Toilets of Mongolia

As I mentioned after my time in Dublin, I particularly notice toilets while I travel--for a couple reasons:

I think it’s interesting to look at often-overlooked aspects of daily routine in different cultures.
Everywhere has a different standard to which toilets are maintained, and in many places, their daily routines do not leave this as a priority.
Travel is often made to seem glamorous, and for me it’s important to highlight the not-so-glamorous parts.

For Mongolians in the countryside, maintaining a western style toilet would be impossible without around-the-clock maintenance and heating. Even in small cities, having functional plumbing year-around is challenging and only for those with motivation and the proper funds (you can read more about that in my last post). For elderly people there are sometimes seats added to the toilets, but often it’s just a pit in the ground. Sometimes even there is no hole, and they have a designated area of their property that they go to. That being said, in Ulaanbaatar (the capital) you find almost exclusively western style toilets or squatting toilets.

Mongolians do use toilet paper, although you cannot flush it because of delicate and old plumbing so you dispose of it in a trash bin. When it’s a pit toilet you either throw the paper in directly, or keep it separate and burn it later; this is based on family preference. Regardless of where you are, it's a good idea to carry your own toilet paper because it's often not provided.

Mongolians are remarkably capable of drinking water only in the form of tea at meals, and then seldom using the restroom throughout the day (in part because they do not want to take time away from their work). Agata (wife of the calligrapher) told me she thinks they are like camels.

I documented many of the toilets I saw, although some I’ve spared from this post because even the picture makes you want to gag.

Without further ado, the toilets: