The Travel Manuel

Step out of your comfort zone and into your next adventure!

  • Home
  • Travel
    • Africa
    • Asia
      • Korea
      • Malaysia
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
    • Australia
    • Europe
      • Ireland
    • Middle East
    • South America
    • North America
  • More
    • Live
    • Eat
    • Sleep
    • Capture
    • Tech
    • Blog Resources
  • Product Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
    • Work With Us
    • About us
    • Contribute
    • In The Media
  • Advertise
You are here: Home / Travel / Asia / Malaysia / Why Malaysia Has The Worst Toilets In The World

Why Malaysia Has The Worst Toilets In The World

August 24, 2015 By Lauren M 149 Comments

38.1k
SHARES
FacebookTwitterStumbleuponBufferPinterestPocketGoogleWhatsapp
Mail

Worst Toilets in the world

Having lived in a number of different countries, I can safely say that even though certain parts of Asia have developed and progressed at a tremendous rate, their plumbing systems have not. I thought that Thailand and South Korea were bad enough with their little sanitary bins BESIDE the toilet to throw your disgusting, used toilet paper in (isn’t the entire reason that toilets flush things away, to prevent all these unwanted germs AND SMELLS spreading?!)

But it turns out that Malaysia actually tops these countries with the most unhygienic toilets we’ve ever seen. Even our local Malaysian friends agree with us on this point. So here’s why we think that Malaysia has the worst toilets in the world…

  • Worst Toilets In The World

    A toilet in a nearby kampung( village). No bum gun. Just a shared bucket.

  • Worst Toilets In The World

    This is the bathroom Vaughan had to use at a students home for a year.

1. You’ll always leave the toilet with wet feet.

There really is no reason in God’s green earth why your feet should get wet in a public toilet stall, but in Malaysia this is almost unavoidable. I have never entered a toilet stall that doesn’t look like it’s been showered in. What I affectionately dubbed the ‘bum gun’ is the water hose responsible for this. It is custom in many countries to use this hose instead of toilet paper to clean your unmentionable bits.  Which is fine, but that doesn’t mean I want to walk or dip my toes into the water you’ve just cleaned yourself with. Gross.

  • Malaysian Toilets

    A typical shopping mall toilet.

  • Malaysian Toilets

    McDonalds. The water is coming from the toilet next door!

Malaysian Toilets

Water in the general hand washing area.

2. Shoe marks on the toilet bowl.

For every 5 squatter toilets in a shopping mall bathroom, there is 1 “sit-down” toilet bowl. Once you see the shoe scuffs and marks left behind on the toilet seat, you will go running to find a squatter. A friend of mine from the Middle East explained that he grew up only ever seeing squatter style loo’s so once he saw a western toilet bowl as a child, he continued to squat up onto it ( an incredible feat I imagine).

But you must be joking if you think I’ll sit on the same spot where you’ve just put your dirty shoes. And worst yet, when squatting that it’s common make certain…erm…“errors in judgement” and those errors usually land up on the back of the toilet seat *runs screaming for the hills*.

  • Worst Toilets In The World

    The result. A toilet on a Malaysian Train. – Seth Mazow

  • Malaysian Toilets

    Thankfully they are educating the people about the dangers.

More about Malaysia

More articles about Malaysia

Click Here!

3. The Smell.

There is no photo in the world that can accurately convey the smell of Malaysian bathrooms (which we have endured here nearly everyday) and living in rural Malaysia only makes matters worse, but not even top end malls in the big cities are free of these disturbing smells. Sure, it’s a toilet so we can assume it should smell bad. But there are limits!

In our home of Cape Town, South Africa most toilets have all unwanted scents masked by fragrant air fresheners or germ-killing cleaning detergents, here that doesn’t seem to be the case. The fact that so much wee-enhanced water stagnates on the floor, (and some squatters are literally just long-drops) means that the smell just wafts around, doesn’t help matters.

Nor does the fact that everyone seems to smoke while in the loo too (again, extremely impressive!) The smoke hangs thick in air and the scent sort of sticks to you. Vaughan says it smells like prison toilets. I really would prefer a hole in the ground beneath a tree.

Worst Toilets In The World

Afraid to lift the lid?

4. You may have to pay.

It’s always hilarious to me that the worst public toilets require you to pay an entrance fee. It’s customary not to use toilet paper here in Malaysia and most toilets frequently run out of the little toilet paper that there is. So some people have spotted this entrepreneurial opportunity and charge patrons for not only tissues (which is fine with us) but also for bathroom upkeep (which would be fine if they actually cleaned the bathrooms!)

I came to close to tears of joy when I first entered a toilet in Vietnam (after living in Malaysia for a year) which had clean, dry floors, toilet paper and an air freshener – who knew these things could provide such unadulterated joy!?

Worst Toilets In The World

Popular KL shopping mall – Publika. Yes someone decided to trim their dangly bits! They were all over the urinal, and the floor. Ewwwww…

5. You have to have the equilibrium of a Kung Fu Master.

Even before I was pregnant visiting a squatter here was a precarious business. If it’s not the wet floors and slippery porcelain foot holds that are trying to kill you, it’s my clothes which I’m trying to save from being drenched in said water!

Usually I’m clutching my bag under one armpit, holding my tissues in my one hand and hiking up my pants in another whilst perching astride the hole-of-death on my tip-toes.

Vaughan, who is bigger than me and has less balance, admits that to avoid getting his clothes soaked he has to get almost completely naked and then if there’s no hook on the door, he has to hold everything was balancing!

  • Worst Toilets In The World

    No place to hang or put anything. This is for the experts.

  • Malaysian Toilets

    This one always makes me laugh. Two guys simply cannot fit in there.

  • Malaysian Toilets

    The “bum gun.” How would you feel about sharing this with others?

  • Malaysian Toilets

    When there’s no “bum gun” you’ll have to make do with the bucket.

Malaysian Toilets

The water goes down and the smell comes up. Lovely.

Yes, we will miss many things about Malaysia (like these things) but the toilets are not one of them!  South Africa, we miss your toilets!

Have you experienced shocking toilets like this here or anywhere else in the world?

More about Malaysia

More articles about Malaysia

Click Here!

Update: Many Malaysians reading this article have taken offence to our thoughts on public toilets in their country. But may we just point out two things before you lose your temper:

1) when we say “worst in the world” it is an exaggeration, we mean “worst that we have ever seen” and,

2) we are not the first to raise this issue a simply google search for “malaysian toilets“ will reveal that even The Star has written about it.

Filed Under: Malaysia, Travel Tagged With: asia, bathrooms, malaysia, toilets

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Meet The Travel Manuel

Welcome to our site! The Travel Manuel is a trusted travel blog run by real travellers. Our hope is to answer the questions you haven't yet asked and inspire you to explore more. Are you ready to see the world?

Looking For Something?

SUBSCRIBE

Enter your email address to receive new blog posts via email.

Ambassadors

Most Shared Posts

  •  
    Three Life Saving Things You Need To Protect Your Travel Essentials...
    186 Shares
  •  
    9 Pieces of Advice for Those Travelling with a Disability...
    154 Shares
  •  
    4 Ways to Have a Stress – Free Flight...
    132 Shares
  •  
    Best Travel Guide to Visit Egypt...
    113 Shares
  •  
    How to Choose the Best Hiking Shoes...
    97 Shares
  •  
    6 African Safari Holidays You Can’t Miss...
    70 Shares
  •  
    Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda...
    64 Shares
  •  
    The Eastern Beauty: Exploring The Best Of Eastern Washington...
    57 Shares
  •  
    Why You Should Add an African Safari to your Bucket List...
    67 Shares
  •  
    The Hamptons is a Smart Choice for People for Vacationing in Winters...
    72 Shares
Visit Malaysia Instagrams Vaughan McShane-43.jpg

Connect

  1. Contact
  2. Work With Us
  3. Contribute
  4. In The Media
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
Visit Malaysia Instagrams Vaughan McShane-46.jpg

COPYRIGHT© 2022 · No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without my written consent. You may use images owned by Vaughan McShane and credit them with link back to this website. Thank you. Vaughan McShane is the site owner and webmaster. Contact me via email vaughanmcshane@gmail.com

Go to mobile version