.

In a witty follow-on from the saturation coverage by the media of All Black Aaron Smith’s antics in a Christchurch airport toilet, the Travel Wires column in the New Zealand Herald‘s travel supplement (11 October 2016) was devoted to “toilet talks” – snippets about toilets at airports around New Zealand. What amused me most though was Allan’s comment on “the foul toilets at Kuala Lumpur airport – unclean, unacceptable, unusable”. If he thinks those toilets are bad, he should see some I’ve come across in my travels in Malaysia! Part of the problem is that people use hoses instead of toilet paper, which means that the floors are flooded with stinking water. These hoses are ubiquitous – we even have them in the bathrooms in our flat in Ipoh (see pic), not that we ever use them. I have, however, gone in after a visiting contractor has used the bathroom to be greeted by pools of water. When I’m cleaning it up, I have to think about something else in order not to dwell on the foulness of the task! Using public toilets in Malaysia requires a strong stomach or the ability to hold one’s breath for a long time.