Plumbing in rural Thailand

I have never paid much attention to the plumbing out here before, but today I had to. I have mentioned before that most bathrooms (at least out here in these parts, not so much in major cities) are designed in a way that the whole thing can get wet. There is no bath tub to shower in, there is just a hot water unit attached to the wall, usually right next to the toilet, and that is how you shower. Everything is tiled so it's OK if it get wet. There is a hole in the floor somewhere that allows the water to drain out. So my sink has normal type plumbing just under the sink, but it is attached to a hose that is placed in the hole in the floor that allows my shower water to drain. For a while while living in my old room, I wondered where the toilet water went. I would here it and was horrified to think that it was just pouring out the back of my house into the dirt; thank God it wasn't! Most toilets are "squat" toilets, but we have "western style" toilets, meaning it's a bowl you can sit on, not a porcelain thing on the floor with foot placements that you squat over. Although I have a western style toilet, it does not flush. I have to pour water into the bowl to flush the contents. Back to the story, so I was cleaning my bathroom and pulled the hose out of the hole so that the water from the floor could drain easier. I ended up knocking my sink stopper off of the sink and it fell right down the drain! Since it was dark outside, I decided not to investigate, I waited until this morning. When I went out, I saw how the whole thing works. Our kitchen sink has a tube that sticks out of the wall and the water shoots out onto the ground from a height.... I guess that's OK. That water isn't too dirty right? I was pleased to see that my toilet drains into a large diameter tube that is cemented into the ground. There is a large tank that holds all of the waste. When it is full (I have no idea how they find that out), it can be changed. My bathroom sink drains into a medium sized tube, but that water spills out onto the ground just like the kitchen sink water. I never did see the stopper, not sure if it's stuck on a bend or what. I pulled one part of the tubing off and it was clear, the rest was too high for me to get to.

So that was a crash course in plumbing in rural Thailand. I don't think it's the most sanitary but it is what it is.