You can now find your nearest public toilet with this new app
flickr: Fredrik Rubensson
We've all been there: lunchtime's wanza tangmian gurgling in our stomachs, still a ten-minute Mobike ride from home. There's nothing worse than being caught short and being unable to find the nearest toilet. Luckily, there's a new app that just might be able to save the day (and your dignity).
National Public Toilet Cloud (全国公厕云平台) is available through WeChat and can be accessed once you follow their official account (城市公厕云平台). It is also said to be available on the Chinese app store but we had trouble finding it. Luckily, the toilets are easier to locate...
Linked to Baidu Maps, by clicking '找公厕,' users can use GPS to find the nearest public toilet – judging by what showed up when we used it, you don't really want to find yourself desperate for the loo near the Time Out Shanghai office.
You can filter your search using several categories such as type of toilet, number of urinals, availability of toilet paper, whether you have to pay for the toilet, and the toilet's ranking. Visitors to the toilets can even review the toilets to give future users an idea of what to expect. 'I had a shit time' etc, etc...
The app/feature is currently only available in Chinese, so some familiarity with hanzi, or copying and pasting the characters into Pleco's clipboard reader will make your cesuo locating experience a more comfortable one.