Troy --- are you just a shameful shitter, or is there some cultural stigma against shitting in Singapore?

"10-minute constitution" hehehe What a funny dilemma. I guess my question is similar to that of Dave's -- is 20 minutes away from the desk a problem or the stigma of sitting on the potty for a long time or the stigma of sitting on the GOOD potty for a long time?

I've heard the laws in Singapore are rather restrictive, but with good intentions (the city is supposed to be very clean and orderly). What are the laws regarding peeing and pooping in public?

I guess I was lucky. In my 2-month stint in Singapore, the place I was working had two men's washrooms. The one in the manufacturing area had urinals and 3 squatters. The one upstairs in the engineering offices had Western toilets. I didn't find this out at first, so I would try to go at lunch, since most of the bathrooms in the shopping areas had both types of crappers. Since the greasy, spicy food of SE Asia started to work it's magic on me, I started sneaking into the upstairs bathroom, to use the Western style fixtures. I don't recall any more stigma about taking a shit than there is in the US. I say I was sneaking since I did not work for the company I was visiting and they probably expected me to use the porcelain hole in the floor shitters in the factory.

Singapore does have rather restrictive laws, generally seen to be for the good of the people. There is a S$500 fine for not flushing the toilet, for example.

I am not a shameful shitter per se, but there is a complete lack of understanding of the pleasures of a 20 minute stint on the toilet here in Asia. People think you are phyisically sick or unhealthy if you need that amount of time. It doesn't have to do with being away from my desk.

I guess the psychology is understandable if you grow up in a culture with only a squatter in your house, you wouldn't spend so much time pooping as it is not that enjoyable.

I am getting better at using the squatter and can go a good 12 minutes or so and even manage to read stories on my Palm Pilot that I downloaded from AvantGo all while squatting without too much discomfort.

By the way the picture you snagged is pretty accurate. Ours has the hose behind the toilet and uses a tank for flushing located high up on the wall with a pull chain for activation.

Of course squatters have the advantage of not having to sit on dried piss, only the risk of getting the bottom of your pantleg wet if there is (often the case) excess water around the rim on the floor.

The fine for not flushing is true so you rarely see an unflushed squatter with any, what I call, "Leaners" - use your imagination...(think horseshoes to understand the term)

Those Asian style toilets are actually much healthier than the Western style sit down toilets. Apparently man, as nature intended, was meant to squat when he took a poop. There are almost no cases of colon cancer in societies which squat.

@caz

That's not the reason at all. It's because there is no toilet paper in these crappers. Humans were not meant to use paper...

Yeah right!!!!! no paper?!?! Must be squating?!?! What squating while walking on all fours??? Give me a break dude where do people like you come up with this crap??? No pun intended.

JJ, he is telling the TRUTH!! where do you think the picture came from? YOU are the stupid one.

The squatters are supposed to be healthier. They supposedly straighten out the colon, and make pooping easier.
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I am winter's hurricane, I am the great blizzard of 1899, and no body shall be exempt from my wrath.

erm, it's true. squatting is really better than sitting.

I wonder if it really is healthier to squat....
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I will never shit somewhere that only has that horrible, scratchy brand of toilet paper. That stuff sucks!

Using a squatter would make me feel like a chimpanzee taking a crap at a zoo!