The Grossest Toilet in Thailand

The bathroom at the Vimol Guesthouse in Bangkok is hands-down the grossest one we have seen in Thailand. I honestly believe it has not been cleaned in years. Maybe decades, maybe never. The lone shelf in the bathroom is covered with toiletries abandoned by previous travelers. I tried to pick up a tube of toothpaste once and when I did so I realized that the tube had cracked open and the toothpaste inside had turned to powder. The three women who live in / work at this guesthouse are constantly watching soap operas on TV. Morning, noon, and night, they are without fail sitting in the courtyard watching TV. Literally every time we have left or returned, they have been there. It is truly unbelievable.

When I entered the bathroom one night to brush my teeth, I saw something brown on the floor and bent down for a closer look. This my friends, is an actual worm crawling across the floor of the bathroom. This bathroom is on the 2nd floor of the guesthouse. I have no idea where this worm came from. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it crawled out of the faucet.

What’s worse is that this worm was not alone in the bathroom. In the large basin of water next to the toilet, (the water you use to clean yourself), there are clearly visible little creatures swimming around the water. They are maybe 4 to 5 millimeters long and they inch/gyrate/shuttle through the water spastically. I tried to convince Sarah that these creatures were put in the water on purpose to kill mosquito larvae, but she didn’t believe me. I don’t blame her either because the bathroom is infested with mosquitos. Every time you go in, you come back out with half a dozen new bites. The women who work here have a weird device to kill them. It looks like a tennis racket, but works like a bug zapper. Sarah has a disturbing love for killing mosquitos, so she was salivating as soon as she saw this thing. She finally got up enough nerve to ask to borrow it and then went on a killing spree. I could tell she was berserk when she went outside to kill more mosquitos after clearing out the entire guesthouse. Here is the bloodthirsty mosquito slayer in action.

Last but not least, here is a little selection of the water creatures I captured and photographed. Can anyone classify them?

5 Responses to “The Grossest Toilet in Thailand”

  1. Dad Says:

    Jamie,
    Your post reads like a Stephen King novel. Complete with weird creatures in the bathroom and a lunatic murderer. Take a deep breath. Better now? I don’t think you really want us to classify those little critters. Why let needless facts spoil your day?
    Peace & Love,
    Pops

  2. Brian Says:

    That is truly disgusting

  3. John Erck Says:

    I just read on wikipedia that they often take those little bugs and whatnot and mix them in with their food to add vital protein to their diets. You have probably eaten hundreds of those little bugs along your journey so far. So, don’t sweat ’em, embrace ’em.

  4. sehsuan Says:

    just dropped in to read 2 year old news partly because bikeforum’s touring section. those creatures in the lower half of the 9 are actually mosquito pupa and larvae… can’t tell what’s those on the top row though!

  5. James and Sarah Says:

    Hi Sehsuan – do you think the creatures in the top half are something other than mosquito larvae?! So gross. I wonder what they could be…?

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