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Comment by pyreko | Hacker News Reader

> China

> toilets are... clean

Okay I'm going to have to say that this _really_ depends on where you are. Sometimes, yes, especially newer buildings, but man I have seen some horrors there in the past few years when it comes to bathrooms in terms of cleanliness and smell (the frequent smoking in a lot of bathrooms doesn't help). This is coming from someone primarily experiencing Canadian and American bathrooms, for reference, and a lot of those are pretty nasty. I think it's getting better at least...

Just to be clear though I agree generally, at least from my experience with East Asia. Hong Kong often has really good bathrooms now IMO (I feel like it improved a lot between 2018 to 2023?). Japan is also really good from my experience (fancy-ass bidets). Taiwan was fine too from my recollection.

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> _really_ depends on where you are

That kinda applies to anywhere in the world. On the average, I've seen much cleaner toilets in first-tier China cities than first-tier US cities.

And much more accessible as well. Free public toilets literally everywhere. All over the city, in every shopping center, in every coffee shop. And you don't need to buy a coffee and trash it to use them.

Small nitpicky correction, but in China, city tiers are designated by policy and generally correlate to the quality of life for the middle class there. The US doesn't have a tier system. If it did, it wouldn't make much sense because the quality of life in American suburbs and exurbs is generally better than the most developed cities (unless you're rich, of course).

Free, clean toilets are everywhere in America, just not in the dense city centers (walkable, transit-oriented, mid-rise or higher) that people tend to visit on vacation. I'd estimate only 10-15% of Americans live in these city centers, whereas in China it's probably closer to 50%. With the raw numbers, this difference shouldn't be underestimated.

> not in the dense city centers

aka exactly the place people need them regardless of which country

In the boonies it's much more acceptable to go in the bush in either country as well

As much as a dislike the suburbs, they aren't "the boonies" and it won't be acceptable at all to go in the bush there.

Unfun fact: in Bogotá, it seems to be quite acceptable to piss in the bush everywhere, even in the centro histórico.

> in China, city tiers are designated by policy and generally correlate to the quality of life for the middle class there

What are you basing this on? China does not have a "tier" system for its cities, and certainly not one based on "the quality of life for the middle class there".

> I've seen much cleaner toilets in first-tier China cities than first-tier US cities.

That definitely tracks. LA has a massive unhoused person issue, many of whom with severe mental disorders. You feel a lot that in the commons, especially as you get near DTLA. New York is shabby and dirty in general. More so than a big city usually is. And it's not really a charming shabbiness from an extreme subtropical climate as you get in Taiwan.

The relationship China has with its tier 1 cities is more similar to other Asian countries, like Japan and Korea, than it is to the US.

Chinese first tier cities aren't accessible, you can't even live there as a country bumpkin.

There are multiple forms of "accessible". For someone impaired and unable to drive, the Chinese cities win hands-down because transportation is a non-issue.

The hukou reforms in May were a good first step, but for now, you're right.

The worst toilet I ever saw was in China, but at 5000 meters in Sichuan, it was two slippery two by fours that you had to straddle on over a big open pit (don't slip or lose balance!).

That was such an awesome trip circa 2005.

> 5000 meters in Sichuan

Pretty sure you were in Tibetan areas at those altitudes, a large part of Sichuan is actually Tibetan.

Yep, somewhere between Chengdu and Siguniang (4 sisters) if I remember correctly (it could have been on a later leg on to daocheng, but I think it was really early in our trip). You get into Tibetan areas very quickly if you go west from Chengdu, if you are looking for some interesting touring in China, you could do a lot worse than that area. Today the roads are much better and you avoid really high pass driving with lots of tunnels.

Well the worst one I ever saw was in New York City, of all places.

My favorite was a place in Chinatown with a curtain for privacy. Outside a couple of guys where killing a seemingly limitless collection of lives chickens.

All of the public bathrooms I’ve been to in NYC were decent, the worst I saw was in Florida. Barely hanging together.

This one was incredibly nasty, and smelly (mostly from piss, I should say). In Brooklyn, if I remember correctly, with the Manhattan skyline in view. It was a public restroom, and I was part of walking tour group.

Yeah, that sounds about like the one I ran into in Florida. It was on a day walk on the way to St. Petersburg, and the heat just made it all worse. 0/10, not enough water, terrible place. Let alone the pills on the ground.

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