Poop-Themed Travel

Gotta Go (All Things Poop)

Poop-Themed Travel

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Poop-Themed Travel

Episode 26

Mary Poopins: Queen of #2

May 13, 2025

Transcript

Welcome to Episode 26: Flush with Excitement! Recently, while relaxing with a loved one, our conversation took an unexpected turn toward Fart Walks. This particular relative typically stays quiet when bodily functions enter the chat.

Yet here they were, suddenly animated and eloquent, extolling the therapeutic benefits and growing popularity of organized flatulence-focused strolls. Their eyes sparkled with enthusiasm while they described how these guided walks encouraged participants to release gas freely in nature's embrace, away from judgmental society.

“So many people are talking about this, but it's not new,” they shared.

It was one of those revelatory moments when I realized the true reach of this scatological safari we've been on together for 26 episodes. When even the most bathroom-bashful among us can't help but engage with enthusiasm, it confirms what I've suspected all along—this project speaks to something universal in the human experience, something we're collectively yearning to discuss more openly.

This conversation also reminded me that toilet talk isn’t just titillation or cheap laughs—it’s a connection. It’s the subtle art of breaking down walls (and wind) to talk about what we share, yet rarely say aloud.

Speaking of open discussions about closed-door activities, I was thrilled to receive a message about Poopoo Land from one of our first and most loyal supporters. I’d love to extend a giant heartfelt thanks to this talented pal for this fantastic tip! As summer travel season approaches, what is billed as a surprisingly wholesome poop theme park in South Korea rocketed to the top of mind.

I’ve never been to a poop museum, and the message instantly transported me back to pre-pandemic days, standing slack-jawed beneath the giant toilet-shaped restaurant near Taipei's bustling Shilin Night Market. That sight—a massive porcelain throne looming over food stalls and souvenir shops—sparked a curiosity that has only grown with time.

So, settle in, dear readers, for episode twenty-six of our ongoing exploration of toilet culture. Whether you’re new or stuck with us through the previous twenty-five installments, we promise this one will be pretty amazeballs!

Flush with Excitement: Poop-Themed Travel in Asia

Today, we dive feet first and hold our noses into the toilet-themed attractions of Asia, where bodily functions aren't shameful secrets but the basis for full-blown amusement parks and novelty restaurants. It’s tourism that’s flush with possibility—literally.

That one hot tip led us down the toilet bowl of discovery, dredging up everything from a fecal-themed amusement park in Seoul to a thriving porcelain-palace-meets-dining-hall in Taipei. Along the way, we asked hard-hitting questions: What happens when you slide out of a colon as a leisure activity? Is it okay to eat dessert shaped like a dump?

We’ve all heard that everyone poops, but not everyone builds an entire entertainment complex around it. Let's fix that—or at least document it. Grab your Squatty Potty; we’re off.

Poopoo Land: The Digestive Tract of Dreams (and Nightmares)

Opened in early 2016 as part of the Alive Museum complex in Seoul’s Insa-dong district, Poopoo Land quickly gained notoriety for its immersive and irreverent take on the digestive system. Inside, the three-story attraction took visitors on a cheeky journey through the human gut, from mouth to sphincter, with themed rooms full of toilet trivia, Squatty Potty sculptures, and a poop-themed slide finale.. Think: Escape Room meets Mr. Hankey from South Park, designed by your colonoscopy technician.

Visitors paid around 9,000 to 11,000 Korean won (roughly $7–$8 USD), which is shockingly cheap for the experience of sliding out of a colon in public. You were guided by characters like Ssari (a poop with a face) and Mari (his loyal TP companion), and yes, the slide finale mimicked being squeezed through the rectum of a giant fiberglass intestine. It was family fun, redefined.

There were educational exhibits on digestion, poop-emoji photo ops, and enough plush brown mascots to make a laxative commercial star weep with joy. Visitors were even handed special brown cloth 'poopoo pants' to wear down the signature slide—because if you’re going to simulate defecation, you may as well dress for the part. Atlas Obscura described it as a 'journey through the digestive system with a lighthearted tone, ending in an extreme poop-themed slide.'

Online reviews revealed a surprising demographic spread. While children predictably giggled through it, plenty of adult couples came for the novelty and stayed for the goofy photo ops. One TripAdvisor user wrote, “There were quite a lot of activities here, suitable for both kids and adults. In fact, there were quite a number of couples when I visited.” Makes me wonder, do these same couples schedule fart walks on the regular? Another guest shared, “Each room explained the digestive tract—until you get to the poop.”

Yet despite its loyal fan base and proximity to other quirky attractions like the Alive Museum and Dynamic Maze, Poopoo Land quietly shuttered around 2020. No formal announcement was made, but its disappearance from booking platforms, the absence of recent reviews, and the neighborhood’s evolving tourism focus all point to a quiet closure. The pandemic likely played a role, too—after all, COVID changed how we feel about shared surfaces. Sliding out of a giant colon in borrowed cloth pants suddenly felt more risky than whimsical. Some speculate that waning tourism and rising maintenance costs for the interactive exhibits played a role. Others point to a broader shift in the Insa-dong neighborhood’s offerings, from experiential to artisanal and gallery-focused. Either way, the poop park is no more. The experience has been, in every sense, wiped away.

Modern Toilet Restaurant: Dinner on the Throne

Launched in 2004 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the Modern Toilet Restaurant began as a cheeky dessert shop selling soft-serve ice cream shaped like poop. Within a few years, it expanded into a full-blown restaurant chain with over 19 locations across Taiwan and Hong Kong at its peak. As of 2024, only three Modern Toilet locations remain open in Taiwan. That means the restaurant, which celebrated its 20th year, isn’t just a gimmick; it’s a veteran of the novelty dining world, and it’s still going strong in its porcelain-plated way.

If Poopoo Land was where you learned about poop, Modern Toilet is where you eat poop. Figuratively. We hope.

Inspired by the Japanese manga Dr. Slump—specifically a character who delighted in twirling poop on a stick—Modern Toilet’s founder, Dao Ming Zi, started with a dessert shop that sold chocolate soft serve shaped like feces. The rapid success of this gross-out gimmick quickly snowballed into a full-fledged restaurant empire that ran wild with its theme. And by full-service, we mean every surface looks like it belongs in a lavatory.

Taipei’s Ximending district's flagship spans three gleefully excessive décor floors. Diners perch on actual toilet bowls bedazzled with glitter, faux flowers, or seashells. Tables are glass-topped sinks, and lighting comes as poop-shaped pendants dangling from plungers. Dining here feels like stepping into a plumber’s acid trip—equally ridiculous and remarkable.

As for the food, you get your money’s worth in novelty. Prices range from NT$280 to NT$340 for entrées (around $9–$11 USD), with drinks in urinal-shaped mugs and dessert ice cream designed to look like—you guessed it—doo-doo. “Urine Clots Mango Shaved Ice” and “Constipation Black Stool Chocolate Snow Shaving” are actual items on the menu. It’s culinary trolling at its finest.

Surprisingly, reviewers say it’s not bad. Blogger Johnny Ward of One Step 4Ward gave the food a “6.5 out of 10” and the atmosphere “a solid 10.” He ranks the restaurant among Taipei’s top five attractions alongside historic monuments and scenic gondola rides.

Do Not Use the Furniture

In 2018, a customer at the Hong Kong location of Modern Toilet mistook one of the decorative toilet seats for the real deal and defecated mid-meal. The restaurant closed for two weeks. It's an incident that lives in Yelp-review infamy. Lesson learned: if you make the toilets look too realistic, someone will try to christen them.

While the official documentation of the incident is understandably sparse on the gritty details, one can only imagine the unfolding scene. Did a server approach a table, only to be greeted by an unmistakable aroma that couldn't be attributed to the kitchen? Or perhaps a neighboring diner, expecting decorative faux-feces, suddenly realized they were witnessing the real thing?

The restaurant staff likely had protocols for various emergencies—fire drills, medical incidents, even the occasional food fight—but "customer using decorative toilet as actual toilet" probably wasn't covered in the employee handbook. Did they have a discreet code word, perhaps a "Code Brown" announced over staff headsets? Or was it more of a wide-eyed, frantic gesturing situation as realization dawned?

The logistics of the cleanup operation and subsequent two-week closure suggest this wasn't a simple matter of bringing out the mop. Professional sanitization crews were likely involved, and one imagines a thorough review of the furniture design followed. Perhaps more obvious "DO NOT USE" signage was implemented, or subtle design changes were made to make the seats less functional-looking.

Whatever the case, somewhere in Hong Kong, there is a former Modern Toilet employee with the ultimate restaurant war story—one that perfectly captures both the brilliance and the inherent risks of themed dining taken to its logical extreme. It's the hospitality equivalent of "be careful what you wish for"—create a restaurant that looks exactly like a bathroom, and eventually, someone will use it as one.

Why Go? Why Now?

This is really all about breaking the taboo. Poopoo Land and Modern Toilet let us laugh at what we do daily in societies where we pretend digestion doesn't exist. They’re unfiltered, joyful, and slightly disgusting spaces where shame gets flushed and silliness rules.

Also, they photograph extremely well. In our digital age, what beats a poop sundae in a urinal mug? These places aren’t just restaurants or museums—they’re memes you can eat. And isn’t that what tourism is really about?

Final Flush

We began with a fart walk and ended with a poop parfait. These places remind us that humor and humanity are often in the same place: the bathroom. Whether you're crawling through a colon in Seoul or sipping tea from a urinal in Taipei, you’re part of a grand human tradition: laughing about what comes out of us.

But what is it like to eat while sitting on a toilet across from your friend, sibling, or Tinder date? It’s probably hilariously awkward, oddly thrilling, and strangely bonding. There’s no other place in the world where you can clink urinal mugs over a curry served in a tiny commode and not be immediately asked to leave. The decor—plungers dangling from the ceiling, poop-shaped lights, roses blooming out of see-through toilet seats—feels like a fever dream.

All of this brings out the 10-year-old in all of us—the one who laughed at fart jokes and made poop sculptures out of Play-Doh. Eating on a toilet is a joyful rebellion against the uptight norms of dining etiquette. It’s anti-fine dining, pro-fun dining. And in a world that often rewards aesthetic over authenticity, these spaces invite us to let go. Literally and metaphorically.

More than just gimmicks, these venues offer a kind of cultural catharsis. They turn shame into spectacle, letting us face what we’ve been taught to hide, with a side of chocolate swirl. In Asia, where themed cafés thrive and novelty is seen as a feature, not a flaw, toilet tourism makes perfect sense. These are destinations where bathroom talk isn’t whispered—it’s sung, sculpted, and spooned out.

As travel blogger Caroline of Taiwanderers notes, "Modern Toilet might be a bit silly, but it's a reminder not to take life too seriously. Sometimes the best memories are the ones that make you laugh and cringe at the same time."

That philosophy has legs (and sometimes gas). Whether you're a selfie-seeker, a bathroom humor buff, or just someone tired of overpriced avocado toast, places like Poopoo Land and Modern Toilet offer a fresh flush of perspective. Travel is about stories; nothing guarantees a tale like dining on a toilet.

So go forth, travelers. Take pictures. Order dessert. And above all, aim carefully.

Legal & Disclaimer

This story is for informational and entertainment purposes only. No matter where you go when you gotta go, please consult a licensed doctor for all medical issues—especially if you're having trouble distinguishing between decorative toilet seats and functional ones. The views expressed here are those of Mary Poopins and do not constitute medical advice.

If you've enjoyed this deep dive into the world of toilet-themed dining in Episode 26, please consider supporting this groundbreaking scatological safari. Your contributions help fund research into important bathroom journalism, including future investigations into themed restaurants, unusual toilets worldwide, and the psychology behind our fascination with bodily functions.

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