If you are a Southeast Asian and have decided to travel to your favourite East Asian country for a vacation, you are going to be disappointed that the most important part you consider “essential” in a toilet/public toilet is unavailable in many East Asian toilets. What am I referring to? The toilet hoses, of course!
If you are a Westerner or a European, you might consider this as normal and would not fuss over not having toilet hoses, but for many Southeast Asians, this is a different story.
Imagine upon arriving at your destination, you start looking for a toilet because your bladder has been killing you the whole time during the flight. You immediately rush to a nearby toilet, enter the cubicle and start getting down to business. Then, you look to your side and reach out to grab a toilet hose but this time, there is nothing! What? You start looking around in a frenzy and realise: There is no toilet hose! Your mind activates into panic mode because you are helpless without a toilet hose.
By now, you probably think you are in a wrong country because come on, this is East Asia. A first-world country with high wages, good living quality and health standards, state-of-the-art technology, etc. There is no way that their toilets can't be equipped with something as simple as toilet hoses, right? Apparently, there is a reason why East Asia's toilets do not come with hoses. But first, let us understand why Southeast Asia public toilets/toilets are different from the rest of the world.
What Is With The Toilet Hoses In Southeast Asia?
Southeast Asia's climate is usually humid. Unlike countries where there are four seasons, one need not worry about freezing cold water rushing through the hose and giving you a shock when you are washing your areas. That is the reason why many people over there use toilet paper and bidets to keep their intimate areas clean.
But looking from a Southeast Asian point of view, using toilet paper to clean up after you are finished with your business does not seem hygienic, especially when you poo.
And this is where toilet hoses come in. The hoses beside the toilets are used to clean yourself after using the toilet. All you have to do is gently aim the hose at the area that needs cleaning and then wipe and dry. I can never imagine cleaning up myself with tissue paper, go figure on that!
East Asia Has Four Seasons
This is pretty obvious to everyone by now that countries with four seasons do not have toilet hoses in their public toilets/toilets. It is because the all-year-round cold weather in Spring, Autumn and Winter is going to make the water so chilly that when it travels through the hose (assuming there is one), it would be very jarring to use cold water to clean one's private area. Hence, toilet hoses are deemed unnecessary for this issue.
I once asked my Korean friend why are the toilets not equipped with toilet hoses and he told me that he never thought much about it, but rather it was normal for many toilets to not come with toilet hoses and many Koreans use wet wipes or toilet paper. If the toilet has a bidet, they would use that. He also said that when he travelled to Southeast Asia, he was shocked to see toilet hoses and was not used to seeing them! Talk about cultural differences!
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