Squat toilets are the default, and the range is enormous. It runs from a bare pit latrine in a village to a proper washroom in a city mall, and how far apart those two are depends entirely on where you are. Free public toilets are common and easy to find, in towns and at scenic areas alike. Carry your own tissue — that is the one thing that catches people out.
Squat is the norm
Assume squat unless you have reason to think otherwise. Sit-down toilets exist, but they are the exception rather than the rule: hotels, shopping malls, airports and newer restaurants are where you find them. Everything else — petrol stations, village teahouses, roadside stops, most monasteries — is likely to be squat.
For anyone who hasn't met a squat toilet before, the honest advice is not to be put off by the first one. It is easier than it looks, and after a day on the road it stops being a subject at all.
The gap between good and basic is wide
This is the part that surprises people, because there is no gentle gradient. A shopping mall in a county town can have a washroom cleaner than most European cities, and an hour further out you can meet a toilet that is basically a shed over a hole. Both are normal, and both are on the same day's drive.
In the villages and at the high passes, expect the simple version. Take hand sanitiser for the places where there is nowhere to wash, and treat the state of the toilet as information rather than an emergency.
Finding one, free, is rarely a problem
Free public toilets are easy to find. In towns they are on the main streets and in the squares; at scenic areas and along the main tourist roads there are toilets at the car parks and viewpoints. You do not need to plan your day around them the way you might in some countries.
On a long drive, the reliable ones are at townships, at petrol stations and at the restaurants where you stop to eat — which is part of why a good driver keeps an eye on when the next stop is coming.
What to carry
Tissue, in your own bag. Public toilets frequently have none, and the shops nearby sell it in small packs for very little. Hand sanitiser covers the rest. Two small habits, and the whole subject becomes a non-issue for the trip.
Questions I get on this one
Are they always squat toilets?
Do I need to carry toilet paper?
Are there toilets on the long drives?
Do they cost anything?
Written from living and working here rather than from a guidebook. Related: drinking water · getting here · all essentials