Does anyone like those semi-outdoor, tropical, hotel bathrooms?

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I generally don’t like them much. Apart from anything else you can’t control the temperature which can be miserable when it’s very hot and humid. They often seem to have a bit of a weird layout. Sometimes they lack privacy, for instance when the room is on stilts over the sea and someone could (theoretically) swim underneath you. Or, like my current room that I’m sharing with my Mother, where the shower forms part of an internal courtyard and opening the slatted blinds reveals both the shower and the loo from the bed.

Excellent. Save the extra for a bog with walls and a door and we’ll be good to go 😁

Last time I was in Kenya we had outdoor toilets and showers like this with head-height walls around, and I turned around to find a row of baboons sitting on the wall watching me in the nude. Not conducive to a relaxing time!!

However...the showers with roofs on are very prone to spiders, slugs, lizards and other crawlies living inside the roof and sometimes dropping down on you while on the loo or having a shower. Also not ideal.

@Applesaarenttheonlyfruit how bourgeois of you. Walls? Pfft.

OK I'll save a couple of extra quid for walls an a door. We can live without a roof.

Hold on. Baboons scare the crap out of me. Roof it is.

Very common in Bali even in posh hotels or villas. They often look beautiful and one definite benefit is that drainage in Bali tend to be poor so even the fanciest hotels often have a bit of a bad drain smell in the bathroom if they are fully enclosed. I hate going from an air conditioned bathroom to a sauna in the middle of the night though and I always need a night time pee. Mozzies are another problem. Would love to hear about Kerala?

Off on Thursday for two weeks in an Indonesian dive resort with beautiful wooden bungalows and open air bathrooms. It's our third visit so we know what to expect. I absolutely love being able to look up at the sky whilst showering 🙂 The bungalows are far apart and you don't walk past anyone else's so it's all very private. I can't wait!

Where are you going @Jewelanemone if you don’t mind me asking?

We had a week at Papua Paradise in Raja Ampat (followed by a liveaboard) and we had the best time. Enjoy!

I'm back home. To answer your question @MrsTerryPratchett the only part of Uzbekistan that I saw was Samarkand. There was a trip to a historic site outside of Samarkand but I didn't go because it was quite a long road journey and I get car sick. The ones who went came back a bit shaken because the driving style totally freaked them out, lots of speeding and overtaking on blind bends apparently. Samarkand has charm but it's quite well hidden behind a bland Soviet style frontage for the most part, I think a local guide for a day or two might be helpful. Registan Square is glorious and there are a lot of small craft/souvenir shops in the courtyards. Salespeople can be a little insistent but good tempered, the things that they say are real cashmere are probably not. We also went to see a silk carpet factory, which sounds like a weird thing but was very interesting. There is also a shop at the carpet factory selling carpets (obviously), clothes, scarves, bags etc. It's much more expensive than the souvenir type shops but also much better quality. Pretty much everywhere touristy will take US$, Sterling or Euro, but cards are only taken in bigger shops. It's safe but not very interesting to just wander around and the people are nice enough but busy with their own lives unless they want to sell you something (similar to the London attitude to tourists I'd say). We stayed in a 'high-end' hotel but only some of the sockets worked in our room and there was a bit of a 'when it's gone, it's gone' attitude to service. For instance they ran out of English Breakfast tea bags at the breakfast buffet and it took two days before they were available again.

Tbilisi in Georgia was absolutely gorgeous if you're looking for a short-ish haul destination. It's also ex-Soviet block but has a beautiful, ornate, pre-Soviet centre that is very walkable with tons of cafes and bars and a lively night life.

For those who are still interested in my bathroom adventures, both Uzbekistan and Georgia had bathrooms with a roof, solid walls and a lockable door. Yay.

Ah, love a happy ending 😂

Sounds a fab trip. I love a bit of attitude when travelling, feels more real IYKWIM.

What an amazing-sounding trip. Was it a specific tour you did? Some kind of Silk Road thing?

It was called Crossroads of Cultures @GCAcademic so it was sort of trade routes themed.

Oh, this sounds like just the sort of thing I would love. Very jealous! Am stuck at home after an operation so planning my next adventures for when I’m able to travel again, and this has given me some inspiration.

Thanks so much for coming back and updating. Georgia sounds good. Another one to add to the very very long list.