One of the great things about travel is that it opens your mind to new horizons, as the cliche goes. Yet one of the things I value most about travel is the appreciation it fosters for home. What I mean is, different cultural experiences often highlight unique aspects of your own culture that the everyday humdrum of life has made you take for granted. After my return to Taiwan from Czech, a have found myself with a whole new appreciation for public washrooms.
As those of you who have travelled to Europe know well, public washrooms are not free but require a fee of anywhere from $10 NT to $50 NT depending on where you are. The fee is paid to an attendant that services the washroom and keeps it clean and restocked. The other choice is to use an automatic pay toilet. With this toilet, money must be inserted before the door will unlock and allow you entry. The result is very clean and safe public washrooms, but at a price. I assume this service must also save taxpayers a lot of money, as the fees paid subsidize the maintenance costs substantially. While for some this is an excellent example of a "pay as you go" plan, for those of us not used to it, it can be highly irritating seeking a washroom only to discover we don't have the right change. The homeless no doubt do not get to use these facilities because of the cost, and I wonder if we are not robbing them of some basic dignity by requiring payment for such a basic human need.
Now, as I pass through Taipei's wonderful MRT stations, I look upon the clean, safe and FREE public washrooms and am reminded how lucky we are to have them.
- Paul
