Adventure Travel Writing and Photography by Matt Gibson

Tag Archive for ‘china’

Yenshuei Fireworks Festival 2010 Photo Gallery

Share The Yenshuei Fireworks Festival (Yenshuei Fong Pao) is a festival held in the Yenshuei township in Southern Taiwan every year.  During the festival millions of fireworks are shot out of large hives into crowds of revelers dressed in heavy clothing and full-face motorcycle helmets.  Each hive may contain as many as sixty thousand fireworks.  [...]

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My Top Three Top Threes of Spring Scream 2010

The best bands, bathrooms, and stage dancers of Spring Scream 2010 with photos by Steven Vigar. Read it here.

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Standing in the Fireworks: A Trip to the Yenshuei Beehive Fireworks Festival, Taiwan

Share On Febrary 27, 2010 a Chinese New Year fireworks celebration in the Guangdong province went awry and killed 19  villagers. On February 28th, 2010 I was in Yenshuei Township in southern Taiwan facing a several hives containing tens of thousands of fireworks set to fire into the hundreds of people that were crowded around [...]

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A Good ‘Ol Fashioned Boat Burning

The story of my misadventure documenting the ancient Wang Yeh Burning Boat Festival for Highway 11 Magazine, which begins with erroneous advice from an internet bulletin board, and ends with me driving hundreds of kilometers across Taiwan on my motorcycle at night and not sleeping for nearly thirty-six hours.

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Wang Yeh Burning Boat Festival Taiwan

Share The Wang Yeh boat burning festival occurs once every three years.  Disease spreading ghosts, or Wang Yeh, are lead onto the boats by priests and mediums.  The boat, sitting atop a mountain of ghost money (money burned by locals for the benefit of their dead ancestors) is then burned, sending the spirits back to [...]

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Riding the Crocodile

The Crocodile King Farm in Taiwan’s Madou Township is the most bizarre zoo I’ve ever seen. Exhibits include a random cross section of exotic animals from Taiwan and around the world, an extensive collection of reptiles, and a large number of mutant animals including two mutant goats, several mutant ducks and chickens, and a two-headed turtle. The main attraction, though, is an enormous crocodile, which may well be the fattest crocodile in the world, on which visitors are invited to sit. You can view a gallery of my pictures from the zoo here.

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About Me

Matt GibsonI'm a travel writer and photographer currently based in Tainan, Taiwan where I founded and edited Xpat Magazine, one of Taiwan's largest and longest-running expatriate periodicals. My writing and photography has been published in various print and online publications including Taiwan Today, the Taiwan Fun Magazine Group, and TransitionsAbroad.com. I speak English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese (to varying degrees) and am available for assignment. I can be reached through the form on the contact page of this website, or at xpatmatt (at) gmail.com.



If ever you’re visiting this part of the world, see Taiwan hotels for cheap accommodation and further information on what to do when you're here.