Armless Embroider Heads to Shanghai Expo
Looking at her embroidered art, you’d probably think this woman has golden hands, when in fact, she has no hands at all. Gao Baoying has learned to use her feet to do everything we usually do with our hands. I don’t know if she was born without hands, or if she lost them in some […]
Karube Shrine – Where the Japanese Go to Worship Breasts
A shrine dedicated to women’s breasts may sound amusing to us foreigners, but for the Japanese, this is a truly sacred place. Located in Soja City, in Japan’s Okayama Prefecture, Karube Shrine is dedicated to Chichigamisama, the Goddess of Breasts. She is believed to help with safe child births, the production of breast milk, and […]
China’s Kung-Fu Barber Cuts Upside Down
In order to attract more customers, a Chinese hair-stylist, trained in the art of kung-fu, cuts hair, while standing upside down, on his head. 36-year-old Wang Xiaoyu first attracted media attention,in May of last year, when local papers reported a man cutting his customers’ hair, while doing a headstand. The wacky barber has been cutting […]
Baby Crying Festival Held in Japan
No mother likes it when her toddler starts crying, but at the Naki Sumo baby crying contest wailing is actually encouraged. Held every year, at the Sensoji Temple, in Tokyo, the baby crying festival is a 400-year-old tradition, believed to keep rug-rats in good health. Amateur sumo wrestlers hold the babies high in the air, […]
Chinese Farmer Creates Army of Home-Made Robots
Wu Yulu, a Chinese farmer, from a small village, outside Beijing, has created a series of 47 robots, out of scrap metal. They can accomplish various functions, from drinking, to walking and even pulling a rickshaw. Ever since he can remember, Wu Yulu has been fascinated with the mechanics of movement. He always dreamed of […]
Onbashira – Japan’s Riskiest Celebration
Held every six years, in the Nagano area of Japan, Onbashira Festival is believed to have continued uninterruptedly, for the last 1200 years. Onbashira, literally translated as “the sacred pillars”, is a Japanese tradition that symbolizes the renewal of Suwa Grand Shrine. It consists of two phases: Yamadashi and Satobiki, the first held in April, […]
Orangutan Boxing Matches Held in Thailand
A Thai theme-park, outside Bangkok has become a popular tourist attraction by organizing orangutan boxing matches. Huge crowds of tourists and “sport” enthusiasts gather at Safari World to watch orangutans duke it out in 30 minute-boxing matches. Forced to wear boxing gloves and shorts, the two primates have been trained to hit each other for […]
102-Year-Old Student Proves You’re Never to Old to Learn
Ma Xiuxian never had the opportunity to attend school, as a child, but she is making up for that in her later years. The 102-year old Chinese woman, from Jinan, Shandong province, began working at a cotton mill, at the age of 13, and married when she was only 18. She gave birth to nine […]
Chinese Seamstress Works with Her Feet
Born without arms, Liu Jianming has learned to sew using her feet, ever since she was a teenager. and still creates beautifully embroidered works of art. The old seamstress could never afford to rent or buy a shop, to work in, so she spends her days working on a street corner, in the Chinese city […]
Watch Out, Here Comes the Monkey Police
Santisuk a 5-year-old pig-tailed macaque is a proud member of the Thai police, doing his best to keep the streets crime-free. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, since Santisuk is really just a mascot for the police force of Saliburi district, Thailand. He was found injured, a while back, and has since then been […]
Tuban – The Earth-Eating Village of Indonesia
In Tuban, a village in the East Java province of Indonesia, earth is used to make “ampo” a creamy snack believed to have medicinal properties. According to Rasima, the ampo cook of Tuban, there is no real recipe to making this bizarre snack. All she does is look for clean, gravel-free soil, in the village’s […]
Dress Made from One Million Meters of Human Hair Showcased in Vietnam
A unique tunic-like dress, made out of countless human hairs, was presented by a model, in the center of Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi. Human hair appears to be a popular material fro Asian artists. After a Chinese hairdresser recreated Tiananmen Square out of human square, and made a hair sculpture of Barrack Obama, Kim Do, a […]
Mallakhamb – Extreme Indian Pole Dancing
Modern pole-dancing may be attractive to look-at, but in terms of difficulty, it’s nothing to the old Indian sport of Mallakhamb. Mallakhamb originated in Maharastra, India, during the 12th century, as a form of training for wrestlers. The word “Malla” means wrestler, while “khamb” translates as pole. This old art had almost been lost throughout […]
100-Year-Old Chinese Woman Grows Horn in Her Forehead
Zhang Ruifang, a 100-year old woman, from China’s Henan Province, has a strange horn coming out of the left side of her forehead. This reminds me so much of the horned lady, but Zhang’s horn is much more…horn-like. The 1-century-old woman says her bizarre horn started growing last year, and now measures between 5 and […]
Pig Beauty Contest Held in China
The Pig Contest of Guanshan Village, Guangdong Province, China, is a centuries old tradition dating back to the Qing Dinasty. Hundreds of thousands of tourists, from all over China, travel to Guanshan, every year, to take a look at the hundreds of pigs on display at the Pig Contest. This year, around 500 oinkers were […]