[ontheroad]

From today's Standard:

"With the Beijing Olympics less than three months away, security in and around the capital has been tightened with lighters confiscated in checked- in baggage and doors of public toilets removed.
In addition, security has been air-tight in such areas as Tiananmen Square, and commuters in the spanking new underground rail system can expect to be randomly frisked by security officers by the end of June.

The removal of toilet doors, found particularly galling by visitors who were promised 200 tourist- friendly public toilets in time for the Games, is aimed at preventing terrorists from leaving or assembling bombs behind closed doors." [...]

The Standard - Hong Kong's First FREE English Newspaper

[Stoob]

Can we assume they will also deploy full time toilet guards to monitor cubicle activity?

[KnowItAll]

Well, atleast they're not going around bombing the world to make their backstreets safer.

[jimbo]

Oh lovely, Door free squatting toilets!

[Chikala]

I was in Beijing in summer of 2005 and my experience was that in many of the restaurants my wife and I would have wanted to dine in had holes on the floor for toilets. Of course many things are said to have changed in the intervening short period and the Olympics is really a big deal, a one-time opportunity to impress the world. Additionally, China is now awash in cash so hopefully something must have been done about those primitive setups.

[Boris]

Not a chance.

[mumto2]

doubt it although I'm surprised you found the hole-in-the-ground dunny's in hotels...I never saw them in hotels when I lived there...but everywhere else I saw them!! lol

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by Chikala

those primitive setups.

Primitive isn't really the right word - it is well proven that squat toilets are better for you than western style "thrones". Yes there are complications about keeping the place (and your clothes) clean, but from a personal health perspective they are clearly better (given adequate washing facilities).

[Chikala]

Re PDLM, yes, indeed we were told by a guide that squatting in toilets gives Chinese strength in the lower extremities. But to say that it is better than what we are familiar with in other places and that the complications are only "about keeping the place (and your clothes) clean" is, excuse me, a bit of an understatement. And when you go further to say that "from a personal health perspective they are clearly better (given adequate washing facilities)" frankly sends me to a spin. In the first place, the washing facilities I saw were not out of the ordinary and, secondly, a hole is a hole is a hole.

[Chikala]

Dear Mumto2, if you read my message well, it says "in many of the restaurants my wife and I would have wanted to dine in..." It didn't mention any hotel or hotels. Best regards.