Forget Tibet, we need Toilets at the Olympics!!!

Lil Me · Mar 19 08 10:14

[span id="article"][span id="intelliTXT"] [font color="#000000" face="Verdana,Sans-serif" size="2"]Another Olympic Problem _ Squat Toilets[/font][font size="1"]
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[/font][font size="1"][span class="L8"][span class="oldL8"]Mar 19, 7:04 AM (ET)

[/span][/span][/font]By STEPHEN WADE[/font][/span] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"][span id="article"][div class="KonaBody"][span id="intelliTXT"] BEIJING (AP) - Among all the protests, pollution concerns and talk of boycotts surrounding the Beijing Olympics, a more basic problem has arisen for organizers: the toilets.[/p] At the more than 30 test events held by organizers, the presence of squat toilets at many of the new and renovated venues has drawn frequent complaints.[/p] "We have asked the venues to improve on this, to increase the number to sit-down toilets," Yao Hui, deputy director of venue management for the Beijing organizers, said Wednesday. "Many people have raised the question of toilets."[/p] The issue came up again over the weekend when the San Diego Padres played the Los Angeles Dodgers at the new Olympic baseball venue. The portable toilets trucked in were of the style used widely in Asia, but rarely in the West.[/p] Yao suggested it would be difficult to change every permanent toilet in the 37 venues, 31 of which are in Beijing. So he said the focus would be on satisfying three groups of visitors: athletes, journalists and the Olympic family, meaning primarily VIPs.[/p] He said renovation was underway at the three most striking venues for the Olympics, the 91,000-seat "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, the "Water Cube" and the National Indoor Stadium. He said most of the toilets there "should be" the sit-down style.[/p] Beijing is expecting about 500,000 foreigners to attend the Aug. 8-24 games.
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Van · Mar 20 08 06:28

Kind of like Woodstock 99!!!

michaelday77 · Mar 20 08 07:10

yuck!

P.C. · Mar 20 08 07:49

Well, I think.....When in Rome, pee as the Romans do.

49er · Mar 20 08 09:29

P.C. wrote:
Well, I think.....When in Rome, pee as the Romans do. [/DIV]
Peeing is not a problem, but squating to do a #2 without soiling my pants is.

Surprise this toilet problem came up so late, didn't they have the same issue at the last Olympics?

P.C. · Mar 20 08 10:00

Peeing is not a problem, but squating to do a #2 without soiling my pants is.

[img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); height=108 src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/a093.gif" width=113 border=0]

I'd hold it.

I'd recommend a diet of nothing but cheese.

Michel · Mar 20 08 11:11

Gopher · Mar 20 08 12:08

No problem. They could introduce a free-for-all bog-snorkelling event.

Michel · Mar 20 08 12:13

Russ · Mar 24 08 11:41

[SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic"]Well, I think.....When in Rome, pee as the Romans do.[/SPAN][img style="FONT-STYLE: italic" src="richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif" border=0][SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic"] [/SPAN]
Michel wrote:
Lol in French we say when In China do like the Chinese do.

Lets not. Ive seen parents hold their young children over plants and along the bottoms of trees, along the main streets while they do their dirty work.

I hated this lack of toilet when I was in China. I got used to it and never had an issue like what Van talked about.. but it was close a few times. At least in the hotel I was living at had western thrones.

Lil Me · Mar 27 08 06:00

I was discussing this with my sister over the weekend. She reminded me of a short story by Rohinton Mistry about an immigrant to Canada to returns to India after 10yrs because he cannot have a bowel movement on a western toilet. He is successful in every other aspect of his life, but the bathroom issue consumes him.
The story is called Squatter, and it's in this book:
[a href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Firozsha_Baag"]vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Firozsha_Baag[/a]

Lise · Mar 28 08 05:44

I can believe that. Maybe the organizers should just dig a ditch.

I asked my friend if she would return to Beijing in time for the Olympics and her answer was simple. "HELL NO". She said the city was already crowded, the toilets were disasters and it would just be a complete nightmare if you add more ppl coming from outside to watch the event.