The “Wet Toe”

J. Lewis Richards

I want to caution all about a little known but persistently present danger in China, India, Bangladesh and a few other places I’ve been.

Until today, I thought this danger was limited to the bathroom, but now I find that it can strike anywhere in a foreign hotel room.   The condition I’m describing will hereinafter be referred to as….
The Wet Toe…

I cannot tell you how many times the Wet Toe has caught me! It happened again today!

Normally, it goes like this….  The foreign shower looks so inviting. All glass from floor to ceiling with hot water cascading from the full shower head, you indulge in this bit of heaven… forgetting for a time where you are.

Reality, however, comes crashing down as you open the shower door and see water all over the marble floor. Yes, Chinese showers leak… they all leak. Bangladesh showers leak too. That little rectangular thin bath mat is soaked, so you throw your towel on the floor, as well as all other towels to absorb the flood.

You look at your watch, and OOPS! Better hurry because your ride will be waiting. You throw on your clothes, go into the bathroom to finish your hair and…SHIT!!!  You step in a puddle of water with your socks on! THE WET TOE!

Now in the world of international travel… you plan every day’s clothing. Six days, six pairs of sox… one pair of underwear (that’s a joke…) Now your ride is waiting and you’ve got a wet toe. You do a moisture assessment….

  • “How wet is the toe?”
  • “Should I change, disrupting my sock cycle plan?, or just put my shoes on?”
  • “Can I hit it with the hair dryer?”

I can tell you from experience that your wet toe will not dry in your shoe. Later that night, you will take your shoes off to find the same wet toe and yuckkk…..  trust me on this one. In addition to the yuckkk…  you could get Chinese athlete’s feet and I don’t even know if it’s the same as ours. Better not to risk it.

Today, after securing the post shower flood in the bathroom, I was ironing my shirt when all of a sudden…!!! The wet toe! I looked down to analyze what happened and I saw that the iron had leaked on the marble floor and I stepped in it!!!  THE WET TOE struck again!!!

So now, I’m at the end of my trip and my only choice is to put on a pair of dirty socks and put the wet toe ones in my suitcase.  I was careful to put the wet toe socks in a different compartment than my last pair of clean dry socks… that I need for the flight home.  (This ain’t my first rodeo)

So take this as a lesson to be on the alert and not suffer the anguish of THE WET TOE….

Jeff

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