The most extraordinary toilets!

Where do you poop?

Well, hopefully in a public restroom (AE), the conveniences (BE) or at least a Port-a-Potty to start with. The general idea of attending a toilet and relieving your rectum may be something that unites humanity. The Germans guzzle their Currywurst, the Mexicans scarf their tacos and tortillas down and the Chinese eat their dogs and cats or whatever; fact is, regardless of nationality, sex and skin color, highborn or lowborn, rich or poor, gay or straight – eventually everyone has to take a crap. 
The habits of doing so, however, differ in a variety of fascinating ways, if it comes to language for example. While in America they go on the John or the can, in England they prefer to spend a penny (BE for going to the toilet) in the loo or the bog (a very vulgar term though) and the Irish attend their Jakes. Even in Austria we can either retreat ‘ins stille Örtchen’ or go ‘aufn Scherbn’. 

Other English expressions for the toilet (which doesn’t yet complete the colorful linguistic variety in no way) would be privy (only slang), on public signs you might find Gents and Ladies and finally the crapper, which would be translated as “Scheißhaus” and therefore is rather not so formal. 

So far so good, but the main point of this post shall be neither cultural nor any other aspects related to having a dump but the location. Now, I want to present you a selection of the most extraordinary, strange and even perilous toilets in the world.

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          1. This is just in order to show you that the idea itself is very old. In fact, the first toilets were invented in the third millennium BC, which was also called “Age of Cleanliness”. This very comfortably looking toilet, however, dates back to the 8^th century BC and was found in the City of David, Jerusalem. 

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         2. Our next toilet would make you definitely feel like a king on his throne, as it is made completely of 24-carat gold with a total worth of about €5,4 million. It was built by the jeweler Lam Sai-Wing and stands in his shop in Hong Kong. To use it, you have to buy jewelry amounting to at least 1,000 Hong Kong Dollar which is about €153. A fair price in my opinion as not only the toilet itself is made of gold but the whole bathroom, including the door, the lavatory etc., with gems on the ceiling and gold bars on the floor. All in all very luxurious, according to the Guinness World Records even the most luxurious toilet. What else do you need?

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      3. This one may not be politically correct and somehow tasteless and crude but just imagine Osama Bin-Laden having a slash in one of these. No offence! Seriously, this man doesn't seem to be America's most popular president :/

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      4.Didn’t you ever drive through the infinite vastness of the Sahara and suddenly felt the urge to have a shit but didn’t find any toilet in the surroundings? Well, some Bedouins were probably disgusted by people just burying their droppings in the sand (or doing it themselves) and that’s why they decided to build this fancy little restroom in the middle of – apparently nowhere.

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      5. You may think that the aftermath of 9/11 only made an impact in the US, but this toilet in Beijing, China disproves that. Weighing 15 tons, this bunker of a bathroom is without doubt the safest place in the world to take a crap, since it is bulletproof and even immune to TNT explosives detonated from within. 

      It was built after 9/11, as a part of some anti-terror products commissioned by the Chinese government. The public restroom is nevertheless pretty unpopular among the Chinese.

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 6. Some toilets surely aren't for the faint-hearted among us, like this one. This stall is an art installation called “Don’t Miss a Sec” and consists of one-way glass. It looks like a mirror to an outsider, but completely transparent to the person who sits inside. Thus the user inside should still feel integrated into the world while relieving himself. I don’t know how you think about that but I definitely wouldn’t dare to poop in there. No way!

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7. Now, that one in turn is nothing for people who have a little fear of heights. It stands on a crest of Tasman Glacier in New Zealand, with a very narrow edge on both sides. Looking at this picture I can’t help but ask myself who the hell builds a toilet in such a place. Despite being a little bit perilous it’s still beautiful somehow.

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 8. Everyone who has an aquarium knows that fish have a shit whenever and wherever they want and absolutely don’t care if they are observed by us, but how is it the other way round. How would you feel, if dozens of fish witness the act of discharging your rectum? In the Mumin Papa Café in Akashi, Japan you can try and find out. The restroom there is surrounded by a live-three wall aquarium, providing you with a spectacular scenery. Sadly, it’s ladies-only (but there’s a male sea turtle).

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          9. If you should ever go hiking atop the Kara-Tyurek mountain pass in the Altai Mountains in Sibiria, I have just one piece of advice for you: Do NOT eat any beans beforehand!!! Because the next toilet I would only enter if my bottom threatens to explode owing to the squitters. The building in question is perching on a cliff and as you can see it is an outhouse which means that there’s only a hole and maybe a more or less comfortable toilet seat in there and directly under the hole it goes 2600 meters down. It is only balanced by a pile of stones – how calming! I for my part wouldn’t dare to lift-off in that thing. Well, at least it looks very well ventilated.

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      10. Have you ever asked yourself, why not a single escape attempt in the 29-year history of Alcatraz was successful? Well, I think this delightful little toilet might be one reason for it, as, standing in a guard tower, the warders had an amazing all-round view of San Francisco Bay and the prison area while they took one of their comfort breaks. The little side effect that the whole action was visible, since the toilet is surrounded by glass, was probably not mentioned in the labor contract.  

11. Apropos amazing view, this toilet, the last one (and my favorite) of this list enables you with a stunning view as well. It stands in Boston Bay High Camp in the state of Washington, USA and the mountain that you can marvel at while relieving yourself is the Johannesburg Mountain in the North Cascades national park. But, as riveting the mountain view and the landscape might be, I don’t think that I could enjoy all of this while sitting there on the toilet since, as you can see, there is no building, are no walls, just nothing around me to protect me from any looks, only a toilet seat in the middle of nowhere on a mountain. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable at all. Nevertheless, it’s a great idea.

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Now guys, that was the final one. As I said, this is only a selection of many toilets that are unusual or funny in some way and, well, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Maybe someone of you already sat on one of these toilets and did his business – who knows.