Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Afghan Boonies Toilet & Public Urination


Afghan Boonies Toilet & Public Urination
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

While visiting the different lakes in the Band-i Amir lake area I noticed a small structure built into the side of a cliff and asked one of my Afghan colleges what it was, the answer (matter-a-factly) was “it’s a toilet” (I am sure there was a mental “duh” in there somewhere). One of the things that first struck me in Moldova was public urination, I have since seen it in many other countries but 99% of the time was men. I would not have expected to see such things in a culture as uber conservative as Afghanistan but I do, all over the place. Yesterday I was going to a meeting and this driver prefers to go through the public market (I question the time efficiency of taking the market route but markets are always interesting to observe so I never say anything) and there was a wall along the way, not even a block apart were two Afghan men standing, right there back against the public peeing on the wall, amazing. One last note that does seem to be different from other countries, many guys squat to pee, I haven’t quite figured this one out, they pretty much do the same standing-n-peeing thing but while they are squatting, perhaps they think they are being more discreet, I just don’t know.