Hello Fodor's Community,
I'm planning a month long trip through Vietnam and Cambodia. I love trying new and culturally rich foods in the countries I visit. However, I have a sensitive stomach and may need to visit the bathroom immediately after eating. Can someone help me with what to expect with the bathroom situation? For example, if I eat some street food or at a local restaurant, you know the ones with the small plastic chairs. Do they have bathrooms in the small restaurants, or do they have public bathrooms on the streets? Would I have to go to a nearby coffee shop and buy something there to use their bathrooms?
Thanks
v

Most small local restaurants in both Vietnam and Cambodia will have toilet facilities. Usually, but not always to a reasonable standard. it would be a good idea to take hand sanitiser, wipes and toilet paper with you as washing facilities are hit and miss. There are public toilets in some of teh markets but you probably wont want to use them!

Street food, as in carts on the street are becoming less common and if you have a sensitive stomach, probably best avoided. The exception being the Pho stalls which set up early every morning in various streets and alleys of the main Vietnamese cities - whenever in Saigon I head to the same lady's stall in District 3 for breakfast. In markets, eat where the locals eat at busy stalls where ether food is hot and cooked to order (check out the nearest toilet beforehand!

Agree with catch 23 except I would never eat street food in Southeast Asia. The water at best is suspect and refrigeration not common with street foods. A Visit to markets in that area of the world will show you poor hygiene practices. Singapore is the exception.

To get straight to the point: with the "plastic chair" street food stalls in Vietnam and Cambodia, don't expect restrooms; they're often makeshift, damp, sometimes requiring you to go deep inside a local's house, or worse, there aren't any at all. Public restrooms on the streets are also rare and often very unsanitary (Bad UX), so this is absolutely not a safe option for someone with a sensitive stomach who needs to use the restroom urgently.

Instead, I'd like to share with you an extremely effective survival "algorithm" that savvy travelers often use: take advantage of coffee shop chains and shopping malls. Whenever you need to, look for large chains (like Highlands and Phuc Long in Vietnam or Brown Coffee in Cambodia), large malls (like Vincom and Aeon), or the lobbies of 3-4 star hotels; these are places that are guaranteed to be clean, modern, and readily available. A quick note about the "hardware": 99% of the toilets here use bidet sprays instead of toilet paper, so to be prepared, keep a pack of tissues and hand sanitizer in your bag, along with some digestive aids, and then you can confidently enjoy this amazing culinary scene!