Bee-wearing competition

Beekeeper Lv Kongjiang, 20, stands with bees covering his body on a weighing scale during a bee-wearing competition held last week in China. Competing against fellow beekeeper Wang Dalin in Shaoyang, Hunan province, the two wore only shorts and bees; Wang won the competition after attracting 57 lbs of bees on his body in 60 minutes, while Lv had 50 lbs, local media reported. Photo Reuters/China Daily Previously: The Beekeeper's Lament: Must-read book on bee life, and death

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awjtawjt

There must be no other feeling like it. It’s completely icky and totally freakin cool.

Imagine the crawling legs, the beating wings, the jostling, the heat and the sound and the smell. Imagine the utter insectilization of your entire personhood. Complete surrender. Utter treeness.
- morcheeba
  
  thanks for the visceral post! I just wonder how you draw the balance between mouth open enough to breathe and closed enough so that no one gets inside.
Anonymous

Covered in bees!
Anonymous

I thought the Metal Gear Solid Boss Battle Reenactment Festival wasn’t until November…

~D. Walker
Nadreck

It’s the bee’s knees!
Anonymous

How do they breath? Wouldn’t that many bees block off your nose and mouth?
knoxblox

So does anyone have a clue as to how much a bee-spoke suit would cost you on Savile Row?
dculberson

Ahh jibblie jibblie jibblie jibblie! Yikes.
kjulig

Do they coat themselves with something yummy?
- TooGoodToCheck
  
  Wikipedia says they hold a queen in a cage to attract the other bees.
Anonymous

It must be quite difficult to breathe through that. And if they faint, they’re going to have a mjor stinging problem…
facetedjewel

How do you keep them out of your body orifices, or do you?
- tincansongbird
  
  Duct tape.
kossmikman

Obligatory Wicker Man video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1GadTfGFvU
Anonymous

Nicholas Cage says “Nooooo, not the bees!!!!”
EricT

Where was Lady Gaga when this was taking place?
Gulliver

These are the non-stinging kind, right?

How do they get them off?
- Anonymous
  
  Generally, when a colony and their queen are swarming (leaving the hive to search for a new one), they’re less likely to sting. Sounds like the opposite of what should happen, I know, but there ya go. I guess it’s because they don’t have a hive to protect.
  
  However, I am curious — you must get stung a couple of times at least.
  
  @Phikus: Brilliant. Too bad Feb 14th is still so far away.
Anonymous

Earplugs, check.
Nose plugs, check.
Swizzle stick to breath through, check.

Anything other entrances unsecured?
senorglory

I saw a single demonstration of something like this when I was in 4th grade. It was THE COOLEST THING EVER! (for a fourth grade boy, that is.)
Donald Petersen

Stinging aside, that has to be noisy as hell, and it’s gotta tickle like crazy.

As odd, counterintuitive hobbies go, I think I’d rather spend my time making that fake Japanese miniature inedible food out of packets of powder.
Anonymous

why?
T Nielsen Hayden

No, Gulliver. Those are the normal kind of bees: they make honey, they sting.
- Gulliver
  
  How do they keep from getting stung?
  
  Or do they build up a resistance to the venom? ‘Cause, if so, ouch.
The Compost Kid

Am I to late for this? http://youtu.be/Xs-tl6GBOBo
Obligatory Izzard Clip
Anonymous

I first read that as Beekeeper Lv 20. I though, that’s an awesome D&D reference.
Phikus

Great stunt for Valentine’s Day. Stand outside your loved one’s home covered in bees and when they come to the window, say: Will you bee mine?
TooGoodToCheck

my basic understanding is that they do build up a good tolerance, but that this trick involves attracting the bees without pissing them off too much. The world record for wearing bees is 87 pounds / 350,000 bees (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_bearding), and if you got stung by hundreds of thousands of bees, I don’t think any tolerance is going to save you.
Anonymous

Argh! I’m covered in f$%#& bees!