TRAVEL

After Another Few Weeks In Malaysia, My Washroom Questions Came Back With A Vengeance

I need answers NOW.

This looks pretty normal to me. (photo provided by Linda Ng)

I was in Malaysia for a few weeks and I lived in a local house. I always had questions about using washrooms in Malaysia ~ I don’t think I ever really got any solid answers. On Medium, I even posted a few stories about it before. After coming back to Canada, my questions came back with a vengeance like never before.

Let’s go for a little background here.

I grew up in Canada. Toilets were the standard ones and I had never seen a squat toilet in my life. I still remember the very first time I saw a squat toilet. It was when I arrived at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) and had to go to the washroom after a very long flight. I rushed into a stall and threw the open door only to find a squat toilet greeting me. I was shocked and very dismayed for a moment. Then I panicked, I don’t know what to do! Which way do I face? Do I squat all the way down? What if I slip or can’t get back up? Thankfully, the airport had other stalls with standard toilets and I used those instead.

Now these toilet questions could easily become a separate story. What I really want to talk about here are the “wet washrooms”. While I was in Malaysia, I lived in a local house, not a hotel.

What was my shock in the wet washroom?

Well, the toilet was standard, so that wasn’t. It was more of the fact that the entire washroom is wet and you shower right beside the toilet with no barriers. That’s right. There is no “shower stall”. The toilet is there and you stand beside it and shower.

Here are my questions. I really hope some light can be shed on this once and for all.

• Sometimes when I go in the washroom, the floor is wet. If I am wearing socks, is the process always just to take them off and walk in?
• When the floor is wet and I decide to walk in barefoot, how do I know what I am stepping in? 🤢 I mean the liquid could simply be water, but what if someone somehow “missed the toilet”? Could I be potentially stepping in pee?
• Since the whole washroom is wet, I’ve had situations where I entered…