The cheap toilet paper. Note flecks of Chinese characters, evidence of recycled newspaper (click for larger version).
We learned quickly, we American teachers, never to leave our apartments without first pocketing a wad of toilet paper. It wasn’t provided in public restrooms.
How much one carried was a personal calculation based on how long one planned to be out, how frequently one had to (ahem) go, and how clean one liked to be.
One side benefit of carrying your own toilet paper: you were never disappointed by the quality of a restroom’s offering. If you liked cushioned multi-ply, you could be pleased to use it everywhere.
I opted for the cheap stuff. We Americans have discovered only in recent years that ridges make for a cleaner wipe, but the Chinese have known that for decades. The cheapest I could buy was made from recycled paper products, colors and scraps (some large enough to read) flecking the cardboard-brown paper. It was stiff, ridged as crepe paper – and if that sounds undelectable, it’s only because you’ve never used it. One wipe and you were clean.
Softer, more expensive brands were on the market, of course, but why mess with perfection?
March 4, 2008 at 9:42 am
An American friend of mine in Croatia once wrote letters home to her friends on the cheap almost paper-like toilet paper found in the dorms. She tried to get them to guess what she was writing on.
March 4, 2008 at 10:58 am
Ha! I remember you mailed squares of TP to your friends to show them the specks of newsprint!
March 8, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Funny! Yes, the Chinese cheap stuff was definitely stiff enough for a ballpoint pen.
Ha — I forgot I did that. After all these years I haven’t lost my appreciation for bathroom humor. And still telling the same jokes, too. Yeesh.