Decor/style 
Odor 
Facilities 
Flush Type 
Overall Experience 
What I did #1
On 30th April 1975, the lead tank of Liberation Army 390 flattened the front gate of the Independence Palace in Saigon, and Lieutenant Bui Quang Than was able to hoist the flag of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of The People of Vietnam over the building, bringing 30 years of brutal conflict to an end. President Duong Van Minh and the government of South Vietnam were forced out of the Palace, leaving behind this toilet.
The first thing to note is that for a palace, the toilet was not very palatial. The entrance was not guarded by life-sized golden lions, nor formidable men in armour, but by dangly strips of colored plastic. The interior was really quite small, with only two urinals and one sitting down/bowl type facility. There were no jewel encrusted flush-handles, nor ermine lined lavatory-seats.
However, what the room lacked in size, it amply made up for in light and airiness, with a huge open window that looked out onto the palace lawn (and presumably let the people on the lawn look in). This window was flanked by heavy, brocaded curtains, held in place by knots of golden rope; really the only clue that we were dealing with the toilet of an actual palace here, as opposed to say, the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Overall, the whole room looked a bit bruised and unhappy, like it really hadn’t seen any action (or the business end of a toilet brush) since April 1975. It also smelled as though a few of the valiant soldiers of Liberation Army 390 had liberated themselves there, and (caught up in the atmosphere of revolutionary zeal) neglected to flush. In the corner beneath one of the urinals there was an unsavory looking drain with a grate in it that had become dislodged and was sitting suspended in slime. It looked like something might pop its head out if you took the time to watch and wait.
(In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that this post was composed not by Winnie herself, but by her father, channelling her spirit from several thousand miles away; this is in general not to be encouraged, but it’s not every day you get to poke about in a bathroom of such éclat and historical significance).










































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