I had very limited access while in Madurai and was unable to blog but I had a fantastic time! Our host family was so warm, welcoming and wonderful and Aravind Eye Hospital was absolutely inspirational! However, I would be remiss if I did not write about the bathroom situation.
I should have taken pictures but now I am in Madurai and it is too late so you will just have to use your imagination. After finally adjusting to the whole “muslim shower” concept I had to get used to a whole new bathroom paradigm. I will call this the “All-In-One” bathroom. Actually, the bathroom at our current hotel is pretty much the same so I will take pictures of that and you will get the idea.
The reason why I call it “all in one” is because it was a room with both a toilet and a showerhead. This means that if someone was in the shower I could not use the toilet. This also meant that if I needed to use the toilet after someone had taken a shower both the toilet seat and the floor would be wet. Instead of a hose near the toilet seat there was a bucket with a faucet nearby, and of course…no toilet paper. Fortunately I had taken a roll from our previous hotel. I ended up having to go into about five stores before I finally found one that sold toilet paper. Even then they had to look for it somewhere in the back of their storeroom!
There were a few other “special” things about our bathroom. While you could get hot water to come out of the faucet, only cold water came out of the showerhead. This means that I could choose between taking a cold shower or a warm basin bath or some combination of the two. Actually bathing was not so bad. One thing that did gross me out was realizing that the sink that was outside of the “All-in-one” bathroom drained into the “All-in-one” bathroom. This meant that if one of my roommates was brushing her teeth while I was in the shower, her spit and toothpaste water drained into my shower. Ewwww!
I should have taken pictures but now I am in Madurai and it is too late so you will just have to use your imagination. After finally adjusting to the whole “muslim shower” concept I had to get used to a whole new bathroom paradigm. I will call this the “All-In-One” bathroom. Actually, the bathroom at our current hotel is pretty much the same so I will take pictures of that and you will get the idea.
The reason why I call it “all in one” is because it was a room with both a toilet and a showerhead. This means that if someone was in the shower I could not use the toilet. This also meant that if I needed to use the toilet after someone had taken a shower both the toilet seat and the floor would be wet. Instead of a hose near the toilet seat there was a bucket with a faucet nearby, and of course…no toilet paper. Fortunately I had taken a roll from our previous hotel. I ended up having to go into about five stores before I finally found one that sold toilet paper. Even then they had to look for it somewhere in the back of their storeroom!
There were a few other “special” things about our bathroom. While you could get hot water to come out of the faucet, only cold water came out of the showerhead. This means that I could choose between taking a cold shower or a warm basin bath or some combination of the two. Actually bathing was not so bad. One thing that did gross me out was realizing that the sink that was outside of the “All-in-one” bathroom drained into the “All-in-one” bathroom. This meant that if one of my roommates was brushing her teeth while I was in the shower, her spit and toothpaste water drained into my shower. Ewwww!
1 comment:
The things that are the focus of your journey boggle the mind.
That and picture of you on the internet holding a roll of toliet paper.
That's interesting reading.
Post a Comment