I Poo Where?! A Guide to Indian Squatty Potties

Squatty Potties as the primary type of bathroom while backpacking through India?! What am I going to do?

Hover over any image to see how much using these “gems” cost.

120 Rupees ($2.55 at the time) a night provided this shared bathroom at the Mowgli Inn in Hampi

Squatty Potties. I had no idea what to prepare myself for! Like, to the point where before leaving on my nine month backpacking adventure I contemplated buying some kind of collapsible toilet seat cover thing with legs to bring place over the Indian Toilets.

What I did wind up bringing with me was a pack of those tissue paper toilet bowl seat covers to place over. In retrospect…WHAT was I thinking?! Like, was I planning on gently placing them on the squatty potty rim and having a seat? It’s hilarious to me now!

120 Rupees ($2.55 at the time) a night provided this shared bathroom at the Mowgli Inn in Hampi

I Can Poo and Shower at the Same Time?!

Seriously, in many of the places my wife Carrie and I stayed, the shower head (and by that I mean an open pipe pumping out freezing water) was directly over or right next to the squatty potty hole. I guess that’s what happens when you pay less than $5 for a night’s accommodations in India.

One of our pricier hotel rooms, we paid 350 Rupees ($7.45 at the time) for a bed next to this mosquito-infested private bathroom

My Thoughts After a Month of Using Indian Squatty Potties

I recently stumbled upon the below never-before published text from my Travel Journal on India, written around a month after arriving.

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A bathroom in a pretty decent hotel in Port Blair, one of the Andaman Islands

“As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Indian toilet is a squatty potty: essentially a hole in the ground, usually with some sort of plumbing if not a way to flush. You simply squat over it and do your business…no spending lots of quality reading time in there as is so popular back home. Toilet paper is also hard to come by and we never leave home without at least a handful in our pocket or bag.

As was the case in Central America, even though these toilets have plumbing they usually can not handle TP going down them. As such, most bathrooms have a bucket next to the hole filled with used TP. When there is no bucket you have no choice but to use a bag. This is true in public toilets and in our hotels…even the ones that actually have Western style toilets (a nice luxury).

All Indian toilets have a faucet or bucket of water on the floor next to the hole. The idea is to wet your left hand and wipe your bum, cleaning it off as you go. A direct result of this is that you don’t do much else with your left hand as it is rightfully considered unclean. If we were to offer a left hand for a handshake it’s considered an insult. However, we have yet to jump 100% into Indian culture and try it out…in case you were wondering :P”

A pay toilet that cost 5 Rupees (10 cents at the time) to use at the Red Fort in New Delhi: a popular tourist destination

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Want to read more about going to the bathroom in India?
Check out Going Potty at Sadhana Forest: An Organic Farm and Hippie Commune
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