Four toilets from the Chungyo Department Store in Greater Taichung were featured on a list of the world’s top 10 public restrooms recently announced by the UK-based Cheapflights Web site.
The list, released to celebrate Toilet Day on Nov. 19, featured themed Taiwanese toilets alongside restrooms from New Zealand, Alaska, Japan, Texas and countries throughout Europe.
According to Chungyo Department Store, it began renovation on 16 of its 49 public restrooms in 2003 and planned to give each of them a different theme.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
The renovated bathrooms have attracted hordes of tourists, many of whom take pictures inside the elaborately decorated rooms. The toilets have also been covered in Time magazine.
The four themed restrooms chosen by the Cheapflights Web site were “Secret Garden” on the 12th floor of the department store complex’s Building A, “Under the Sea” on the seventh floor of Building C, “Coca Cola” on the 10th floor of Building A, and “Heineken” on the sixth floor of Building A.
The department store’s “Shadow and Light” bathroom received the Greater Taichung County Government Lifetime Achievement award for cleanliness based on it consistently receiving an A+ rating in the city government’s Environmental Protection Bureau public restroom assessments.
On Thursday, the department store announced the opening of two more newly renovated themed restrooms — “Sweet Chocolate” on the third floor of Building A and “Romantic Burgundy” on the second floor of Building C.
The department store said the design of the “Sweet Chocolate” room is based on the candy house from the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, while “Burgundy” was based on the color burgundy, adding that it hoped to attract more tourists to the store and netizens to its Web site.
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