I'll Just Be in the Bushes... "The toilets on Mt. Kilimanjaro were awful, small outhouses with squat toilets, and it looked like most people didn't even bother trying to hit the hole. Most of the people in my group gave up using them, and just took a shovel behind a bush and buried it there." -- GregW
Ferry Fright"My worst was in Indonesia on a ferry from Bali/Paddang Bai to Lombok. There was just a very dirty hole in the floor -- with naturally no toilet paper, no water to clean yourself like they do in Indonesia, and no water to wash your hands." -- hamsterwheel
Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures"There were so many little train station bathrooms in Europe that never failed to be out of toilet paper, soap, paper towels, etc. -- I took to carrying those little travel packs of tissues so that I'd have toilet paper. But on one occasion I was out of tissues and napkins, so I had to use a city map I had folded up in my pocket."
-- soliteyah
Down in the Dumps"The worst bathroom experience I've had was in Mumbai (Bombay). It wasn't a bathroom per se, it was more an alley, where a nice Indian gentleman dropped trou and promptly dropped something else. At first, I was too shocked to feel any revulsion. But after a moment of befuddlement, it began to sink in what I had just seen." -- WackyHeathen
And for the Exhibitionists Among Us... "I was totally freaked out by the public urinals in Amsterdam. If you haven't seen them, go Google 'Amsterdam public urinals' and look for the results with photos. Ingenious design or tool for public humiliation?" -- TinFins
Toilet Tunes"My worst was New York's Penn Station. I had always thought it was a bad bathroom experience and swore to never use it again under any circumstances, but when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. So, before work one day, I ran in there quickly -- well, hoping to run in and out quickly -- but there was a line out the door. I waited for a good five minutes in the worst-smelling bathroom I had ever been in. Then, when I finally reached an open stall, the person next to me was singing at the top of their lungs AND making the entire bathroom smell even worse than it already had. And when I was almost finished, she grabbed my leg under the stall..." -- tinkerbell
Uh, Nice to Meet You Too..."I walked into a four-person squat toilet room in Beijing, with no privacy screens or anything between the holes in the floor. I walked in and there was a gentleman squatting on the toilet. He was fine with it, but I was quite embarrassed by the whole thing." -- GregW
Bring Your Own Paper (and Galoshes)"On Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands, a lot of public restrooms don't carry toilet paper. That's not such a tragedy, of course, as I usually carry something in my purse when I travel. It was the nasty standing water that I had to wade through to get to the toilet that ruined the experience for me. Yuck. (But at least there was a toilet. I'm shocked by some of the stories I've read here!)" -- travelmel
If you enjoyed these, don't miss Toilet Tales: The Sequel. Got a toilet tale of your own to share? Do your duty!You May Also Like
--compiled by Sarah Schlichter
Photo Credit: Image of Kilimanjaro toilet appears courtesy of member gardkarlsen.