Pee See

Two months ago I spoke at a marketing conference in Istanbul, Turkey. I stayed at the Conrad hotel. It has men’s bathroom with two urinals that provide a stunning view of the Bosphorus.

Naturally, I took a picture of these urinals and their view. Unnaturally, I showed the picture in my speech and mentioned that these urinals have the best view of any urinals in the world. A newspaper picked up this description and asked me for a copy of the picture.

Later I found out that the newspaper ran this story. The headline, I’ve been told, says, “Kawasaki: I peed against the view of Bosphorus and it was great.”

No additional speaking gigs in Istanbul have been forthcoming.

Written at Ilikai Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii

Comments

[Ric]

@Peter Q - there's a pub ("hotel" for you non-Australians) in Darwin with a similar set up - looking out over the restaurant - filled with people eating dinner - very disconcerting!
Also a newly re-furbished pub here in Adelaide where the toilet is unisex, has only cubicles, and the cubicle doors are clear - until you latch them!

[Gregg]

What a fabulous headline, of course many read his/her article due it and in turn may have done a bit of googling/yahooing/digging of your name in turn. Not that it would look good on a tshirt, or maybe it would.
Good post.

[Frank Baird]

So, is there somewhere we can view this picture that Guy took?

[raj]

Guy,

In India more than open air peeing the problem is from open air spitting( red colored betel, tobacco & saliva chew) – people spit on all possible places- like office walls, staircases, cinema house walls, urinals, near statues and what not. An innovative thinking state government has decided to counter this by placing pictures of gods and deities in all ‘targeted’ spitting places with a simple logic- Reverences for the religion would deter the culprit from spitting publicly.
Raj

[Anonymous Coward]

I just love this kind of news. I remember seeing something about Michael Schumacher in the headlines. He saw Bosphorus and asked what "river" was it! Here, we have world-famous marketing guru, he goes to Istanbul (it is an open-air museum, history, culture) and talks about "urinals". What would you expect? That's a news for me!

[Thomas Lee]

Heh another instance of the press royally messing up a news story.

Must have been a slow news day too...

[olivier blanchard]

And they said good copy was dead.

[David Greusel]

Guy:
This story reminds me of a favorite story. I'm an architect, and was lead designer for PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. One day, while the ballpark was still under construction, a cab driver asked me if there were going to be windows in the men's rooms. When I asked why he would ask such a question, he responded, "Well, I heard they were calling it 'Pee 'n' See Park'!"

[DDetroit]

Believe it or not I have been collecting pics of urinals around the world for several years now. I should put them in FilmLoop!

[Wolfgang Ante]

The ultimate toilet:
http://www.artissoftware.de/toilet.jpg

Am I crazy to write something like this in a public blog so people will find it in years to come? :-)

[Rafael Sidi]

Guy,
I think this is an "unfortunate" headline for a newspaper. I am not sure sure if someone translated the article to you, but the article states that you said that if one leaves the coffee ground in the turkish coffee glass, the person would be put in jail for dangering the anvironment in the US. Probably this was another nonsense by the writer.

rafael

[Peter q]

Guy,

You have some experience to gain on exotic urinals.

At the top of chifley Plaza building in sydney, is an excellent restaurant, called 42 (42nd (and 41st floor). This was originally built as an apartment/penthouse for Alan Bond.

The urinals are up against a floor to ceiling window. it feels like you are urinating on Sydney.

Also, in cairns, in Australia, there is a restaurant (name eludes me.) The urinal backs to a one way mirror, out to their garden bar. disconcerting trying to get "started" with view of women etc outside...

q

[paulmerrill]

You should come to Nairobi. If you haven't experienced Africa, it's a great place to start.

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