Monday, February 22, 2010

Collapsing Burmese Toilets

Toilets in small villages are generally small concrete slabs with a small hole over a nearly full pit with bamboo supports for a light weight roof.


One morning I finished squatting and as I began to stand and pull up my shorts, I found out the hard way that I was over the weight limit of the concrete slab: It collapsed.  Luckily, the pit was nearly full and I did not fall into a deep pit (bad visualization alert).  The concrete, which was conveniently not reinforced, broke into a bunch of pieces. Luckily, I kept my balance.



Unluckily, the roof rested on poles which rested on the concrete .  Soon the roof rested on me. Less lucky, the roof caught on my sweater.  Even more unlucky, my pants were still around my knees. Completing the bad luck tri-fecta, a group of children came running to see what happened. 

I quickly got my pants up, the roof off and, to prove what an idiot I have become, could not wait to tell Sandy and Camille that the toilet collapsed on me.

2 comments:

Wet Rooms said...

Well, this will be a funny memory. I bet you'll remember that village for a while :)

Diane said...

And I thought you had lost weight during your international treks?! Ha!