Public bathrooms are getting much better in China. There's been a very noticeable improvement recently, I think tied to a government inspection program.
Granted I was mostly outside of the urban core of tier 1 cities, but most places I went people were constantly smoking in bathrooms, had to BYOTP, and floors were often covered in urine. In some second tier cities like Harbin it was basically squat toilets everywhere, even in the airport lounges.
When did you last visit? I have seen a very big change in just the last year. Most bathrooms have soap and toilet paper now, at least in my random sampling of tier-1 and tier-2 cities.
Smoking is still ubiquitous, though. "禁止吸烟" signs are just completely ignored.
Public bathrooms can be disgusting in many first world countries.
I wonder if the true mark of civilization will eventually be clean public bathrooms. It cannot be that hard because some select countries have managed to do it. Too few though.
Cultural, if I’ll be honest. Until kids are taught and indoctrinated in school that public cleanliness is net good for everyone, hard to see it change.
Good to know. I've heard bad things about public restrooms (from travelers I know) about both China and India, though this information may be outdated.
I was worried about Vietnam, but this is encouraging. I always wanted to visit.
(Don't worry, I understand what "on average" means, and I also understand it varies from location to location).