diff --git a/dev_requirements.txt b/dev_requirements.txt
index ad286d1b..84675024 100644
--- a/dev_requirements.txt
+++ b/dev_requirements.txt
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ nose
 coverage
 mock
 pyaml
+pylibmc
diff --git a/elasticsearch/__init__.py b/elasticsearch/__init__.py
index b0494376..914f3889 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/__init__.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/__init__.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from elasticsearch.transport import Transport
 from elasticsearch.connection_pool import ConnectionPool, ConnectionSelector, \
     RoundRobinSelector
 from elasticsearch.serializer import JSONSerializer
-from elasticsearch.connection import Connection, RequestsHttpConnection
+from elasticsearch.connection import Connection, RequestsHttpConnection, \
+    Urllib3HttpConnection, MemcachedConnection
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import *
 
diff --git a/elasticsearch/connection.py b/elasticsearch/connection.py
index 38ba4046..0795652d 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/connection.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/connection.py
@@ -45,11 +45,10 @@ class Connection(object):
         def _pretty_json(data):
             # pretty JSON in tracer curl logs
             try:
-                data = json.dumps(json.loads(data), sort_keys=True, indent=2, separators=(',', ': '))
-            except ValueError:
+                return json.dumps(json.loads(data), sort_keys=True, indent=2, separators=(',', ': '))
+            except (ValueError, TypeError):
                 # non-json data or a bulk request
-                pass
-            return data
+                return repr(data)
 
         logger.info(
             '%s %s [status:%s request:%.3fs]', method, full_url,
@@ -149,3 +148,65 @@ class Urllib3HttpConnection(Connection):
             raw_data, duration)
 
         return response.status, raw_data
+
+class MemcachedConnection(Connection):
+    transport_schema = 'memcached'
+
+    method_map = {
+        'PUT': 'set',
+        'POST': 'set',
+        'DELETE': 'delete',
+        'HEAD': 'get',
+        'GET': 'get',
+    }
+
+    def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=11211, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            import pylibmc
+        except ImportError:
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured("You need to install pylibmc to use the MemcachedConnection class.")
+        super(MemcachedConnection, self).__init__(host=host, port=port, **kwargs)
+        self.mc = pylibmc.Client(['%s:%s' % (host, port)],behaviors={"tcp_nodelay": True})
+
+    def perform_request(self, method, url, params=None, body=None, timeout=None):
+        url = self.url_prefix + url
+        if params:
+            url = '%s?%s' % (url, urlencode(params or {}))
+        full_url = self.host + url
+
+        mc_method = self.method_map.get(method, 'get')
+
+        start = time.time()
+        try:
+            status = 200
+            if mc_method == 'set':
+                # no response from set commands
+                response = ''
+                if not json.dumps(self.mc.set(url, body)):
+                    status = 500
+            else:
+                response = self.mc.get(url)
+
+            duration = time.time() - start
+            if response:
+                response = response.decode('utf-8')
+        except Exception as e:
+            self.log_request_fail(method, full_url, time.time() - start, exception=e)
+            raise ConnectionError('N/A', str(e), e)
+
+        # try not to load the json every time
+        if response and response[0] == '{' and ('"status"' in response or '"error"' in response):
+            data = json.loads(response)
+            if 'status' in data:
+                status = data['status']
+            elif 'error' in data:
+                raise TransportError('N/A', data['error'])
+
+        if not (200 <= status < 300):
+            self.log_request_fail(method, url, duration, status)
+            self._raise_error(status, response)
+
+        self.log_request_success(method, full_url, url, body, status,
+            response, duration)
+
+        return status, response
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_memcached.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_memcached.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cab84ae0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_memcached.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch, MemcachedConnection, NotFoundError
+
+from elasticsearch.transport import ADDRESS_RE
+
+from . import ElasticTestCase
+
+from unittest import SkipTest
+
+class TestMemcachedConnection(ElasticTestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(TestMemcachedConnection, self).setUp()
+        nodes = self.client.cluster.node_info()
+        for node_id, node_info in nodes["nodes"].items():
+            if 'memcached_address' in node_info:
+                connection_info = ADDRESS_RE.search(node_info['memcached_address']).groupdict()
+                self.mc_client = Elasticsearch(
+                    [connection_info],
+                    connection_class=MemcachedConnection
+                )
+                break
+        else:
+            raise SkipTest("No memcached plugin.")
+
+    def test_index(self):
+        self.mc_client.index("test_index", "test_type", {"answer": 42}, id=1)
+        self.assertTrue(self.client.exists("test_index", doc_type="test_type", id=1))
+
+    def test_get(self):
+        self.client.index("test_index", "test_type", {"answer": 42}, id=1)
+        self.assertEquals({"answer": 42}, self.mc_client.get("test_index", doc_type="test_type", id=1)["_source"])
+
+    def test_unicode(self):
+        self.mc_client.index("test_index", "test_type", {"answer": u"你好"}, id=u"你好")
+        self.assertEquals({"answer": u"你好"}, self.mc_client.get("test_index", doc_type="test_type", id=u"你好")["_source"])
+
+    def test_missing(self):
+        self.assertRaises(NotFoundError, self.mc_client.get, "test_index", doc_type="test_type", id=42)