-
-
Top Obscura
The 38th Reich: Korean Nazi CosplayA couple of days ago, I posted my favorite pictures of cute Korean cosplay girls -- but that's the light-hearted side of 
India’s Incredibly Cool Hand-Drawn Movie PostersVisit the Bollywood poster store now
Ramachandraiah prints movie posters for a living. He's done it ever since 1 
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 FavoritesWhile sex workers were planning to set themselves on fire across town (thanks, Comrade Joe), M and I were deep in Comic 
The Creepiest Amusement Park of All Time?Singapore is bland. It's a high-priced row of shopping malls and fine eateries, with a few hawker markets thrown in. " 
Classic Chinese Torture Methods (and their cute names)From the strange reign of Empress Wu Zetian (690-705):
"Inviting the Gentleman into the Jug" - Place the victim in a 
Beijing’s incredible (and completely fake) DisneylandI was always sad Beijing didn't have a Disneyland for weekend fun, but it turns out we do. Well, a fake one. Not far f 
Castration Classes at the Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition HallThe first time I ever met The Professor, he told me about the eunuch museum. He didn't say much. Just that there was o 
The Cockiest Shrine in BangkokAt Bangkok's Goddess Tuptim Shrine, there's something prickly going down.
At this veritable penis park, there a 
Prosthetic Noses, Red Wigs, and Whiteface… American Characters in Chinese FilmsHollywood's never been too subtle when it comes to Asia.
Mickey Rooney, yellow-skinned, buck-toothed and slanty-eyed 
Philadelphia CheeseSteak Ice Cream"That's possibly the worst idea I've ever heard."
Michelle didn't use these words lightly. She didn't say this when 
China’s all-time favorite (and all-time darkest?) comic book: SanmaoNot many foreigners know about Sanmao. Here in China, though, he’s bigger than Disney.
He's as prone to mischief 
Nazi Fashion in ChinaThat's twice I've seen guys on my street wearing the Nazi iron cross.
The first was an office worker on lunch break. 
Hello Kitty & Cuppuccino!Shoved in a back alley of Seoul's hip Hongdae neighborhood, sandwiched somewhere between "Luxury Ho" Bar and the "F**kFa 
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement ParkWhat is it with these half-built, then abandoned, Beijing amusement parks? We're old fans of The Romance Park of the He 
Beyond the Valley of the Dwarfs: The Strangest Theme Park Ever?"Before coming here, I was tending cattle, and feeding pigs," Xiao Cao told me. "I never even knew how to dance."
"A 
One Ghostly Cambodian Ruin
It used to be a retreat. 90 years ago, the French spent 9 months building Bokor Hill Station up as the ultimate get 
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Hong Kong)Temple Street night market is amazing. Past the hawkers of clothes, bootleg DVDs, sex toys and octopus porn, there lies 
Porn, Rats, and Antique Projectors at Sri Lanka’s Classic CinemasWe heard there were rats in The Liberty. That it smelled like urine. That the sound was awful. But it's the most famo 
Beijing’s Dongyue Temple and Their 19 Incredible Taoist GodsSo the rapture left you behind, eh? Feeling cheated? Looking for a new deity?
Try Taoism. These gods will kick 
Disgusting, Deranged, and Totally BrilliantI’m not a great filmmaker. Or a famous one. If I was, I wouldn’t have ended up drenched in a 3AM rainstorm of the roof o 
The Sick Collector and His 1000 Pairs of ShoesYang Shaorong lives in a small Shanghai apartment. He collects women's shoes. Tiny shoes. Shoes for bound feet.
" 
Mr. Chiizu: Great New Photobooth AppI stumbled into an old karaoke pal on twitter this weekend. He's now developing iPhone apps. His latest? A stickerbooth 
Only Looking (ミテルだけ) 33> 
Medicinal Sea Horse SoupI adore TCM. But I don't know what to say about this bowl of "Pigeon Soup with Chinese Medicine" we ordered last night 
Chisney & Koreansney: Local Disney KnockoffsWe already have a Beijing ChineDisneyland, and the abandoned WonderDisneyLand. But what about these Disney knockoffs... 
Learn How to Speak North KoreanOn our recent trip to Pyongyang, we picked up this incredible guide to speaking Korean -- clearly with a northern bent. 
AsiaObscura is Moving to IndiaIn a bit of a fit of madness, Michelle and I have decided to move to India. Instead of doing things in a long, planned o 
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 Beijin 
18 Terrible Moments from a Taoist HellA few weeks ago, I posted about the Incredible Taoist Gods -- cool court officers tasked with enforcing rules of life an 
Sweet gruesome statue asking for donations(Also known as "The most bad-ass 'donations please' advertisement ever conceived" - io9)
Halfway between the hippie-m 
A Postcard from ErenhotTwo small dogs are attacking a homeless man, while I'm nursing my lingering fever with sidewalk kebabs and a bottle of Y - North Korean StampsTwo different directions.
(I think these were sent to me by the awesome David & Michelle F, who we met in a t
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," s 
Strange TCM #3: Eating a deer’s penis… some people swear by it!Every time I pass by one of those classic Chinese pharmacies, I can't help but stop and wonder... why on earth would som 
Plants vs Zombies, The Chinese Knockoff ToysZombies -- along with time-travel -- are banned in China. (So don't watch my Beijing zombie music video, Zombie Girl.
Category Archives: Other Obscura
Other Obscura
When You Have No Clothes Line…
...why not use a bicycle parking lot? (My hybrid was hidden under there, somewhere.)
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...