Some of the world's most fascinating "thrones"
Everything from eco-thrones made of sticks and stones to porcelain pews with incredible views to audacious attention-seeking urban outhouses can now be found in one place - "Toilets: A Spotter's Guide." Just published by Lonely Planet it may well be the most interesting (or useful) guidebook you will ever own, with more than 100 restrooms to remember featured.
"As any experienced traveler knows, you can tell a whole lot about a place by its bathrooms," says Lonely Planet's intro.
Here are a just a few that provide a "window" onto the world that could be considered works of art as well as extremely useful... particularly in those more remote destinations around the planet. They might entice you plan a "toilet tour" for your next vacation.
In this photo, the ever-so-alfresco ablution station in the middle of the Icelandic outback, near Krafla Geothermal Power Station, is an enigma. No one seems to know who installed it, or why, but when it need who cares. It might be best not to wonder about the plumbing apparatus connecting the toilet and shower facility.
Toilets around the world - Canada
One can truly heed the call of nature with this eco-toilet to be found in Taylor Arm Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada.
We call them lavatories, loos, bogs, khasis, thunderboxes, dunnies, water closets and bathrooms, but we all need them. This one comes with a view of the great outdoors, but you might have to watch out for bears.
Toilets around the world - Berlin
This uber modern silvery men's restroom can be found at the Helmut Jahn-designed Sony Center in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, Germany.
Toilets around the world - Tunisia
Chott el Djerid, a large salt lake in southern Tunisia, was used as the setting for Luke Skywalker's boyhood home in the original Star Wars film. The Lars' subterranean homestead may have been destroyed, but the Galactic Empire failed to extinguish the new hope represented by these roadside "comfort" toilets.
Toilets as art.
Toilets around the world - Nepal
At 6812m (22,350 ft) high, eastern Nepal's Ama Dablam might not be one of the tallest Himalayan peaks, but it's possibly the most eye-poppingly beautiful. There's no better place to sit and contemplet its magnificence than on the perfectly positioned throne at the lodge-village of Chukhung, 2000m (6560 ft) beneath the summit of Everest.
Toilets around the world - space
A side profile view of a toilet designed for use in space. Essential and high-techie. Performing basic human functions in zero gravity is complicated to say the least. A suction system helps things travel in the desirable direction to avoid "floaters."
Toilets around the world - Utah
If you don't mind a mob of wild dogs standing guard as you attend to your business this is the portable toilet for you in Monument Valley, Utah.
Toilets around the world - India
Thiksey is a Tibetan monastery of the Yellow Hat (Gelugpa) sect. Located on a hilltop about 20km (12.5 miles) from Leh in Ladakh, India, lamas here live quiet lives dedicated to the cultivation of the view of emptiness... but at least they have a great valley vista from their "panorama toilet".
Toilets around the world - Belize
Eat your heart out Robinson Crusoe. This paradisiacal punctuation mark in the Caribbean Sea off Placencia, Belize, boasts its own flushing throne, from where the king or queen of the castaways can survey their desert-island domain. It's a long way to the shops when you run out of paper, though.
Toilets around the world - Brazil
Jericoacoara Beach in Brazil is a hidden gem that has recently become a hotspot for travelers questing for blue lagoons, sun-blasted sand, tranquil seas and immense dunes. They've even had to build these his-and-hers palm-frond beach bogs.
Toilets around the world - China
A toilet waterfall made from 10,000 toilets, sinks and urinals in Foshan, China, the world's ceramic capital.
The installation, which is 100m (330 ft) long and 5m (16 ft) high, is the handy work of Chinese artist Shu Yong, who used factory seconds and pre-loved pans to create his masterpiece.
We don't think they're still operational for their original purposes, however.
Toilets around the world - Tanzania
Taking the concept of a long-drop toilet to extremes, this one lets you squat on the edge of a cliff 4600m up the flanks of Mt. Kilimanjaro at Barafu Camp, Tanzania.
Toilets around the world
For more enticing toilets from Lonely Planet: "Toilets: A Spotter's Guide"