Yangshuo: In Search of a Western Toilet

I totally forgot to write about our adventure trying to find a sit-down toilet for Britton. So, here goes.

After hiking Moon Hill, we had about 1 1/2 hours before our driver was picking us up to take us to the balloon ride. We were just hanging out, having a snack, and trying to occupy ourselves. Britton and Haley both had to go to the bathroom. We went over to the public restrooms and both of them refused to go. The public restrooms here are always squatters. If you don't know what a squatter is, it's basically just a hole in the ground. You squat over it and do your business. They do flush, so that's good, but they are always wet all over the ground and wreak of urine because people are bad aims. I really don't blame my kids for not wanting to use them. I don't even want to use them. They are getting better about, but these ones were particularly stinky. Haley will only use them if I hold her over them basically making a toilet seat with my arms. Britton will use them for #1 but not #2.
Anyway, they both really needed to go, but refused to go in them or out in the wild. They both wanted to try to hold it, but we knew we were going to the balloon ride, then the Light Show and we wouldn't be home for at least 7 or 8 hours. So, we started asking around to see where the closest sit down toilet was. We had time to kill anyway. It was hilarious trying to communicate with people. Everyone gathered around us, wanting to be the one to help us. We kept asking for a toilet and then they would just point to the public restroom. Then we tried to say "Western toilet" or "sit down toilet". Then we tried acting it out. But, it still just looked like squatting. So, they just kept trying to point to the restroom. Finally we started asking for the nearest hotel because we knew that the hotels all have rooms with sit down toilets. So, then everyone thought we needed a hotel room for the night. They started quoting prices and trying to give us a better deal than the person before on a room that we didn't even need. Some of them even said we could stay at there house for the night. They all wanted us to go with them to see their accomodations. It was both frustrating and amusing. They all spoke just enough English to totally misinterpret what we were needing. I think a lot of the confusion was just because they can't even fathom someone not wanting to use a squatter. They prefer them. In fact, when there are sit down toilets in a public place, they still climb up on the seat and squat down to use them. Anyway, after about a half an hour, there was a man that finally understood what we were asking for. He found us a truck that would drive us to a nearby hotel and then he went with us. All the other people were mad because they really thought he was stealing us away from possibly booking a hotel or something with them. Luckily, he did go with us to the hotel because he had to negotiate with the hotel owner and convince him to open up a room and let us use a bathroom. The man really didn't want to let us. We had to pay him 40 Rmb (about $6) just to use the bathroom for less than 5 minutes. He probably only charges 100 rmb a night for his hotel, but whatever, we were desperate. After all this trouble, of course, Haley said she didn't have to go anymore and refused to even go in. Aaaargh, kids! Britton did go though and then we rode back just to wait a few more minutes for our driver. After paying the taxi and the guy that helped us, we probably paid about $15 just for Britton to go to the bathroom. What an adventure!