如果你認為煙水煙花是瘋了，看看這些瘋狂的美國人在玩煙火！(If you think YanShui fireworks are crazy, look at these crazy Americans playing with fireworks!)

The most combustible tradition I’ve ever experienced. Hot, dazzling, loud, dangerous, and nearly asphyxiating at times. Scarier than if your Christmas tree catches fire in the living room. 4th of July in the US can’t compete. I’ll be picking firecracker wrappers from my hair tomorrow.

Yanshui, Taiwan, attendees dressed like Stormtroopers – in motorcycle helmets and firefighters jackets – do the shake-it-off dance, catching fire, patting each others flames out, as they stand 10 feet from a wall of fireworks aimed at the crowd.

Taiwanese are an especially safety-conscious people, but fireworks are their cats meow, their yak’s grass, their Feng Pao, which means ‘firecrackers’ in Mandarin.

What we wore:

Compared to Running of the bulls, top 10 most dangerous cultural events in the world?? relatively safe – ish. How not to get burned: ……hopping and being sure your clothes and full visor motorcycle helmet covers everything.

Teams of temple statue carriers who are so accustomed to the explosions that walking into the ‘beehives’ of fireworks is akin to walking on gravel, potentially uncomfortable, a little intimidating yet not too threatening.