People warn about culture shock, but nothing prepared ne for this solid toilet paper roll in Vietnam

Agent641@lemmy.world to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world – 722 points –

Are westerners being robbed of TP when we get the hollow rolls? Is communism the right path after all?

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I've been on Lemmy for about a year, so I'm certain that communism is the only right path.

Same, I've installed Arch on my ThinkPad, shaved my legs and put on knee high stockings. I also give every car a middle finger and swear when walking past parking lots. Lemmy has radicalized me in surprising ways.

But do you hate AI?

I fucking hate it. I've lost all my friends because I was just spamming anti AI memes from Lemmy to everyone I knew. They've all blocked me, but I'd like to think they will think twice before "doing AI".

Good man! It also happened to be Vietnams national holiday here yesterday, and so there were national flags and hammer and sickle flags everywhere, festivals, and street performances about Ho Chi Minh and the struggle aganst France, China, US, and TBH i never felt so patriotic for a country not my own!

It's their Independence Day, September 2nd.

Yes, the night time street festivals and celebrations were amazing in Hanoi and Ninh Binh, Im so lucky I happened to come at this time.

I'm sorry, the right answer was anarchosyndicalism.

Send this red fascist class traitor to the mines.

Don't go to Russia. Every once in a while you can encounter this atrocity. Yes, it has holes right out of the roll, no perforation whatsoever and not even a hole that you could hang it on and therefore outer layers are always dirty. And, of course, feels like a sandpaper, tears when wiping, but stretches when you actually try to get a piece. Please don't tell me that this exists outside of Russia, that'd be way to much assrash for this world.

when you take brutalism so far that your toilet paper looks like concrete

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Don’t go to Russia.

There's a very tall list of reasons to not go to Russia and their toilet papers isn't very high on it.

I don't know...

My list goes:

  1. Their toilet paper

  2. I might criticize Putin

  3. I might criticize the government

Well, I wouldn't worry about 2 and 3 that much. It's just that as a foreigner, especially if you are from the US, you will most definitely fall under the surveillance of FSB and the cops will look at you twice, but they're not paid half-decent enough to actually give a shit and do their job properly. They might harass you here and there but if you don't do anything stupid like protesting in red square or doing selfies in front of military bases, then they'll have nothing against you. I imagine that's not that much worse than living in the US under CIA's umbrella and trigger happy cops. Other than that, it's not nearly an extreme hellhole like NK, Afghanistan or Syria that people make it sound like. In fact, you can get by in Moscow or St. Petersburg without a guide or translator just fine. I'd rather advise to watch out for the tourist traps(the usual), and to avoid getting out of the city limits and into the suburbs because of the much increased crime levels.

Ah, and put the fact that for every dollar you spend there, you put 20 cents straight into Putin's pocket into that list...

And also that you'd probably need a visa and it's a hassle...

And that you'd probably need a Russian friend to get you hooked up with the basics and avoid going through the bureaucracy - like with currency exchange, credit card, carrier plan, etc...

Also that weather is rather harsh there...

And also that it's probably the dirtiest country on earth because city planners didn't zone out lawns and parks properly therefore the mud gets spread absolutely everywhere...

And that internet is half-broken, with half sites censored while the others block everyone from Russian IP's because sanctions...

And that Ukraine might not let you in afterwards...

And that you'd for sure be questioned by your homecountry's intelligence services...

And that's about all that I can think of.

And you'd likely be held prisoner as a trading chip for Russian murderers.

Well, it that case you're referring to, the guy was actually snooping around which would fall into doing stupid things. But, just in case, just this once, here's a free get out of jail free card: If you ever got caught just say that you're an orthodox christian who came to Russia to enjoy based traditional culture in this bastion of anti-woke-ism and family values, and complain about some dumb shit like how western liberal agenda prevents you from hitting your wife or something. They can't put you on TV while you are in prison, so they'll have to let you go.

But I saw Mr Bald and Bankrupt do it several times! And he only went to jail twice!

Does the FSB have the good toilet paper?

That would be helpful.

it’s not nearly an extreme hellhole like NK

North Korea is like ten times nicer than Russia, and definitely doesn't belong on the same list as Taliban-controlled Afghanistan or still-a-warzone Syria, regardless of what you think of their government.

girl, there are pictures of north koreans gathering GRASS because they don't have food. And they will kill you or put you in a camp if you try to leave.

  1. Might accodentally fly my drone into a cracking vessel at an oil refinery. Whoops.

I encountered this in Ukraine, often combined with those toilets in the floor and/or extremely rickety, extremely "well-loved" outhouses. Once, we stopped in what appeared to be a stranger's yard and my hosts advised we were at the rest stop. I asked where the restroom was. They all started laughing. They are a hearty bunch.

The one that's just like a concrete block with few holes in the floor? God that shit's terrifying. Grew up in Russia and luckily never had to use one of those as they were never the only option. But if I had to, I'd rather shit my pants instead. Had to use shoddy garden toilets, squat toilets and toilets with no stalls before a few times each, all were awful experiences, but this thing, it combines all three for the ultimate discomfort.

You see these in Poland every now and then, just with an actual central hole. I remember seeing these in my school, we used to call it srajtaśma ("shit tape" is the best translation I can think of), and it was just as bad as you described it. It also had a very particular smell to it.

Funny how I could probably understand what you mean if you said it without translation. Sounds very simillar to срать тесьма, which is also shit tape, though it's not a correct grammatically in Russian. To my knowledge, we don't have a specific name for it, but if there were I'd say it'd either be студенческая/солдатсткая (student/soldier) paper because they're so poor, or жоподёрка (the assripper)

Its literally tissue paper, I think youre being pretty dramatic

looks like itd be more ecofriendly because its mot bleached, and its not shipping around with a heap of empty space for the (now i think about it) oversized cardboard tube

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It's so hard to use toilet paper after getting a bidet.

I mean sure, I use TP to double check the bidet did it's job and to dry. But wiping twice as opposed to dealing with a marker butthole has spoiled me.

Only reason you have a marker butthole is because you ain't eating enough fiber motha fucka. Get some fiber powder and drink that shit bro wtf don't spread misinformation like you spread your ass to shoot water up there to enema douche the bit of poop you left pinched off up your buttholy hole because you ain't eating some God damn fiber my man!! EAT FIBER YO POO BE ONE BIG OL UNBREAKABLE LINK ITS WONDERFUL 👍

My butthole is a marker unless I get a whiff of fiber, at which point it turns into a firehose. The only time I get a decent poop is when my diet is mostly sugar, cheese, and meat.

That’s cuz you gotta bring your own TP with you instead of it being provided to you for free. No need for a TP holder tube if you’re not gonna share.

Wait, are US bathrooms communist???

Dont let the Republicans find out! They will lobby to take free TP out of schools on account of spreading communist ideology.

There are some commercial rolls I've seen in the US that seem to be a happy medium...the holder itself in the stall has a thin plastic rod for the TP to go on, and the rolls have a very small opening in the center (and no cardboard) to go on that rod.

Here in Vietnam we use the whole toilet paper! That’s 65% more toilet paper per toilet paper!

You can buy something like this here in the US.

The roll is smaller, and they market it as being made for camping (takes up less space in the pack, etc). It also, of course, costs more because of this, since modern camping gear loves to price gouge.

If you’re going to pack TP though, just spool what you need around something smaller in diameter (like a skewer). Or if you know what you’re doing then just use leaves instead, those are free.

if you know what you’re doing then just use leaves

For those who may not know what they’re doing, I’ve crafted a handy guide:

Or just use one of these.

Without that last image for context, I would have assumed you stick the cork part into your butt and poop spaghetti out the other side.

Shitposting is being taken a little too literally lately

I dont think i saw any TP in VN. Everything was bidet and wash hands.

wasnt terrible. Cold showers constantly and no water pressure were by far more of a culture shock to me. It was more similar to when I would go and hike for weeks on end in college.

Yeah when they say 10 min max limit, they really mean it.

And even then you see people taking showers as fast as 5 minutes to save water stored in the tank.

Do they use rainwater collection tanks for showers or is it just a buffer tank on the roof to compensate for low pressure?

From what i saw they seemed to be pressure/heat tanks (they were mostly silver or dark and in full sun).

Looked like most places had their own personal water tower.

Skin pores close on cold water, making it less effective. Feels gross for me too (hypersensitivity), did that once for a while in a hot summer.

In China it comes stacked in bags and you pull it out sheet by sheet like paper hand towels or a box of tissues. You can hang the bag up.

As a household that doesn't use a toilet paper roller, this would be amazing. I hate throwing away all those empty rolls

I try to find uses for ours where we can. I have a BBQ with a dead sparker so I usually use a half-tube which I light on fire and drop by the burner before turning on the gas

Take dryer lint and stuff it in half a toilet paper roll, then dip it in some melted wax. Makes a great fire starter and you can use stuff you're gonna throw away anyway.

The toilet paper I used in Taiwan was in the form of individual pieces folded up like American tissues for blowing your nose. I even accused my host of making me use tissues, but she showed me that they were actually marketed as toilet paper. Oh, and I couldn't flush them. That was not embarrassing at all.

In Brazil I saw a toiled paper that the center was filled with another roll, so you'd need to remove that center to put it in your bathroom and use it as a "portable toilet paper" to carry with you

Just yesterday I was reminiscing with my wife about how TP rolls used to have no tube when we were children and how hard it was to find the center to put them on the holder.

If I may ask, what country and how long ago was this? I have never really seen this before

This exists now in the US at Target. I liked them, actually.

That's an option here in Japan, though most don't use it. I'm pretty sure some people sell that style in the US as well. I use one that has a hole but no cardboard insert.

I see your Vietnam toilet paper and raise it with with my paradoxical environmental savings whatever this is (lights were on when this picture taken):

This is common in US motels and some hotels. It's supposed to say that one should put their towel on the floor, rather than the rack, to have it replaced.

Solid TP rolls are quite common in Asia. Not sure if this is still true, but a lot of public toilets don't provide toilet paper for fear of people stealing them. You have to bring your own TP, at which point including the cardboard insert takes up too much space to carry around.

I got a box of these from Amazon in 2020. (In USA)

Are you still using them?

They were kinda handy to have around tbh. Like, tissue in my backpack during allergy season, or in my car. I think we used them as tp on a camping trip.

At home, we only used them until the usual tp rolls came back into supply.

They came in a pretty big package so we had them around for a couple years, but I think they're all gone now... So, yeah we used them, maybe not as intended and maybe not favorably, but they saved my ass in 2020, literally!

That's called coreless TP and you can get it in the US too, mostly from institutional suppliers. You can also try Asian markets like Ranch 99 if you are near one.

https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/compact-recycled-bath-tissue%2c-coreless-roll%2c-2-ply%2c-3.85-x-4.05%2c-1000-sheets%2c-36-ct.product.11286393.html

Is this different from the one that's also coreless but designed to fit on the spike style roller dispenser?

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Depends on how many sheets there are per roll, and how many layers.

I used to buy rolls where the center of the tube came as a little personal roll you could put in your purse. I can't remember which brand anymore.