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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) 
The 38th Reich: Korean Nazi Cosplay 
Castration Classes at the Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall 
Amazing Old Bollywood Poster Shops 
China’s all-time favorite (and all-time darkest?) comic book: Sanmao 
Beijing’s incredible (and completely fake) Disneyland 
Why Chinese People Eat Ants 
Prosthetic Noses, Red Wigs, and Whiteface… American Characters in Chinese Films 
Nazi Fashion in China 
Learn How to Speak North Korean 
This Hindu God has 1,000 Vaginas! 
Beijing’s Single Most Horrific Meal 
India’s Incredibly Cool Hand-Drawn Movie Posters 
About Andy Deemer & AsiaObscura 
The Sick Collector and His 1000 Pairs of Shoes 
Small Children Feeding Live Animals to Tigers in a Chinese Zoo 
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Hong Kong) 
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 Favorites 
Chisney & Koreansney: Local Disney Knockoffs 
Why Chinese People Eat Deer Penis 
One Ghostly Cambodian Ruin 
Whoring in Chiang Mai 
18 Terrible Moments from a Taoist Hell 
A Huge Pile of Gorgeous Old Thai Movie Posters 
Dr Shankar’s Wonderful Collection of Brains and Other Medical Obscura 
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement Park 
Heavy Petting in Seoul 
Sweet gruesome statue asking for donations 
Porn, Rats, and Antique Projectors at Sri Lanka’s Classic Cinemas 
Our Six Best China Stories! 
American Imperialist Bastards in a North Korean Comic Book 
Best Pix from Bangalore’s First Ever ComicCon 
Beijing’s Dongyue Temple and Their 19 Incredible Taoist Gods 
Relive the Cultural Revolution (aka The Weirdest Dinner Theater in Beijing) 
The Great Chinese Chip Taste-Off 
Metropolis finally finds the right marketing campaign… - 15 More Pictures from weirdoid Tiger Balm Park
The Bold Boys of Korean Cosplay 
Return to Fake Disneyland? Sweeeeeet! 
Why Chinese People Eat Snake as Medicine 
The Poem I Can’t Find… - The Disastrous Fall of Sanmao
On Horse Meat Sashimi 
A Postcard from Erenhot 
North Korea frightening customs declarations form 
13 Amazing Indian Circus Posters 
Possibly the Best Menu of All Time
Category Archives: Other Obscura
Other Obscura
The Poem I Can’t Find…
I spent the weekend on a Dutch barge on a French canal, working towards my helmer's license. Being back in France after so many years was perfect. A cold wet breeze over endless fields of rapeseed. A massive wheel in my hands, hands that had been ripped up by old ropes. A cyclist ...
Other Obscura
Antilia: The Most Gratuitous House in Mumbai
When you're in Bombay, a great way to get some context is start in the alleyways of Dharavi, one of the largest slums in the world. About a million people live here, crammed into 0.67 square miles. "It's like mainlining gratitude for how much we have to be thankful for," said my old pal Chris. I couldn't ...
Other Obscura
Dr. Ambedkar in Duplicate
For the last year, our local Dr. Ambedkar statue has been surrounded by rubble and faced by a 14-foot block of blue tarp. He's the second most important figure in Indian politics. He wrote the constitution. He led the untouchable rights movement. He wears awesome glasses. Well, this morning some kids took down ...
Other Obscura
Hartleyhenge, North Carolina’s Strange Stonehenge
We found this strange spiral of stones in the middle of a North Carolina field. "Welcome to Hartleyhenge," said Scotty. "I'm not even sure if Hartleyhenge is the real name," he admitted, "but that's what we call it around here." There's no sign, and no information. A friend of Scotty's, John Hartley, built it ...
Other Obscura
Starbucks: The Newest Chinese Snooze Spot
Curled up, cuddled up, under a coat -- that's the right way to sleep at the Gongti Beilu Starbucks. These aren't homeless winos, but students, fashionistas, men in suits. And these aren't all naps. One woman, below, slept for four hours. People sat down, got janked up, left, and she kept ...
Other Obscura
Canine Defectors, Bollywood Muppets, Stewed Koala, and other sweet links
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen these, but... In North Korean news, the country's first dog has officially defected. Guess it's really bad out there. Starving factory employees are asking their wealthy South Korea bosses, "Can you give us cash instead of these choco pies... please!?!" (Or at least ...
Other Obscura
Why I Love Seoul’s Subway So Darn Much
1. Unexpected Unused Gazebos 2. Miniature Misplaced Gardens 3. Quite Strange Schedule Posters 4. Caves. Deep Wonderful Caves. 5. And then, most of all, this. Oh, sweet sweet Seoul...
Other Obscura
Our Six Best China Stories!
Happy 61st 62nd birthday, China! (And happy 39th birthday, me!) In honor of this grand celebration of the founding of the People's Republic of China, today we decided to sift through the AsiaObscura archives, and return to our wildest, most popular China stories of 2011! And so, in order of pageviews.... 6. The Sick Collector ...
Other Obscura
One Politician You Can Count On
We haven't set foot in Bangkok in far too long. Months. But fortunately, AsiaObscura eyes are growing more populous, and reader Matt Smith wrote in with this great pair of electoral campaign posters. What a smile! What a dog! (Pity about that shit kid he had to deal with.) You can surely find ...
Other Obscura
Creepy Beijing Murals… in a Playground
Over at Beijing Kids, Mike Wester just posted photos of the great (and whoa-disturbing) murals from the Beijing Fundazzle play center. "Fundazzle, the indoor play warehouse," he writes, "has undergone a bit of a facelift, with a new coat of paint, new carpets and a general sprucing up for 2011." So was it John Wayne ...
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.
Other Obscura
The Incredible Furniture of North Korea
We all knew the DPRK would be fastidious in their care for appearances. Their garish carpets and upholstery harked back to a bygone time (the 60s? even then it probably wasn't in fashion). What I didn't expect was how much they liked their symmetry. Also, although these set ups had their charm and air of welcome, ...
Other Obscura, Uncategorized
Little Thai MonkeyRatPig Thing
Does anyone have any idea what this is? It was sitting in a cage outside some Bangkok restaurant (to be eaten? or just as an oddity?) It's not a gerbil, not a guinea pig... So what is it? Kinda cute, in an ugly way....
Other Obscura, Strange Medicine
My doctor’s incredible office design…
I'm not sure what's more disturbing: this doctor's office interior decor sensibility, or the fact that I still let her dig around in my ear canal. (The camera is pretty exactly vertical.)
Other Obscura
Just hanging around
The Chinese know how to lounge. You can often see them hanging about, as documented in www.sleepingchinese.com. Their things are also pretty good at hanging around...
Other Obscura
Tianjin’s Amazing Road Signs
Driving in China is pure madness, so good street signs are really important. Tianjin clearly has that problem solved. Sof shot these awesome puppies when we were down there last weekend. (Translations unnecessary for most of them.) 系安全带 保平安行 Fasten seat belt Preserve safe travel 醉在酒中 毁在杯中 Drunk on wine Destroyed in the cup (???) 疲劳驾驶 危及生命 Weary driving ...