This will be an odd article for most but I am going to write it anyways.  The Korean public restroom. The public restroom can be a fascinating perspective into a culture.  You can get a glimpse into the standards of cleanliness and the social standards of openness. Even western influence shows up in the bathrooms. 

As is inevitable with any country there are always things that give you the "OH! That's how they do that. o.k. I can go with the flow."

For all you hover girls out there.  The bathrooms are one of these times.  So you have a fear of touching the toilet seat.  Have no fear for there are two kinds of toilets here.  The normal western style toilet that you would see in any American home or business and then there is the Asian toilet.  The Asian toilet is perfect for the women who never wants to touch the seat.  Why you ask?  Because there is no seat.  This toilet is basically the equivalent of a miniature urinal on it's side.  You stand over it and squat.  That's right girls,  work on those leg muscles and be sure to practice your aim so as not to hit a pant leg.   The first time I encountered one of these toilets I thought " I don't have to go that bad.  I can wait." The next time was a "Gotta go. So I am just going to have to bite the bullet."  Another odd thing about these toilets is that the toilet paper is disposed of in a trash  basket  next to the toilet and not in the toilet.  The plus side is that you never have to worry about someone peeing on the seat. 

I have discovered too that if you look in all the stalls there maybe one western toilet. or if a building has multiple bathrooms.  One may have western toilets and the other pit toilets.

So your a cover girl.  A girl who is willing to sit but only on a toilet seat that has been covered with tissue. Have no fear, they have toilets here for you too.  There are some places with the standard sanitary seat cover over the toilets but then there are the deluxe models.  These models have the plastic toilet seat cover that literally changes itself after every user. 

Then we get into the super deluxe model toilet.  Not in to generic toilet paper well you can always push the button on the deluxe seat cover and have your bottom rinsed and dried while sitting on the toilet.

Toilet paper is an increasingly aware issue here.  The mighty question is it in the stall or out of the stall.  Always be sure to check before steeping in.  Often a roll of toilet paper will be mounted outside of the stall so that everyone can use the same roll.   I have taken to the practice of carrying tissue in my purse just in case I get in a dire need situation.

Here toilet paper is for more than just your bottom and the occasional nose blowing.  It is frequently handed to you as a paper towel in the bathroom.  My favorite though is the roll of toilet paper on the dining room table in either a home or at the restaurant.  Nothing like a nice sit down restaurant with roll a toilet paper on the table.  It's high class all the way. 

If it's really a nice restaurant, then  you get a wet face cloth as  your napkin.

Anyways back to bathrooms, one of the nice things they do is that they put a child size toilet or urinal or both and sink in the ladies room so that your child in tow has somewhere to go that does not require him entering the men's room by himself.  However,  it is usually located just inside the door with no surrounding wall. Just out there in the open for all to see.  Nothing like having to give your little girl a sex ed class at an early age if a little boy is in the room. Who needs to play doctor at home these days? Just head off to the public restroom.

I have yet to see a Korean bathroom with a couch in it like in the US but I haven't been to the bar either.  My guess is that space is tight in these places so there is no time for ideal chit chat in the bathroom.  I rarely here women talking to each other in the bathroom.  Probably because they are trying not loose balance or hit a shoe in over a pit toilet but who knows. 

The bathroom stalls have full height doors so you can't peak for feet to see if a stall is occupied but have no fear, they have even thought of a solution for this.  Once a stall is occupied and locked you either get a lighted sign at eye level on the door that says occupied or you might get a little red strip by the door handle.  The strip will be green if it's empty. 

Men's rooms -

Chris has said that the other strange thing is the attitude of the opposite sex when the restrooms are being cleaned. In the US, a bathroom would be closed if it was being cleaned by the opposite sex or the cleaning person would step out of the bathroom if someone needed to use the bathroom.  Not here.  If a women is cleaning the men's room no one blinks.  They just go in and do what they need to do and leave.  I guess they figure that these older women have seen it all in their lifetime so what's the point.   OR they just got so used to it as children in the girls room that it's nothing to blink an eye over.

Other Bathroom Phenomena -

There are few other phenomenon which I find amusing. One is the bathroom that is not located in the restaurant.  We have encountered at least three separate sit down restaurants where when we asked where the bathroom was located we were given direction out of the building and around a corner. Maybe this is the bad date clause.  If you think your dates going bad you just leave to go to the bathroom and literally leave. And when they call and asked what happened. You just say "I got lost on my way to the bathroom." which could be true.

There is also the elaborately decorated restroom.  I have not personally encountered this but Chris indicated that the rest stops along the freeway have had these elaborate fish ponds and plant displays with live fish and turtles in them.  I think there may have even been a little waterfall.  Maybe to help with performance anxiety because the cleaning lady is next to you. 

Thus concludes  my cultural tour for the day.  Next stop road signs and  cartoon mascots.