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Top Obscura
The Creepiest Amusement Park of All Time? 
21 Amazing Bangalore Breakfast Dishes 
Why Chinese People Eat Sea Horse 
Classic Chinese Torture Methods (and their cute names) 
Amazing Old Bollywood Poster Shops 
Learn How to Speak North Korean 
The 38th Reich: Korean Nazi Cosplay 
Castration Classes at the Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall 
Beijing’s incredible (and completely fake) Disneyland 
Beijing’s Single Most Horrific Meal 
China’s all-time favorite (and all-time darkest?) comic book: Sanmao 
Prosthetic Noses, Red Wigs, and Whiteface… American Characters in Chinese Films 
This Hindu God has 1,000 Vaginas! 
Why Chinese People Eat Ants 
About Andy Deemer & AsiaObscura 
18 Terrible Moments from a Taoist Hell 
India’s Incredibly Cool Hand-Drawn Movie Posters 
Nazi Fashion in China 
Why Chinese People Eat Deer Penis 
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 Favorites 
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Hong Kong) 
The Poem I Can’t Find… 
The Sick Collector and His 1000 Pairs of Shoes 
Small Children Feeding Live Animals to Tigers in a Chinese Zoo 
Beijing’s Dongyue Temple and Their 19 Incredible Taoist Gods 
Why Chinese People Eat Snake as Medicine 
American Imperialist Bastards in a North Korean Comic Book 
Whoring in Chiang Mai 
A Postcard from Erenhot 
Dr Shankar’s Wonderful Collection of Brains and Other Medical Obscura 
Relive the Cultural Revolution (aka The Weirdest Dinner Theater in Beijing) 
Chisney & Koreansney: Local Disney Knockoffs - The Disastrous Fall of Sanmao
China’s first sci-fi movie: Death Ray on Coral Island (1980) 
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement Park 
Our Six Best China Stories! 
Porn, Rats, and Antique Projectors at Sri Lanka’s Classic Cinemas 
North Korea frightening customs declarations form 
The Taj Mahal… Murder, Incest, and Fratricide - Awesomely Steampunk Portable Corn Roaster
One Ghostly Cambodian Ruin 
Medicinal Sea Horse Soup 
On Horse Meat Sashimi 
Deranged Clown Cream Biscuits 
Antilia: The Most Gratuitous House in Mumbai 
Pyongyang Too: A Tribute to Guy Delisle - 15 More Pictures from weirdoid Tiger Balm Park
Mr. Chiizu: Great New Photobooth App 
A Huge Pile of Gorgeous Old Thai Movie Posters 
Sweet gruesome statue asking for donations
Author Archives: Andy Deemer
Theme Parks
Incredible Low-Tech Laotian Merry-Go-Round
When I was living in Kathmadu 20 years ago (yow!) this summer, I found this awesomely makeshift ferris wheel in a nearby theme park. A teenager would stand in the middle, and walk from one bar to the next, giving passengers a slow, staggered ride. Much more recently in southern Laos, down on the island Don Khon, ...
Fashionista
Amazing Skull Haircut on a Four-Year-Old
From the front, our 4-year-old neighbor appears to be sporting just another Mandinka warrior buzz.... But from the back.... I really hope this 8-bit-skull-shaved-into-the-back-of-the-head catches on. Reminds me of my old Troma pal Noah Scalin's Skull-A-Day project.
The Occult
Insanely Creepy Cambodian Scarecrows
It's so easy to be seduced by the beauty and simple peace of Cambodia... Oh, the temples, the jungles, the country roads. Although behind such breathtaking beauty sometimes there hides a wretched darkness. "Wha? What was that?" The first one we passed, we thought it was a man hiding in a bush. Waving a ...
Our Weird Projects
Vodka Bottles Taxidermied Into Mice
Now that we have our Chinese taxidermy certificates, Woo and I needed to get stuffing.A woman in Qingdao, after hours of discussions, agreed to send a friend to Beijing with a box of frozen rats. He took the all-night bus, and showed up with a dripping styrofoam box. "I got confused, and lost, and they ...
Lost in Translation
Cute Subway Sign
I thought this was so endearing...."Please take care oldster and child" on the Beijing subway escalators.
Modern Ruins, Theme Parks
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement Park
What is it with these half-built, then abandoned, Beijing amusement parks? We're old fans of The Romance Park of the Heart, which is filled with Swiss chalets, Siamese pagodas, and packs of wild dogs looking to tear your legs off. But we kept hearing about another one, in the opposite direction... Wonderland! Just ...
Lost in Translation
16 Awesome Menu Items
A sampling from the menus we've seen in the last year....And, for Woo...
Uncategorized
Happy Easter!
Here's another lamb-alicious clip from the 1975 cultural revolution ballet, "Sons & Daughters of the Grassland." Remember, while watching, that that lamb is a metaphor for something or other. Oh, I'm probably imagining that. Happy Easter, and enjoy!
Holy Curiosities
Celebrating Easter in China…
When you're in a country that doesn't officially celebrate Easter, like China, sometimes you get nervous. Will the Easter Bunny get his visa yanked at the last-minute? Are you sure those chocolate eggs are melamine-free? Is the holiday even legal here?Well, we had those same concerns too, but finally decided China's gonna love Easter!Good ...
Uncategorized
AquaWeird in Qingdao
Yesterday I posted about the strange fish you'll find in Qingdao's Huilan Pavilion (as seen on every Qingdao and Tsingtao bottle of beer) -- but that's not all you'll find inside. For your four kuai (about $0.60) admission, you'll enter a strange world of aquatic wonders. Like this bizarre lizard-fish...Actually, as a couple friends ...
Extraordinary Eats, The Occult
Lucky Fruit (and Ain’t So Lucky Fish)
Yesterday, these little nectarines showed up at the market. Dyed (branded? scalded? waxed? greased up with dirty stinking chemicals?) with Chinese characters, they read tall (高), shining (照), a thing (事) and happiness (喜). "No, no, no," said Echo, a good friend. "You've bought the wrong ones, and got them in the wrong ...
Other Obscura
Happy 99th Birthday, Kim Il-sung!
Okay, I know he's been dead for a long time -- 17 years -- but since he's still the official (eternal!) president of North Korea. And he'd be 100 99 today! So here are a handful of cute dear great pictures of the "Great Leader" (수령) from our last trip to the DPRK.
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
Film 101, with Guest Professor Kim Jong Il
(Happy Kim Il Sung's eternal birthday!)Sergei Eisenstein wrote extensively on film theory. As did Lloyd Kaufman. So, knowing what a film buff Kim Jong Il is, I was proud to see he'd already hopped on that bandwagon. I recently picked up his fascinating 1987 treatise on filmmaking techniques, "The Cinema and Directing." It's short at ...
Theme Parks
Tongzhou’s "Kids with Measles" Ride
I don't know if I'd feel too comfortable getting close to these kids.... let alone allow my children to ride their backs...
Animal Stuffing
The Chinese Taxidermy Diaries: The Last Few Days
The taxidermy school days ended as they began: just plain weird. On day seven, Teacher Liu defrosted four squirrels, patchy black and white rodents frozen together in a block of ice. They looked a little like they were caught spooning in an ice storm. But as they defrosted, and we worked on them, their hair fell ...
Modern Ruins, The Occult
Fake Graveyards outside Beijing
The Beijing suburbs are expanding like mad.We spent the last ten days living in a small Tongzhou village, an hour east of Beijing, and construction was non-stop. Every day we were there, a ramshackle house was torn down and replaced by a building site. New walls would go up in hours. Bricks and dust were ...
AO Events
AsiaObscura.com presents A Trip to Beijing World Park – May 7th!
Saturday, May 7th at 1pmWhy go all the way to Badaling when the Great Wall is right here in Beijing? Join AsiaObscura.com, as we spend a day exploring the eccentricities of Beijing World Park (北京世界公园), the city's quirkiest amusement park. Experience the skyscrapers of Manhattan, the pyramids of Cairo, and even the Taj Mahal of ...
Animal Stuffing
The Chinese Taxidermy Diaries: Day Seven
I finished my first animal!!!"Mommy, why can't I go outside and play?"
Animal Stuffing
The Chinese Taxidermy Diaries: Days Four to Six
Mr Zhou's a generous man. He loves to hand out smokes. As Michelle and I were working on our sheep heads, he shoved pre-lit cigarettes in our mouths. "Smoke," he insisted, in his thick northern accent, then pounded from the room. There we were: fags in mouths, scalpels in hands, like real professionals. Later, I ...
Uncategorized
Siamese fighting fish
We're still deep in the trenches at the taxidermy school outside Beijing, but I thought I'd take a moment to remember some living animals we came across, recently: Cambodian fighting fish. The males of the species will live for 2 or 3 years, it's said, and maybe even 7 or 9 if fed right... but if ...
Animal Stuffing
The Chinese Taxidermy Diaries: Day Three
Day One started with flaying a dog, and Day Two started with flaying a baby dog. So when day three started with Teacher Liu saying, over breakfast, "I think you'll do a sheep's head today," I cheered with glee. I almost spilled my bowl of fresh soy milk & nescafe. Little did I realize, ...
Extraordinary Eats
Fish Heads in the Hutongs
Walking through Beijing, I'm never sure whether things are to be thrown away, or if they're the meal being prepared.
Animal Stuffing
The Chinese Taxidermy Diaries: The Second Day
That first day was a trial. We'd flayed a dog's legs, and worked the bones from the feet. But that was nothing compared to the second. "We've got two squirrels for you this morning," Teacher Liu said at breakfast. I was thrilled -- a squirrel sounded like something I could do all of, myself. But when ...
Strange Medicine
Why Chinese People Eat Sea Horse
Every time I pass by one of those classic Chinese pharmacies, I can't help but stop and wonder... And a few months ago, I decided to find out. This is the final part in my "Strange TCM" series, following "eating snake for healthier skin," "eating ants to keep that lustrous hair," "deer penis will keep ...
Animal Stuffing
The Chinese Taxidermy Diaries: The First Day
"Was he killed?" asked Xiao Li, as he was carefully slicing around the ear, trying to get at the tendon inside. "No," said Teacher Liu. "He just died a few days ago." "Died of what?" "I don't know. Don't ask me." "He must have died of something." "He just died. He was old. Really old." "Was he a pet?" "Yes. But he's ...
Animal Stuffing
Off to Taxidermy School
Woo and I have long shared a love of stuffed animals, so it's time to make it true. This morning, we're driving off to Songzhuang Artists Village with two lads from Harbin for a 10-day taxidermist training workshop. A couple of Woo's preview snaps, from our visit last weekend. I just hope my stomach ...
Cute & Kawaii, Extraordinary Eats
Soy Sauce Kit Kats (and other awesome flavors)
I was a little confused about the Tokyo airport when I flew through there a few weeks ago. It seemed so... rundown. Ceiling tiles missing, chairs blocking entrances, stores closed. And then I saw this sign. Uh-oh. What had I missed during my media blockout? Turns out the third reactor was ...
Historical Wonders, Life in Miniature, Modern Ruins
Modern Day Cavemen of Shanxi
Recently, Woo and I were in rural Shanxi Province, and noticed a series of caves carved into the landscape, off in the distance. They were just dark shadows, really, but they were clearly man-made. "Before, did people live there?" we asked the cab driver, like the good tourists that we were. "Yes, but they still live there ...
Theme Parks
Outsider Art Kangaroos at the Beijing Zoo
I wasn't much impressed with the Beijing zoo. Quite the contrary... I was absolutely horrified. We left depressed. (See this story for a hint of the madness.) But on the upside, while we saw no live kangaroos, we did happen on these lovely grazing sculptures, made from pieces of found wood. It felt more like something ...
Offbeat Museums
The Best Stamps from Beijing’s Incredible Stamp Museum (including 3-D North Korean stamps!)
Continuing on from yesterday's post, here are my six top favorite collections from Beijing's wonderful stamp and post museum.... Sorry for the spoiler above. But it's just... too weird. 6. Table Tennis What's there not to love about table tennis? Mao adored it, so did Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Enlai. Plus, there's always the ...
Offbeat Museums
Incredible Chinese Stamp Museum (first of two)
I'm not a stamp geek. My dad is, my nephew is... but to be perfectly honest, I had some low expectations for the Beijing Stamp Museum. Even with free admission, four floors, over one million stamps, and "for rent" magnifying glasses, Michelle and I were the only visitors. But I have to admit, this museum is ...
Cute & Kawaii, Somewhat Perverted
And we’re back…
Sorry for the silence. China got wise to the VPN, and issues had to be resolved. But we're back. Hopefully for a while, at least.While we pop the bottles of silkworm baijiu and seahorse bourbon, here's a photo from last night's dinner at Beijing's newest maid cafe. (Sure, Japan had sexy 19th century French maids ...