag nowadays is a lesson I had to unfortunately learn the hard way. In South Africa our home has an eastern toilet as well as a western style high pan. I personally find the eastern style toilet messy and unhygienic and hence at home I simply grew accustomed to the high pan.I have been forced to use the low pan toilet in South Africa during the occasional camping trips which have led to some uncomfortable situations but all-in-all, my experience at public washrooms has been generally positive especially at filling stations like Ultra city. Sure, on road trips, you would find the yucky, smelly, dirty washrooms but none of that experience could prepare me for what I would find in the Kingdom.
Obviously, my experience is limited to using female washrooms here in the Kingdom but I am told by my colleagues that the male washrooms are quite similar in nature. As you can see, the Eastern style toilet can be used in a manner similar to the one presented on the YouTube video below (The video is hilarious but so true) There is a hole and a hose. Easy enough to figure out I suppose. When I viewed the video for the first time it kind of reminded me of all my disastrous toilet experiences during my trip to India. The toilets were just shocking. I have no words to describe the unhygienic and filthy state of Indian public toilets. There were times when I really required to use a toilet whilst out sight seeing and upon seeing the condition of the restrooms it caused my urge to disappear almost instantly. I recall an incident whilst out shopping in Mumbai city and my dad needed to use the restroom urgently. So what he decided to do was hop into a taxi and get dropped of at the nearest five star hotel in town so that he could use their bathroom..I will never ever forget my toilet experience in one of the villages in Gujurat, India. For a start the toilet was situated outside from the main house and was literally a hole in the ground. The toilet was made out of corrugated metal sheeting very similar to a shack house that we very often see in South Africa. The toilet had no lights and so during the day slight amount of light would come through from the holes in the sheeting. I remember using the toilet one morning after breakfast only to come out screaming after noticing a huge cat size rat that ran past me whilst in the squatting position. (lol--- I am laughing as I write this)
Usually in South Africa even after utilizing water to wash your buttocks, there is always toilet paper on hand to dry the water away. But here in the Kingdom, in most public toilets you will not find toilet paper. Going to the toilet is quite an experience and a half with most public toilets allowing you the choice to utilize either a western high pan or an eastern squat pan.
So this is the basic scenario with regards to the toilet issue in the Kingdom. You are out at a shopping mall with your best friends for a ladies night out. You are dressed in your most elegant flowing abaya for the occasion and in between the whole experience you suddenly have the urge to use the restroom. So you rush off to the nearest female toilets only to find that the entire floor area looks as though a tsunami has hit the place. There is black murky stagnant water, hair and dirt everywhere. There is also urine drops on the toilet seat. Now you begin to wonder what the hell was the person before you doing in the toilet? Why have they splashed water all over the place? For your information the toilet story in the Kingdom is a never ending story as scenarios like the one I described to you above happens every time, at every toilet and to everyone.
You would think that the Kingdom with all its oil wealth and with the Saudi Royal family traveling abroad almost every week on end would gather some insight from other countries into building adequate restrooms that are clean and hygienic for their citizens. The pilgrims traveling between Makkah and Medina by vehicle have a really difficult time as the garages or filling stations here in the Kingdom are a sight for sore eyes.
I remember traveling between Makkah and Medina two years ago and we stopped for the Asr prayers at a masjid on the way. That urge to use the toilet simply disappeared after viewing the disgusting state of the toilet. A strong urine smell emanated from the toilet and there was dirty stagnant water everywhere. The most shocking part of it all was that the toilet was right next to the masjid. There is a hadith that states "Attahooru Shatral Imaan"...Cleanliness is half of faith.... So with hygiene and cleanliness being a part of the Islamic religion I fail to understand why all the bathrooms and restrooms here in the Kingdom are so dirty.
The airport toilets are generally more user friendly as there is usually a cleaner who stays permanently in the restroom mopping and cleaning as you leave the toilet. However, the manner in which she cleans is just so primitive and outdated. Buckets of water is thrown onto the floor as though a flood hit the place and then she takes a mop and mops up all the water down a drain. With so many sophisticated cleaning machines available in the market you would expect a country that is rich to have better systems in place.Wearing a long abaya and entering into a toilet bombarded with stagnant water all over is definitely not a pleasant experience at all. Your clothes become impure which in turn makes it very difficult to perform your prayers.
If there is someone from Saudi reading this blog, please, please please can you tell me why are the Filling stations sooooooo run down and why are the washrooms in this country so dirty and unhygienic!!!!
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