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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.
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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: The Occult
Shameless Promotion, The Occult
Phnom Penh Insider Investigates AsiaObscura
A few months ago, we ran a rather scandalous report on the insane ting mong scarecrows we'd spotted in the jungles of Cambodia. They were terrifying, but we knew almost nothing about them. Our driver was vague, the hotel receptionist insisted she'd never seen them before. So we slapped up the photos, ...
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 ...
Holy Curiosities, The Occult
The Modern Afterlife
With Melaka being a culture mix of Indian, Malay, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese, amongst others, local customs are very much honored and preserved. Buddhists, keeping up with modern times, offer their ancestors the very best in the afterlife. Apart from the expected cash to spend and incense to purify and keep them from ...
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 ...
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 ...
Historical Wonders, Holy Curiosities, The Occult
Keep the Evil Away For Chinese New Year
In Zhangbi, an ancient Shanxi village surrounded by sprawling factories, we just discovered the perfect antidote for bad ghosts... and it's.... Apparently, cypress! I'm not sure how prevalent this is across China, but every old Zhangbi door had a sprig of cypress shoved into it. "避邪," explained the guide Lucy, who had no idea how to explain ...
The Occult
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 something so completely wonderful: a street of fortune tellers. Rows of them, one after another after another. I was astounded. I didn't know what to do, where to go. So I tried to see ...
The Occult
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Mongolia)
"I don't think you can see the Shamen," the fixer murmured. He watched his cup, the table, a fly, anything that wasn't our eyes. "They are far from here. In the mountains. It would take a long time to see them." He traced a line along a creased map of ...
The Occult
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Don Khon, Laos)
We got lucky in Don Khon -- the island's annual celebrations were well underway the weekend we were there. Here in southern Laos, evidently "big celebrations" means "get mad drunk and hit the temples," cos that's what everyone did. The Wat laid out a huge spread, with hand-cranked carousels, dart gambling, cover bands, and tons ...
Historical Wonders, Holy Curiosities, Offbeat Museums, The Occult
The Craziest Holy Sculptor in Laos
The long, slow, dusty bus-ride cost 20 cents and took lord knows how long. But eventually it delivered us to the incredible Buddha Park. You see, 40 or so years ago, some loony Lao was hiking along a remote mountain trace, accidentally tripped, and fell into a hole. A deep hole. It was a lot like ...
The Occult
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Chiang Rai, Thailand)
After the ugly Burmese reading (become a used car salesman / stay indoors after dark / don't date until April), I had to go in for a second opinion. So today I tried this Chiang Rai palm-reader. He must be good. He read palms with one glass eye. "You are 36?" He didn't speak ...
The Occult
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Myawaddy, Burma)
The Burmese palm reader warned me not to invest, or date women, until April. "You will be very unlucky." And to stay in after 9pm, "unless you go out with a friend." After referencing a chart in a book, he decided selling cars would be a good career. "Do you have any questions ...