The Good, The Bad and The Nasty Toilets- by Bowen

Dragon fruit were cheap and plentiful in Cambodia

Here is a list of every really good, and every really bad thing I have experienced in the last 11 months.

The Good

Snorkeling- Snorkeling around many of our recent destinations has been really enjoyable. Lots of colourful fish and other exotic sea life.

Hollis enjoying the ocean

Bowen enjoying the ocean

Fake things- You may think that knockoff items are annoying to try to get around and make it hard to find the real stuff, but everyone that sells knockoff goods here embraces the fact that they are selling fake items and will flat out tell you if you ask. This makes it possible to buy a whole “designer” wardrobe (not really what we are looking for) for under $100.

Cheap things- Yes although most things sold on the street here are fake, you can still buy real brand name things for a much lower price. A $3 movie ticket, a $1 bottle of rum for my parents, a $30 dollar goretex jacket and cheap soft drinks and chips.

Getting things first- A lot of the time you’ll see pictures on Facebook showing some revolutionary invention to make your life easier. For some reason you never see a majority of these items in stores in Canada, but the second that picture is released, they are already in production here in Asia. the selfie stick was all over the place here before anyone anywhere else had one. some other things to be sold here before anywhere else are universal clip lenses for your phone, to make the pictures fish eye or wide angle or two elastic hands to hold your phone upright while you watch videos.

Countryside- After getting out of the big cities, every country we have been to has had a very nice, unique countryside.

Bowen - Pre haircut - driving in the Cambodian countryside

Weather- Beautiful 25-35 degree weather is common all across south east asia.

Bamboo- Bamboo is used everywhere here for things like hand railings and scaffolding.

Dogs- Although we have met some nasty ones, dogs here are generally nice and sometimes cute. We have also noticed that different countries seem to have different looking street dogs. In Bali, most street dogs are fluffy and white.

Cute dog, pondering its existence 

Fruit- In most places, fresh tropical fruit is plentiful and cheap.

The Bad

Loud people- In every country we have been to we have been kept awake by a noisy person, locals or tourists.  From people playing a heated game of foosball at 2 am in Malaysia to drunk tourist yelling off their balcony in Sri Lanka.

Nasty toilets- We have seen some bad toilets. From going to the bathroom down a hole onto train tracks in India, to being stranded in a squatting toilet with no toilet paper in the basement of a restaurant in Laos we have seen it all. Not all the toilets are bad but some are REALLY bad.

No seat, not that you'd want to sit on it if there was one. No toilet paper, no flusher

Luxurious bathroom

Rats- Seeing rats in the street is OK, but gives you a little scare. Seeing a baby rat fall from the roof in the restaurant you are eating in is VERY unsettling.

Cigarettes in public- Not that it is uncommon to see someone in Calgary smoking at a train station or outside of a building, but people love to smoke in restaurants even though laws in many countries are against it. Mostly it is tourists that like to do this

Bathrooms, again- So far the idea of having a shower separate from the toilet has not reached Asia, and its not a big deal, But when the shower head is set above the toilet is when things start to suck. It only gets worse when the water pressure is so bad that  the water comes dribbling out of the shower head and into the toilet forcing you to sit on the toilet to take a shower.

Walkability- In Vietnam there where plenty of sidewalks, the only problem was that they were covered in motorbikes or food stands, so if you need to go anywhere you have to walk in the gutter.

Not so walkable streets in Hanoi

Although the sewers may be smelly sometimes, the good far outweigh the bad and it is easy to see past the rats. Every country we have been to has been awesome and exciting and although I am ready to go back to Canada i will miss it here.

~Bowen