So the women cannot go to the toilet. Toilets are urgently needed now.

Curmudgeonly men might argue that it is unfair to subsidise women's other bathroom-based activities, such as fixing make-up or chatting, or the extra privacy of individual toilet stalls.

We watched locals beginning their day: some eating bowls of spicy noodles for breakfast; a vendor grating green papaya into a salad; women queuing outside a public washroom.