En route to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Arrive on 25-Mar.

I’ve mentioned in past posts that one of the best things about going on field trips is using the bathroom in the hotels, as they are much larger than what we have in our ship cabins – particularly the showers. The facilities in the Kyoto hotel stood out.

Below is a picture facing from the hotel room entrance way. To the right is a deep sink and space to spread out. The toilet is on the left (more on that later) and behind the glass wall is the shower and tub.

Beyond the glass door is a large area to shower off, complete with a small movable bench. Notice the drain in the corner next to the tub. The shower area is around 5 foot by 5 foot.

The shower head bar was about four feet long, allowing you to set the height of the shower where you like it. I stand 6 foot 2 inches, so there are not many shower heads higher than me – but I could place it above me in Japan.

Traditionally in Japan you clean off before entering the tub – the tub is just for a hot soak. I am not a hot soak kind of guy, so I never used the bath tub. But I took nice, long showers.

The toilet is behind a sliding door, which automatically closes. The Toto washlet seat is heated, and once you raise the lid a ventilation fan starts – not in the ceiling, but within the toilet itself.

The silver box on the wall is the toilet remote control. At its most simple you can select a light or heavy flush. There are also cleansing controls with adjustable modes. Once selected, a wand extended within the bowl and sends a stream of water to where you may not expect it, if you are not knowledgeable about bidets.

While nowhere near as fancy as Toto, in Cambodia every toilet was also equipped with a hand-held triggered nozzle, kind of like a kitchen sink sprayer. The intent is a more manual bidet shower.