Man treks globe in search of the world’s worst public toilet

Call it a crappy hobby.

A man has spanned 91 nations and 75,000 miles in a marvelous quest of finding the world’s worst public toilet — dubbed “the perfect hell hole.”

Travel writer Graham Askey — whose friends call him the “king of porcelain” — found the preposterous potty in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan and it is not for the faint of heart, SWNS reported.

A dilapidated, horrid-looking 5-foot wooden stall that’s moated by sun-dried poo in the nation’s northern region of Ayni is the “most repellent thing of all,” according to Askey.

Loo users need be on the lookout for crossing paths with deadly snakes and disgusting rats who have made their homes in the rock bedding beneath the stall of shame.

This forsaken stall in Tajikistan is the world's worst, Askey said.
This forsaken stall in Tajikistan is the world’s worst, Askey said.
Graham Askey / SWNS
Another toilet in the Tajikistan mountains comes close to being the worst.
Another toilet in the Tajikistan mountains comes close to being the worst.
Graham Askey / SWNS

People apparently use its concealing tapestry for toilet paper and locals don’t dare set foot inside unless they’re “absolutely desperate.”

“But having enjoyed some of the filthiest bathroom facilities to be found anywhere on the planet, the toilet in Tajikistan has to be the worst in the world — it is the perfect hell hole,” Askey, who hails from Brighton, England, told SWNS. “With no toilet paper available, the builders have conveniently built it with a fabric covering to offer wiping functionality — and it looks like the locals have made full use of it!”

Although the bowl — not far from the Afghan border — is a flush above the rest, Askey has found many more gruesome public facilities and recorded them into his new book “Toilets of the Wild Frontier.” Sadly, they rival Tajikistan’s finest.


A horrid public toilet in Bangladesh caught Askey's eye.
A horrid public toilet in Bangladesh caught Askey’s eye.
Graham Askey / SWNS

The 58-year-old invested about $169,000 on his research and began investigating the toilets after seeing a gnarly one while on vacation in Morocco some years ago.

Since that time, Askey’s photographed the exterior of the most vile, “vomit inducing” rest stations he’s seen, admitting to spending the “absolute minimum amount of time” to keep himself from hurling.

They were published to the “Inside Other Place Blog,” part of the fictitious Toilet & Urinal Restoration & Design Society — TURDS for short.


A chair was converted to a toilet in the west African nation Benin.
A chair was converted to a toilet in the West African nation Benin.
Graham Askey / SWNS

“Make no mistake that every ‘entry’ on my list is gross beyond words,” he said. “Some may look OK but believe me — and I know — they’re the most inhospitable places on earth, and to spend a single minute inside any of them would be unthinkable except in the direst of circumstances.”

There was a literal sink used in Bangladesh along with a bath tub filled with “liters of number ones and twos” in China. Nobody was courteous enough to even remove the drain stopper there.

Indonesia has a stilted toilet which does not favor privacy.
Indonesia has a stilted toilet which does not favor privacy.
Graham Askey / SWNS
A bathtub is used as a public toilet in China.
A bathtub is used as a public toilet in China.
Graham Askey / SWNS

When Askey’s toilet travels brought him to Indonesia he found a hut with a modified wooden chair that had a hole for oval office business. As the hut was haphazardly raised on 10-foot stilts and located in the center of a village, Askey said it was the “least privacy-conscious lavatory” he’s ever encountered.

“Each and every one of them would appear to attract members of the public who have yet to master the basic art of ‘aiming,’” Askey said.