8 Comments on “Best Airport Toilets 2009”

1. timdog Says:
   October 6th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

   I read that piece myself, and when I was at Juanda on saturday I therefore paid very close attention to the state of the toilet. It was, I would say, not bad. The floor was a little wet, but there was soap and toilet paper, and it was all generally clean. Not really prize-winning material though, I wouldn’t say. Two hours later I landed in Singapore. A quick bathroom visit on the way to immigration there, and the memory of prize-winning Juanda’s prize-winning bowls lost some of its sparkle…

   Random aside – I flew into Surabaya a couple of years back the day the new airport opened, on what I guess was the first international flight in (the morning Silk Air run from Singapore)… I had flown out three days earlier from the rickety old airport on the other side of the runway. Everything was gloriously fresh and new, including the toilet, but they’d forgotten to build the access road and it took about three hours to get into the city…

   I would be fairly sure that Juanda only wins the vote because it is the newest airport; give it a couple of years and it’ll go down the pan…

   Currently I’m in a country that I noted on my last visit as having the WORST public toilets in the entire world. I haven’t actually seen a particularly bad one yet this time, but I’ve only been here a couple of days. I’m sure it’s coming…

2. Suryo Perkoso Says:
   October 7th, 2009 at 7:03 am

   The kazi in Juanda isn’t bad at all by Indo standards – and if you use the toilet right up the end of the concourse near the little prayer room, that is really quite good.

   The knack of course is to slip the girl who runs the lounge there 50K and slink in to the lounge, enjoy the toilets, and slurp beer, well worth the payment if you have time to kill.

   In fact I’d go as far as to say that it is worth while saving one up so that you can have a good squeeze in their kazi.

3. David Says:
   October 7th, 2009 at 2:03 pm

   Don’t think I’ve ever used the facilities at Juanda.

   there was soap and toilet paper

   Toilet paper though, after spending a month in the other country recently I developed a great loathing of toilet paper and western toilet habits in general, if toilet paper is the only thing that is used, just disgusting, Asians have it right there.

4. Pena Budaya Says:
   October 7th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

   Currently I’m in a country that I noted on my last visit as having the WORST public toilets in the entire world.

   well, India is still on my list as a country that having the worst public toilet..

5. timdog Says:
   October 8th, 2009 at 8:58 am

   Patung –

   if toilet paper is the only thing that is used, just disgusting

   I think you may be right. Here’s a very nice analogy to explain the matter: when you have finished your dinner, would you consider it clean and hygenic merely to wipe your dirty plate with a bit of kitchen tissue and then put it back in the cupboard? I think not…

6. timdog Says:
   October 8th, 2009 at 9:09 am

   Oh, and Pena Budaya, the country I’m talking about is China, which does have some spectacularly bad toilets… Generally they seem actually to be worse than India, though my worst individual toilet ever was indeed in India.
   It was in the garden of a museum somewhere, Ahmedabad I think. The whole place was somewhat deserted and there were crows and wild roses in the garden. The toilet was a proper sort of public toilet with urinals and cubicals, but the water had long been cut off. As I stepped inside I saw an expanse of floor scattered with large whorls of fossilised faeces. What was striking about it was that people clearly felt it necessary to go into the toilet building to relieve themselves, rather than just squatting down in the flower bed, but once inside they saw no reason to be specific – anywhere would do.
   But the best was when I gingerly nudged one of the cubical doors open with my foot. Inside was a “western” toilet. The lid was down. Coiled – on top of the lid – was a large, perfectlyformed turd.
   There was no toilet paper…

7. Brother Mouzone Says:
   October 9th, 2009 at 3:27 pm

   What was striking about it was that people clearly felt it necessary to go into the toilet building to relieve themselves, rather than just squatting down in the flower bed, but once inside they saw no reason to be specific – anywhere would do.

   As I recall from my brief time in India, people were rarely so picky. I lost count of the amount of times I saw someone curling one out at the side of the road. Maybe things have changed.

   The Garry Glitters in Makassar Airport are top-notch, surprised not to see them higher on the table. More evidence of a Java-Centric, anti-Sulawesi conspiracy as witnessed in the recent presidential elections….

8. David Says:
   October 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 pm

   Well thinking about those Indian stories – 30-persen-penduduk-indonesia-buang-air-besar-sembarangan

   Sebanyak 30 persen penduduk Indonesia saat ini masih melakukan kegiatan buang air besar sembarangan (BABS), baik langsung maupun tidak langsung, 18,1 persen di antaranya ada di wilayah perkotaan.

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