Apparently Chinese tourists are gathering a bit of a reputation in Thailand after a news report hit the web over the weekend stating a temple there would be setting up separate toilets for non-PRC visitors because Chinese tour groups typically left the bathrooms in such a mess.

Khaosod English, the Bangkok-based English news site owned by one of Thailand’s bestselling newspapers, reports that Wat Rong Khun, known in English as the White Temple and located in the northern province of Chiang Rai, planned on setting up separate facilities for non-Chinese tourists so they'd have a sanitary place to relieve themselves.

"[The Chinese tourists] had defecated on the floor, urinated on the walls outside and left sanitary pads on the wall of the bathrooms," an anonymous official was quoted as saying.

The incident is sure to raise hackles given that it conjures up ugly segregationist policies that have victimized Chinese people (not to mention just about every other ethnicity at some point in time) in the past. It also plays into the "bad Chinese traveler" meme that is all the rage in the media these days, what with fights on airplanes and poor driving on foreign roads.

This is apparently not the first time the temple has discriminated against Chinese tourists over the bathroom issue, as the report indicates the temple had previously "banned Chinese tourists altogether after Chinese tour groups had left the toilets in a state of disrepair."

Though Chinese public toilets leave something to be desired, it's kind of hard to believe that it's only Chinese tourists that "aim and miss" in public toilets.

One Beijing expat traveling with young children visited the temple over the Chinese New Year holiday and reported nothing seemed out of order with the bathrooms he visited.

Truth be told, Wat Rong Khun does not have just ordinary restrooms: Flickr user adventurocity posted this pic of the toilets:

He had this to say about the temple shitter: "One of the most elegant public restrooms we've ever experienced. Compared with Beijing's 3-star toilets , this probably rates a 20. The upper story is the living quarters and office of artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat."

Coincidentally, Kositpipat is quoted in the Khaosod English story as well: "The temple's designer, Chalermchai Kositpipat, said in a television interview that it was 'impossible' for other tourists to use the bathrooms after the Chinese tours, so he would build new ones."

Or maybe the artist should consider building himself a new place to live that is not above a public toilet at a tourist attraction.