BARCELONA – It started off normal, with some big phone and tablet announcements from HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, Samsung, and ZTE. The HTC One managed to steal the show before it even really began. And Huawei and ZTE continued to ride on the buzz they generated at CES. But things began to shift as the show wore on. Strange products started to appear. Odd booths sprang up, seemingly out of nowhere. By Wednesday, Mobile World Congress had gotten flat-out weird.

This happened at CES as well. But at CES, most of the weirdness we encountered came from the gadgets themselves. At MWC it was a bit more insidious than that. Sure, I didn’t expect to see Android built into a desk phone or a portable data terminal. And I definitely didn’t plan on encountering an augmented reality children’s book or a bike-powered phone charger. But things really reached a fever pitch when I walked in on a mime applying makeup in the men’s bathroom. That’s right, a mime in the men’s bathroom. Eat your heart out, Diane Arbus.

This show also marks my first ever real-life encounter with parkour. If you haven’t seen it in person yet, well, I can’t suggest you do. But hey, anything to bring a crowd to your booth, right?

Overall, all the weird things I encountered helped balance out the show and kept me on my toes. Without all the offbeat products and moments, you’d just be reading a nonstop barrage of hands on stories. Oh wait.

So without further ado, here are 10 of the weirdest things from Mobile World Congress. Oh, and those augmented reality books at the end? I saw a rather makeshift demo of them on what appeared to be the outskirts of a different company’s booth. Afterwards I went to grab a sandwich close by, and by the time I came out they were gone.