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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 
Beijing’s incredible (and completely fake) Disneyland 
The 38th Reich: Korean Nazi Cosplay 
Castration Classes at the Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall 
China’s all-time favorite (and all-time darkest?) comic book: Sanmao 
Prosthetic Noses, Red Wigs, and Whiteface… American Characters in Chinese Films 
Beijing’s Single Most Horrific Meal 
Learn How to Speak North Korean 
Why Chinese People Eat Ants 
This Hindu God has 1,000 Vaginas! 
Nazi Fashion in China 
18 Terrible Moments from a Taoist Hell 
India’s Incredibly Cool Hand-Drawn Movie Posters 
About Andy Deemer & AsiaObscura 
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 Favorites 
The Poem I Can’t Find… 
Why Chinese People Eat Deer Penis 
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Hong Kong) 
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 
Whoring in Chiang Mai 
Our Six Best China Stories! 
American Imperialist Bastards in a North Korean Comic Book 
Dr Shankar’s Wonderful Collection of Brains and Other Medical Obscura 
A Postcard from Erenhot 
Chisney & Koreansney: Local Disney Knockoffs 
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement Park 
Porn, Rats, and Antique Projectors at Sri Lanka’s Classic Cinemas - The Disastrous Fall of Sanmao
Relive the Cultural Revolution (aka The Weirdest Dinner Theater in Beijing) 
One Ghostly Cambodian Ruin 
Medicinal Sea Horse Soup - 15 More Pictures from weirdoid Tiger Balm Park
The Great Chinese Chip Taste-Off 
A Huge Pile of Gorgeous Old Thai Movie Posters - Awesomely Steampunk Portable Corn Roaster
China’s first sci-fi movie: Death Ray on Coral Island (1980) 
North Korea frightening customs declarations form 
Sweet gruesome statue asking for donations 
The Taj Mahal… Murder, Incest, and Fratricide 
On Horse Meat Sashimi 
Pyongyang Too: A Tribute to Guy Delisle 
North Korean traffic lights… um… robot ladies. 
Antilia: The Most Gratuitous House in Mumbai
Tag Archives: food
Extraordinary Eats
21 Amazing Bangalore Breakfast Dishes
The first time I saw the menu, I was lost. Sure, I knew dosas and idlis, but that was as far as it went. The other items were utterly alien to me. And so I did the only thing I could: I decided to eat them all. It took longer than expected. Tasted better than ...
Extraordinary Eats
Badminton Theme Restaurant
The Professor just cycled by this brand spanking new Wangjing eatery. "Shuttlecock shaped plates?" he offered. "Badminton-racket-strained spaghetti?" As long as they allow hairpin net shots, I'm in!
Lost in Translation
Uighur Poetry
Local Xinjiang menu doubles as undiscovered Situationist/Dada manifesto... All seen at 都市同心阁 (also known as "Concentric Urban Court" or "One-Hearted City Pavilion"), Gongti Beilu. Avoid the dodgy 串。
AO Events, Extraordinary Eats, Lost in Translation
Sheep Placenta AIDS Soup
Sure, every restaurant may have a maggot-filled dish called Insect Story, and what's a Chinese restaurant without a Jacopetti-inspired Monkey Head offering (even if it is just a bowl of fried mushrooms). I don't know, however, of a single other Beijing restaurant that boasts acquired immune deficiency syndrome sheep placenta soup. That's right: AIDS soup, the most ...
Extraordinary Eats
Awesomely Steampunk Portable Corn Roaster
Found this fellow in an alleyway behind my house the other day, roasting corn on the side of the road. "What's this machine called?" I asked. I was amazed, watching him flip the cobs from one tube to another, moving them closer and further from the flame below. Constantly he was rolling the tubes, handling ...
Extraordinary Eats, Lost in Translation
Another Mind-Blowingly Incredible Menu
After the insane Cultural Revolution restaurant menu, I didn't think I'd ever be impressed by mistranslated food titles again. Boy, was I wrong. Below are some of my new favorite dishes from our local duck restaurant. One dish wasn't mistranslated at all. And it's my favorite... spicy, awesome, and a weird unexpected ...
Extraordinary Eats
On Horse Meat Sashimi
It finally happened. We ordered the horse sashimi. "You want what?" said the waiter, unsure. "Horse meat," I slurred in Chinese, that last bottle of sake harming my already-poor pronunciation. "Raw horse meat." The waiter looked at WooLand, who wasn't listening, and then at me, and he finally shrugged and wrote it down. Clearly ...
Consumerism
Fantastic Hot Dog Advertising
I can't imagine a stranger way to advertise a hot dog, really. As seen in Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital.
Lost in Translation
Sign from a Beijing Supermarket
We haven't seen this Jingkelong supermarket sign ourselves, but reader Randi sent it in, adding, "Apparently, their marketing strategy is to appeal to customers at two different ends of the spectrum -- or maybe this is a brilliant plan to encourage people with a bad habit to try to offset its effects." Classic. ...
Extraordinary Eats
Dismember Live Seafood in a Chinese Restaurant
How could you pass this by? That's advertising, all right! Unlike I Dismember Mama, that old grindhouse yawner, this Guangzhou 海鲜 palace was as gory as promised. I only wish they'd handed out barf bags like the movie theaters did. This time, they would have actually been useful! Like any number of ...
Lost in Translation
Disgusting Chinglish from a Tasty Buffet
Not that many nights ago, WooLand and I were thrilled to be invited to one of the great linguistic banquets of the season. Government ministers, foreign diplomats, prominent magazine editors -- it was a real who's who of language and culture. And then we saw what was for dinner... Oh, boy... ...
Extraordinary Eats
Red Onion-Flavored Red Wine
"It's not terrible." "No, it's not terrible." "Yep, it's onion alright." "Hrm." "Ew." "服务员，来一听可乐。（Waitress, can I have a Coke?）" "Every time my dad pours a nice glass of wine, he always says 'magnificent color.' Hrm. This doesn't have that, does it? Not at all." "It is a bit watery, isn't ...
Consumerism, Cute & Kawaii
Hello Kitty & Cuppuccino!
Shoved in a back alley of Seoul's hip Hongdae neighborhood, sandwiched somewhere between "Luxury Ho" Bar and the "F**kFake" Designer Boutique for Men (asterisks not included in actual name), Hello Kitty lives on. Or her cappuccinos do, at least. That's right, even though Hong Kong's legendary Hello Kitty Cafe lost the fight against gentrification, the ...
Extraordinary Eats
Chinese Giant Salamander – a tasty treat!
Pickles Sr, my China-based pa, recently stumbled across this classic headline in the CAAC Inflight Magazine. The CAAC, of course, is the government organ that's tasked with enforcing "the unified supervision and regulation on the civil aviation activities of the whole country." Glad that they're promoting such tasty treats! Now if only ...
Extraordinary Eats, Historical Wonders, Strange Tourism
Relive the Cultural Revolution (aka The Weirdest Dinner Theater in Beijing)
Update: read the story below, but don't miss the video of the performance! "Two foreigners in the RED restaurant?" Reverb howled, "I think this will be more fun than the restaurant itself!" Red Restaurant, in the east of Beijing, is an opportunity to relive the passion and pain of China from the late 50s through the late ...
Extraordinary Eats
Korea’s Dunkin’ Donuts Ruins All the Fun
Imagine a future where donuts come in horrid flavors: carrot, tofu, spinach. Now recognize that the future clearly lives in Korea. Now imagine how it could be worse... Yep. In Korea, they've introduced the Broccoli Donut. I tried to resist. This is a country of cakes, and bakeries, and wonderful mad original tasty treats. But ...
Historical Wonders
Mao & Mangoes, Together Again
I recently had the opportunity to sip hot black coffee with a high ranking Pakistani official, and while everyone else is talking Osama and war, we talked fruit. "My basic objective here is to improve the trade between Pakistan and China," he told me. "I'm trying to diversify the trade, to go into newer fields..." He counted ...
Extraordinary Eats
The Best Place to Eat and Poop, Together!
Shenzhen is China's legendary modern city, so what better place for the modern craze that's already swept Taiwan: Toilet Restaurants! Yes, that's right... eateries dedicated to the modern sit-down crapper! Can you imagine selling any other restaurant with a promotional poster like this one? At "Modern Toilet" restaurant, you sit on a gleaming clean pooper while ...
Lost in Translation
16 Awesome Menu Items
A sampling from the menus we've seen in the last year....And, for Woo...
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 ...
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 ...
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.
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 ...
Strange Medicine
Why Chinese People Eat Fried Worms
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 part four in the "Strange TCM" series, following "eating snake for healthier skin," "eating ants to keep that lustrous hair" and "deer penis will keep ...
Extraordinary Eats
Blood Hair Strength Stew
When they heard I'd never tried 毛血旺 (maoxuewang) Stew, my coworkers were horrified. Absolutely aghast. "What, you have to try it! You'd love it! It's my favorite dish," said Ginger. "In English, it means 'Blood Hair Strength.'" Oh, I knew I'd like this. And it was pretty damn good. Fat solid ...
Lost in Translation
Hungry for a Kaka Burger
I'm so sad this Taiyuan fast food joint was closed for Chinese New Year... I really, honestly craved a burger. And a Kaka Burger? Oh that would have hit the spot!
Extraordinary Eats, Strange Medicine
Why Chinese People Eat Snake as Medicine
Every time I pass by one of those classic Chinese pharmacies, I can't help but stop. You've seen them -- the deer antlers and sea cucumbers sold in gift boxes; the dusty owls perched above the counter; the ants, sea horses, and snakes in cabinets. You can't help but wonder... at least, I can't... why ...
Extraordinary Eats, Strange Medicine
Medicinal Sea Horse Soup
I adore TCM. But I don't know what to say about this bowl of "Pigeon Soup with Chinese Medicine" we ordered last night at Gongti's Xuxian Lou (许仙楼的《川弓海马乳鸽汤》). Yep, that's a sea horse floating on top. I found myself eating around it, taking bites of dark red meats, chewing down foul beans, and sipping up the ...
Extraordinary Eats
Alien Vegetables
We happened on these strange little monsters in the local grocery store the other night, and couldn't resist picking them up. The first one, I still have no idea what it is. We haven't broken it open yet... we're perhaps just waiting for it to hatch. (Honestly, we could have saved... oh, tens of dollars... ...
Extraordinary Eats
Now this is what I call appealing….!
Horse meat sashimi, as served up in Beijing.
Extraordinary Eats
Eating a Whole Roast Suckling Pig
It wasn't as mouth-shockingly good as we'd hoped... but then again, this little guy looks pretty evil, too. Found at Tang Jai Yoo in Bangkok's Chinatown.
Extraordinary Eats
Kyrgyzstan things
In China, I adore the "foreign" vs "domestic" duality. I'm not sure that it's any more skewed than our own is, but it's definitely different. My girlfriend, for example, is a Bostonian, several generations back. But because she looks Chinese (and, three generations ago, her family was), here she's Chinese. Just speaks ...
Extraordinary Eats
Pig Faces, Hong Kong
I found these little puppies while looking for the Tak Fat beef ball stall, in the back of the Haiphong Road Temporary Muslim Market. Loved the simplicity with which they hung there (and desperately wanted to wear one as a mask.)