diff --git a/elasticsearch/transport.py b/elasticsearch/transport.py
index ca1a9c33..54dbb2eb 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/transport.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/transport.py
@@ -265,8 +265,8 @@ class Transport(object):
         if body is not None:
             try:
                 body = body.encode('utf-8')
-            except UnicodeDecodeError:
-                # Python 2 and str, no need to re-encode
+            except (UnicodeDecodeError, AttributeError):
+                # bytes/str - no need to re-encode
                 pass
 
         ignore = ()
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py
index 9946784f..b95271e9 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@ class TestTransport(TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(1, len(t.get_connection().calls))
         self.assertEquals(('GET', '/', None, b'\xe4\xbd\xa0\xe5\xa5\xbd'), t.get_connection().calls[0][0])
 
+    def test_body_bytes_get_passed_untouched(self):
+        t = Transport([{}], connection_class=DummyConnection)
+
+        body = b'\xe4\xbd\xa0\xe5\xa5\xbd'
+        t.perform_request('GET', '/', body=body)
+        self.assertEquals(1, len(t.get_connection().calls))
+        self.assertEquals(('GET', '/', None, body), t.get_connection().calls[0][0])
 
     def test_kwargs_passed_on_to_connections(self):
         t = Transport([{'host': 'google.com'}], port=123)