#trending: 24-year-old maps Singapore toilets with bidets on Google, earning rave reviews from netizens

SINGAPORE — Some people may bond over hobbies such as cycling or cooking, and then there are those who rally around the use of bidets.

At Toilets with Bidets Singapore, a community of bidet users have banded together to collate information on all the public toilets equipped with bidets in Singapore. 

Created by a Singaporean bidet user who is 24 years old and wanted to be known as just "R", Toilets with Bidets Singapore features a map of public toilets with bidets on Google Maps that serves as a handy online guide for people who want to do their business in peace and wash up well at a public toilet.

Launched in 2022, Ms R told TODAY that there were fewer than 30 pinned locations at the time. 

When TODAY checked on Wednesday (April 17), there were now more than 270 pinned locations of toilets with bidets on this map across the island. 

TODAY understands that the page has since garnered around 900,000 views and the recent interest in it came after a video featuring the map went viral.

Based on the map, the central area seems like the best district if you need a bidet, with 108 of them identified. A bidet is a plumbing fixture with a tap for a toilet bowl user to wash the backside and genitalia.

Ms R, whose full-time job is an administrator, told TODAY that, as a bidet user, she found it hard to find bidets in public washrooms. Previously, her online searches for them had been futile as well. 

After coming across a tweet in 2021 that wished for an application that can locate all the bidet toilets in Singapore, she then decided that she had to do something.

“I did the next best thing (at that time) and created an Instagram account." 

She started off with her personal list of toilets with bidets that she had found, but later, her followers began submitting information to her on other bidets they had discovered.  

After the pool of information continued to grow, Ms R realised that dumping all the data points into a tool such as Google Maps would be easier for users. 

The data collection took about six months before she received enough submissions to start a map, Ms R said.

“I think I’ve found a very wholesome community that helps each other out.” 

In a video posted last Saturday on the Toilets with Bidets Singapore’s Instagram page that featured the map of bidet toilets, one person wrote: “Thank you for your service.”

Another said: “Not the hero we need, but the hero we deserve.” 

Instagram user “asanahcamper” echoed similar sentiments: “I follow you because I previously have nightmares finding a toilet with bidet in Singapore... thank you for your initiative!”

It seems like Ms R was not the only one who thought of this idea, as one person wrote: “I had this idea, too, I sometimes joke that we're a third world country because we're not stocked with bidet.”

Over on the TikTok account of Toilets with Bidets Singapore, some people spoke about what they had to endure due to the shortage of toilets with bidets here.

TikTok user "mintyyy" noted that even if a toilet has water points, it is not guaranteed that a bidet would be installed: "The most criminal thing is sometimes, there are water points by the toilet bowl, but no attached bidets, as if taunting you."

Another TikTok user asked: "Why doesn’t Singapore like bidets?"

It seems that some visitors to Singapore have asked a similar question, expressing dismay at the lack of bidets in public washrooms.

One online user said: "Why didn't I see this, I was in Singapore last week and needed a bidet." 

Another person heading here soon found the map a useful resource: "Going to Singapore tomorrow. Perfect timing."