In Singapore, every bloke aged 18-40 still has to do NS (National Service). you do two years when you are young, and a week refresher training until age 40 or 50!! Lam Chun See, a 57 year old Chinese chap (now a management consultant) explains the toilet facilities found in the army camp..
And that reminds me of yet another interesting system which only our NS (national service) boys would have experienced – the Taiwanese army camp system. For those army boys like my friend Victor who missed out on this unique experience, I shall describe it below. Unfortunately I do not have any photos to illustrate.
Basically the toilets were made up of 2 rows of cubicles built over 2 long narrow drains over which you have to squat. The partitions were only about chest high, and so sometimes, when you and you neighbour happened to finish your missions at the same time, you would get bit of a shock to see another person face to face when you stood up. There were no individual flushes. Occasionally, somebody would turn on the tap and the water would flow from one end of the drain to the other. If you happen to be occupying the last cubicle, you would be treated to quite an unforgettable sight. I hope this is sufficient to motivate some of our reluctant young men to look forward to their NS.
the military latrine he refers to is in fact not a Taiwanese design but an old British/Commonwealth one – its mentioned in a lot of the military history books I tend to read.. an opportunity arises for a joke here – normally if one soldier only is going to the latrine, he occupies the furthest seat away to try and get peace and privacy…by setting alight to damp newspapers and using the aforementioned tap to float them down the latrine, the unfortunate toilet user can be smoked out :laugh_at:
but these latrines are rarely used today. Modern Singapore has the Western style toilet in most areas (based on old British designs) but you are advised to flush before and after, so any pythons or other snakes in the sewage system (a not uncommon occurence) are frightened away…
http://goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com/2006/09/tribute-to-humble-profession.html
