I did a motorcycle tour of Yunan in the early 90s. It was specially organised and we were the first Western people to enter some areas in living memory. We had a ranking police officer with us the whole trip and we were pretty convinced that the support truck driver was a government secret agent too. The police officer was to get us out of trouble in case of need and the agent was to make sure we did not get into trouble. He actually stopped us photographing a bridge at one point even though if anyone wanted it they could get all the satellite photos they wanted.

One could see that they were making great advances, particularly in the cities but in the country the public toilets were really something else again. We got behind schedule because of snow and had to stop in a government hotel one night. There was an outside communal toilet and if I hadn't already had a stomach upset I would have had one after seeing it. Basically the whole place needed hosing out with a fire hose and then the drains cleared.

I have been to Japan many times and the contrast, with an almost fanatical cleanliness, is just amazing. Imagine a completely public toilet in a public car park that is free, spotlessly clean, toilets that incorporate a "tail" washing system, a choice of hand cleaners, and even vases of flowers, what is more nothing broken or vandalised and no writing on the walls.

Alis is of the opinion that you can judge the level of civilisation of a country by its public toilets, and I can't fault her on that.

Peter

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