On one of my trips to Jakarta from Seoul on a Garuda flight, I sat next to Mr Kim (ain’t they all? Just kidding ^^). This gentleman has been living in Indonesia for a long time. So he is very familiar with Indonesia’s culture and traditions. One of the bits of our of conversation:

Mr Kim: Toilets in Korea are very inconvenient..

Me: Why? They are quite clean.

Mr Kim: There’s no water available. I am forced to only use toilet paper.

Me: *Laughing hard*

In Indonesia, after having a bowel movement we are using water and soap to you know, clean “the thing”… In Korea (following the western tradition) the only thing available is toilet paper. Interestingly, he has been accustomed to the tradition of Indonesia of using water and soap, going back to using toilet paper is unbearable. “It is cleaner to use water and soap.” according to him. As for me, I definitely agree with him. Even after these years, I still prefer to do the number 2 in my home where water and soap are available.

This is one of the cases of “Not all things from west are better..”.