It’s proximity to Vietnam is only one of the factors to make Cambodia one of the dirtiest countries in the world. Garbage here also seems to be an ever-present element of the surroundings. It is common to see houses surrounded by scattered garbage (usually plastic), and just driving down one of the main “highways” going through the country is enough to understand why Cambodia would be on this list. Piles of garbage on the sides of the road (with villages right next to them) stretch for hundreds of miles throughout the country. Truly a sad sight.

Think where you live is dirty? Sick of the cigarette butts and candy wrappers on the ground? Well, I've been to a lot of countries and I can tell you that there is MUCH worse out there! In fact, in some countries dirt and garbage is a completely normal part of daily life. Here are the five grimest of them all, in no particular order.

1) Vietnam.

Garbage in Vietnam seems to be as much a part of daily life as driving a moped, which is why it tops the list of the dirtiest countries in the world. Trash is ubiquitous, wherever you go. It can be piled up in the middle of the street to the point where you’d have to drive around it, or it simply lies scattered around by wind. The Mekong Delta rivers are like sewage canals – full of waste from factories, as well as individuals. I personally observed people throwing bags of trash in the river, and you could see all kinds of waste floating in the water. Perhaps the most shocking thing in Vietnam was that in a restaurant all the refuse gets thrown on the floor, whether it is a discarded napkin, a cigarette butt, or a chicken bone. The prevailing mentality in this country seems to be: someone else will clean it up.

2) Cambodia.

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