A British travel blogger who spent £150,000 and traveled 75,000 miles to more than 90 countries to find the world’s worst public toilet says he’s finally found it – in Tajikistan.
Brighton-based author and blogger Graham Askey – known to his friends as the ‘King of Porcelain’ – has scoured the globe for the most disgusting toilets.
After visiting 91 countries and writing extensively about some of the worst examples he’s found, the 58-year-old has now discovered the “perfect hellhole” – a ramshackle tent with walls that double as loo roll.
The retired construction worker says the 5ft-tall loo in northern Tajikistan is so bad that those desperate enough to use it have had to bend over sun-dried poop.
But by far the “most repulsive thing of all,” Askey says, is that its cloth walls are used as shared toilet paper.
He says some “wall” sections were torn off and dumped on the cabin floor. There is also a risk of disturbing deadly snakes and fearless rats, all of which have taken up residence in the nearby rocks.
According to Mr Askey, the toilet in the Ayni region of Tajikistan, on the western edge of the Pamirs and not far from the Afghan border, is so vile that locals refuse to use it unless they are “absolutely desperate”. .
Askey, a self-professed “squatter spotter,” visited hundreds of public toilets on six of the world’s seven continents before crowning the outhouse in Tajikistan the worst of them all.
Graham Askey estimates he spent up to £150,000 touring the world photographing the public toilets
According to Mr Askey, this is the “worst toilet” in the world, located near the Afghan border in Tajikistan
Mr Askey has visited 91 countries to assess the world’s public toilets – and says all listed in his new book pose a serious health risk
This collapsing structure is a makeshift toilet that Mr Askey encountered in Bangladesh
A 10-foot stilt hut in Indonesia also made the list thanks to its death-defying walkway
In his new book, Toilets of the Wild Frontier, which hits shelves this week, he’s included 36 of the “c**ppiest c**ppers” he’s encountered.
Other public toilets that made it onto his “c**p list” include a sink in Bangladesh and a “liters number one and two” bathroom in China — with the plug in.
A 10-foot stilt hut in Indonesia also made the list thanks to its death-defying walkway, as did a wooden chair with built-in toilet seat in Benin, prominently perched on a raised platform in the middle of the village. is described by Askey as the “least privacy-conscious toilet” he has ever encountered.
Mr. Askey developed his particular fascination with public toilets – and particularly their poor construction – on his first holiday abroad in Morocco.
Since then he has visited 91 countries, traveled around 75,000 miles and spent around £150,000 visiting private and public toilets around the world.
He only photographed the outside of the worst loos he visited to spare people the “vomit-inducing” contents, and spent the “absolutely minimal amount of time” inside to stave off nausea.
The images he took garnered thousands of views on his blog Inside Other Places, which he wrote for the fictional Toilet & Urinal Restoration & Design Society (“TURDS”).
His unique posts about far flung parts of the world became so popular that he decided to compile the top 36 in book form.
This bath, found in China, was filled with “liters number one and two,” according to the travel blogger
These toilets in Uzbekistan are at least solid structures, but they still made the list of the 36 worst public toilets in the world
For another toilet in Tajikistan, it’s the precarious pole it rests on between mountains that makes the list
Located on a raft, this toilet in Indonesia empties directly into the water below
This bathroom in Benin contains little more than a wooden chair converted to hold a toilet seat with a bucket underneath
Although intended as satire, it also aims to highlight the health risk posed by substandard sanitation.
Mr Askey said: “Make no mistake, every item on my list is beyond description disgusting.
“Some may look okay, but believe me – and I know these are the most inhospitable places on earth and it would be unthinkable to spend a single minute in any of them, except under the direst of circumstances.
“Each and every one of them seems to attract members of the public who have yet to master the basic art of ‘aiming’.
“After my many travels, I thought I’d seen everything to do with s**ters on stilts, sinks that appeared to be full of urine, and bathtubs that appeared to be used as makeshift bogs.
“But after enjoying some of the dirtiest toilet facilities in the world, the toilet in Tajikistan has to be the worst in the world – it’s the perfect hellhole.
“With no toilet paper available, the builders conveniently built it with a fabric covering to provide a wiping function – and it looks like the locals have made full use of that!”
Mr Askey added: “While readers will no doubt find these deplorable public toilets hilarious, it must be clear that they pose a significant and largely unnecessary health risk that can be significantly reduced through support for charities such as ActionAid and World Toilet Day.”
