Sochi Olympics Hotel Nightmare
 

Next time we check into a hotel room, we should consider ourselves fortunate not to have some of the issues mentioned in the article.

Wealth of Issues Face 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Athletes, Fans and Journalists

Well I know plenty of people in the US that would throw used toilet paper in a trash can believing that it will clog the toilet. I personally always flush it down and never had any issues, even in less developed countries. I could see why some places may have taped up the don't flush your toilet paper sign, but you have the option to ignore it.
As for the simplicity of the Olympic Village rooms, they are temporary housing used for couple of weeks, not luxury hotels. Whether London 2012 or Beijing 2008, they are all very basic.

It's the same in Mexico. Waste baskets full of poopypaper. Classy.

The bad rooms in Sochi are beginning to get a lot of news play. Here's an instragram picture of a Sochi toilet:

http://instagram.com/p/kCYkf_IPrA/

And two toilets:

http://instagram.com/p/kA4bDhvK3S/

Water in hotel room:

http://instagram.com/p/kCXzOuHGYX/

That seems incredibly inconsiderate...

Obviously plumbing in the US should be fine pretty much anywhere, but in less developed countries that isn't always the case. While it is unlikely to cause any immediate problems to you personally, they have those rules for a very good reason...

Ahh memories of the ladies room in the baggage area at Cusco airport where all the toilets had been clogged by just arrived westerners who tried to flush stuff instead of throwing it away <insert absolutely disgusting icon here>. I've learned to follow the locals.

Ugh. I've encountered that in a hotel in Suwon, South Korea. Perhaps they could install Toto washlets with dryers and go paper-free.

I probably should take a step back and scratch the part about less developed country. I was actually referring to China which isn't really a developing country anymore, and haven't been to any developing country so I don't know what type of plumbing they have. A lot of the people in China use waste basket for toilet paper. However, the toilet and plumbing (except for those squatting toilets which is basically a hole in the floor) are not much different than what we have in the US and can more than handle toilet papers. This may be different 10 or 15 years ago and that's why many people are just used to waste basket. I don't know. All I know is that based on my observation, waste basket isn't just found in Sochi but used around the world including the US despite the toilets being able to handle toilet papers.

Much of the plumbing and septic/sewer systems can't handle large quantities of toilet paper, in some countries.

In Indonesia, where I spend of a lot of time, these days, it was quite strange at first to use their in toilet water sprayers. I've now gotten so used to it, that I installed one in my house in the US.

Certainly more environmentally friendly.

Yeah - though I did think signage of the issue was a bit lacking around Peru (I can't remember the airport though). It is truly an alien concept to many Westerners so if a place receives many of them as tourists then they really should make more of an effort to communicate the issue!

In some areas of China you can, but in others you do still need to put toilet paper in a bin. Your post implied you always flush regardless of whether the system could take it (especially when you mention ignoring signs!), but from this I guess you mean you've always flushed it where you thought it was "allowed"?

And it's not just "developing" countries that have poor plumbing systems. I've been to places in Spain and Greece (principally the islands though), and the odd place here and there elsewhere on the continent where you shouldn't flush it either.

Sochi Olympics Hotel Nightmare
 

Plumbing in mountainous regions is a little difficult. I remember skiing at Brighton Utah in the early 80's...... pit toilets only. Took many a year too get indoor plumbing squared away there.

Mountain areas are not the issue it all depends on the engineering. Nothing more. Many systems are really old and poorly designed. Many countries just do have the monies to upgrade to modern standards. Brighton did not upgrade cause they did not have the money and in the summer they got pumped out. Now they are on a real sewer system.

Like most host cities, the Russian have blown it, billions spent and this is what they present to the world. Having lived in a host city the Olympics are really BS anymore - it is not about the athletics - half of venues are not even sports. It is all about being in the club.

Same sign in Brazil. I think it is common in many countries.

I saw the reverse in a ladies room at a winery/restaurant near a tourist town north of Sydney; the sanitary-disposal bin in every stall was full to overflowing with used toilet paper.

One sensed a certain despair on the part of the proprietors. Every stall had multiple signs - over the toilet, over the toilet paper roll, over the sanitary bin, on the front of the bin, on the inside of the stall door - with emphatic underlines and red print and exclamation marks - each in English, Chinese, Korean and (maybe one more) begging them to flush the paper and NOT put it in the sanitary bin.

There was no regular rubbish bin as they had electric hand dryers. I shudder to think what the mens room - with no sanitary bins - looked like. :eek:

Just the one place, in just that one town - no where else. :confused: :confused:

It's definitely made the news all over the place.
Existing thread from yesterday:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/russi...periences.html

:)