Of Philippine Signs and Toilets

I got a bit of downtime right now. I’ve been busy juggling a couple of projects. I’m posting here some snapshots of signs I took from our Philippine trip last month.

I saw these on the roof of the Olongapo Public Market:

This sign says “No one lazy allowed in Olongapo.”

If the above sign was somehow followed by the one below, it would be totally confusing because of the conflicting messages they’d convey.

(This says “No urinating allowed”)

  
In Baguio City, “clean restrooms” are offered in many places provided that one pays to use them. This particular one is at the Baguio Botanical Garden (formerly Imelda Park). Actual persons man this “comfort room” to collect money from desperate people like me (um… they’re the ones who clean the restrooms too, by the way). Ten pesos got me a couple of sheets of toilet paper (I even got a receipt for the transaction!).

Well, at least toilet paper was available at this joint. One rule to follow when traveling to the Philippines is to always bring your own toilet wipes (and with our toddler’s needs, we never really run out of those) because toilets in many public establishments simply don’t provide them. I stumbled upon this blog recently and I discover that toilet paper deficiency is not a unique Philippine phenomenon. France has the same problem.

Come to think of it, pay-to-use toilets have been around for awhile. This here is one of several self-cleaning toilets that were installed in San Francisco a decade ago. And guess who made them… yup, the French.

Update: Speaking of the French and toilets, I’ve had enormous hits from France (and the whole of Europe and Latin America for that matter) to the second to the last image of this post. The image has been hotlinked in several French forums (although I have measures in place to prevent it from being seen on outside pages directly). I have no idea what the fascination for the image is. It must have something to do with Tour de France and the lack of bathrooms along the way.