These are the experiences every visitor to Asia should try once. But probably only once.
MODERN TOILET RESTAURANT, TAIPEI, TAIWAN
If you have the mind of a three-year-old and fancy being greeted by a turd-shaped mascot and then eating food in various shades of brown from a toilet bowl, you've arrived in the right place. See moderntoilet.com.tw
FULL MOON PARTY, KO PHA NGAN, THAILAND
This infamous all-night beach party on a Thai island takes place monthly when it isn't under temporary bans. It draws thousands of backpackers and has become notorious for drink, drugs, robberies, assaults and fireworks injuries. See fullmoonasia.com
THAIPUSAM, BATU CAVES, MALAYSIA
This Tamil Hindu festival in January isn't for the fainthearted. Here outside Kuala Lumpur, some devotees practise self-mortification by driving sharp metal skewers through their tongues and cheeks, or hanging weights from hooks driven through their skin. See tourism.gov.my
MOTORBIKE RIDING, HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM
A million-strong shoal of motor scooters whose riders disregard the rules at intersections will leave you either pumped with adrenaline or a nervous wreck. Watch out for potholes, street vendors and ambling dogs too. See vietnamtourism.com
CAPSULE HOTELS, TOKYO, JAPAN
Japan's famous capsule hotels are fun to try once, but the novelty of sleeping in a fibreglass "room" the size of a coffin (though featuring a TV, alarm clock and reading lamp) soon wears off, especially if you're tall or claustrophobic. See gotokyo.org
TUBING, VANG VIENG, LAOS
This village in Laos has become notorious for its riverside bars, which fuel bouts of backpacker drunkenness, after which it's de rigueur to float on inner tyres, preferably semi-naked and covered in fluorescent paint, though the experience has been cleaned up in recent years. Fun just once. Maybe. See tourismlaos.org
RAT TEMPLE, DESHNOKE, INDIA
Devotees at Karni Mata Temple in Rajasthan in India believe that their relatives have been reincarnated as rats. Some 25,000 sacred black rats have free run of the temple. If the smell doesn't get to you, the squeaking will. See tourism.rajasthan.gov.in
PHALLUS FESTIVAL, KAWASAKI, JAPAN
The Japanese are renowned for their peculiar festivals, but this April bout of penis worshipping really rises to the occasion. Giant phalluses are hauled around the town, and everyone indulges in penis-shaped snacks and various other teenage giggles. See travelkawasaki.com
HELL GARDEN, CHONBURI, THAILAND
Wang Saen Suk Monastery in a village outside Bangkok provides an overly graphic account of the torments that await in hell. Once is enough to see kitschy models of bad folk being boiled, impaled by demons and eaten by dogs. See tourismthailand.org
DURIAN EATING, MALAYSIA
Of all the peculiar things to eat in Asia, the most challenging, surprisingly, might be a fruit. If you can get past the rancid sewage-like smell – which can linger for days in confined spaces – then you're already a champion. See tourism.gov.my
Take a look at these weird experiences in the gallery above.
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