Tag Archive for ‘Tainan’
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 [...]
Bunk Magazine Issue 5 is out now
Share The first issue of Bunk Magazine was published by the Armory nearly 10 years ago, long before I arrived in Taiwan. Around the time I moved to Taiwan the last issue of Bunk, issue 4, was published. Bunk had a big influence on my decision to start Xpat Magazine. It showed me that an [...]
Letter from the Editor: Bunk Magazine Issue 5
Share The Armory is synonymous with art. The Armory itself is a work of art, having been built by a sculptor from the remains of the demolished armory that once stood in its place. Since then the Armory has hosted numerous art and photography exhibitions, usually for charity, and often paid local bands to play [...]
Free English Writing and Editing Help for NCKU Students
Share The NCKU Eagle project is currently offering NCKU students free one-on-one writing and editing help from native English-speaking editors every day from 10:10 am – 4:10 pm from now until January 15th. All you need to do is go to the NCKU Eagle office and sign up. Simple as that! Directions to the office [...]
Bunk Magazine Issue V – Call for Submissions
Share Six years after the last issue was released (December 2003), the owner of the Armory, Dumei has asked me to help her make another issue of Bunk to commemorate the Armory’s 12th anniversary this December. For those of you who never got to see Bunk, it was a small, artsy magazine put out by [...]
Deep Nightclub Review
Share FYI South February, 2007 Ryan Lu has brought South Taiwan many firsts. He was Taiwan’s first graffiti artist. He was one of the first skateboarders (and has subsequently achieved legendary status). He opened the first pop art clothing store, 420, and now he has brought Tainan its first authentic hip-hop club – Deep. Deep, [...]
Fusion Groove Lounge Review
Share FYI South December, 2004 The unique design of this ultra-modern club highlights it as a diamond of the Tainan club scene. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors give the main floor the expansive feeling of a big city super club like Luxy or Ministry of Sound while the dark color scheme and tastefully dim lighting of the loft-style [...]
A Year of Firsts for Tainan’s 6th Annual May Jam
Share FYI South April, 2005 What’s New? Now in it’s sixth year, Tainan’s annual music festival, the May Jam, is expanding in all directions. This year’s May Jam will feature a host of new attractions such as: multimedia releases and international musical acts, as well as drama, comedy, and drumming. So that no one, even [...]
Pure Music: Shining Radio
Share FYI South Magazine March, 2005 Purity I hate North American radio: that stream of shallow, repetitive pop songs that assaults you in every mall, barbershop, and restaurant. College radio too. Every DJ wants to be Howard Stern or Happy Harry Hard-On, they talk too much, and the music sucks. And, in my opinion, there’s [...]
Fire Dancing in Tainan
Share FYI South January, 2005 Eight hundred years ago a mammoth bird called the Moa roamed the island of New Zealand. The Moa (cousin to the ostrich) could stretch up to 3.5 meters tall and weighed more than a small cow. They were slow, stupid, and tasty and thus rapidly hunted to extinction by the [...]
Brazillian Jiu-jitsu in Taiwan
Share FYI South, Compass February, 2006 When Royce (pronounced ‘Hoyce’) Gracie stepped into the octagonal cage in 1993 at the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship agianst Ken Shamrock there was no question who would win: the bookies favored Shamrock to take home the gold, Shamrock had wrestled his first opponent into submission is less than [...]
Music Night at the Greek
Share FYI South November, 2005 The last Tuesday of every month the upstairs of the Greek Restaurant undergoes an incredible metamorphosis—at six o’clock in the evening it’s is the same comfortable, dimly lit dining room as usual, with perhaps, a few Taiwanese diners enjoying a quiet supper. Around eight-thirty the first foreigner climbs the stairs, [...]
The Tale of the Exploding Whale
Share Xpat Magazine September, 2006 On Jan. 29, 2004, the largest whale ever recorded in Taiwan exploded on a busy Tainan city street drenching cars, storefronts, and bystanders with rotten blood and entrails. It was awesome. Two weeks prior to this event, a boat struck the whale, severing its spinal nerves and rendering it paralyzed. [...]
Borne of Disaster
Share Published under the pseudonym Salvatore Paradisio Xpat Magazine December, 2005 Ever since I arrived on this cursed island 14 months ago disaster has rained down on me like a subtropical thundershower. Xpat Magazine was borne of this disaster. But I will have to explain that a little later. As with all stories, I must [...]
I'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.
Entries(RSS)