Sinclaire Prowse

Hi, I'm Sinclaire. I'm a masters student from Sydney, Australia. I study the US, media, politics and like to write about it. Feel free to view the archive or contact me about anything you read here. I'd love to hear from you.

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Hakkanese Cuisine at 晉江茶堂 and drinking Lei Cha (擂茶)

This week I realised a trip to Taiwan is not complete without trying the traditional Hakkanese cuisine. The Hakka people are an ancient Chinese ethnic group, and comprise about 15% of the Taiwanese population. I went to a place called 晉江茶堂 at a gorgeous little old style restaurant near Guting MRT station in the southern part of Taipei City.

The plates of food are small and delicious – pork and salt were two really obvious features of the menu.

My favourite part of the meal was the tea – “Lei Cha”, (擂茶) literally translates to ‘grounded tea’ – it is an incredible mixture of  finely milled green tea, roasted nuts and seeds, roasted rice, ginger and seasonings (sugar and salt). The ingredients are ground in a mortar and pestle and reduced to a powder. Water is added to the powder and a delicious, rich drink is produced. It tastes something like a green tea latte – but is wonderfully good for you. The Hakkanese suggest that drinking this is the key to a long life. I loved it so much I had to buy some of the mixture to bring home. 

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Bizarre Taiwanese culinary adventures

This past week I have eaten wasabi ice-cream, experienced the repulsively named ‘Modern Toilet’ restaurant and consumed basically every part of the cow. (Also of interest - I visited a gorgeous ceramics town and attended a glassblowing workshop). Here we go!

The Crazy Ice Cream Flavours at Snow King (雪王) in Xi Men Ding (西門町)

At Snow King you get serious ice-cream – they have 73 flavours, some of which sound gorgeous – almond, rose wine, watermelon, honey… and then some which made me feel pretty hesitant (and kind of sick)- wasabi, pig knuckle, Taiwanese beer, sesame chicken, basil, mustard. The savoury flavours were originally created for diabetic customers, but they are among the most popular now because of the novelty appeal.

My friends and I shared 3 scoops - wasabi, pork floss and basil. It may be hard to believe, but they weren’t half bad! If you’ve ever had a palate cleanser at a restaurant between courses, it’s basically like this. The store owner said most foreigners are usually too confused by the flavours to finish a scoop! So she was impressed by my willingness to finish them off.

If you’re interested in trying many flavors at once, I’d suggest bring a group of friends, and don’t be scared off by the crazy flavours.  

The Infamous Modern Toilet (便所主题餐厅)

Yep, this restaurant is exactly what it sounds like. A toilet themed eatery. I’d read about this place while I was in Sydney and thought – nope- there’s no way I’m going to this place.

But my Taiwanese friends managed to change my mind, reminding me I need to embrace everything Taiwanese – which I now realise inevitably includes wacky themed restaurants.

Modern Toilet originally only sold ice-cream in containers shaped like a urinal, (which was even a stretch, but acceptable, I guess).  

But they have seriously moved on from here – taking the novelty to far greater heights.

Tea comes out in mini-ceramic toilets. Noodle hot pots are served in giant bubbling toilets. I was asked to take a photo with few Chinese tourists in this restaurant too – which has become quite a regular occurrence over here.

I’m still not sure if this is an experience worth having – especially for the average traveller only spending a few days in Taiwan. If you can appreciate that the wackiness of this is very very Taiwanese, then maybe you'll be able to see past the repulsiveness of the concept and kind of enjoy yourself. But I’ll admit it’s definitely not for everyone!

The website is here (for anyone interested).

Eating Cow at a Taiwanese BBQ

The other night I had dinner with a few friends at a Taiwanese BBQ – which I was assuming would include some steak, Chinese sausage, maybe some spicy chicken and some Taiwanese beer. We got all of this, but a few added extras aswell - I ended up eating beef tongue, beef intestine, chicken feet and cows ear.

  The Taiwanese are famous for not sparing a single part of an animal – everything is eaten. These photos explain my reaction better than words.

Glassblowing Workshop at Songshan

Kun’s Crystal at the Songshan Creative Park offers a glassblowing workshop where you learn how to create any glass item you can imagine. I tried making a glass tumbler, which I envisioned drinking cocktails out of – it was lots of fun! Here are a few pictures showing the process involved in glassblowing.

  Ceramics at Ying Ge (鶯歌區)

Ying Ge is the ceramics town of Taiwan, just a 30 min train ride south of Taipei. Wandering around the streets of the city is a wonderful way to spend a weekend afternoon – the pottery here is incredibly well priced considering the quality of the hand-made goods I saw!  

It was so hard not to buy an entire tea set to bring home, but I had to think of my luggage. (Travelling around Europe has made me super practical in this respect). 

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Exploring the North of Taipei

This weekend I visited a whole lot of great places in Taiwan. I’m trying to fit as much into my limited time left here now – which means my weekends are getting pretty packed!

In this post I’ll be talking about the original bubble tea shop Chun Shui Tang, The Raohe Night Market and 3 really gorgeous towns in the northern mountains of Taiwan. Here we go:

Chun Shui Tang (春水堂)

Over the weekend my friend took me to “Chun Shui Tang” the original bubble tea store in Taiwan! They claim to have created bubble tea in 1983. Bubble tea stores in do a roaring trade in Taiwan and it is basically a daily ritual to enjoy some sort of tea like this (especially for teenagers and young people). 

So much deliciousness in a glass. This drink: 珍珠奶茶 (Pearl Milk Tea)– is quintessentially Taiwanese in the same way that Pavlova or Lamingtons are quintessentially Australian. It is made with condensed milk and tapioca balls - and you can get different flavours (my friend tried the taro flavour) but I think the simple original milk tea is pretty damn good. 

Raohe Night Market (饒河街夜市)

After a delicious, but filling bubble tea – we caught the MRT to the Raohe Night Market – it was a Friday night, so the market was super super busy with everyone from groups of kids having finished school to tourists and locals just looking for dinner. This just adds to the charm of the market – it is really exciting place which tends to gets less notice in Taipei because it isn’t as big as some of the others. (A really good place to visit if the crowds and size of Shi Lin make you apprehensive.)

One of the best things you can get here is a baked pork bun, or 胡椒餅. The line for this one was pretty long – but you can pretty much guarantee that a long line = a delicious product in the markets – and it was worth the wait.

Another delicious food at the markets is the dessert: 包心粉圓. What you get is a bowl of icecream and pudding and a small bowl of warm red bean tapioca balls. Such a delectable dessert, which I will probably dream about eating again for a while (but won’t, because it is just that calorie laden).

It is now seeming that all I do in Taiwan is eat (which isn’t entirely untrue haha) – but nonetheless, the next day I headed into the mountains with some friends and experienced parts of Taiwan which are incredibly beautiful and show a completely different side of the country.  

Houtong (侯硐)：A Town of Cats

Houtong is a small abandoned mining town in the north of Taiwan. It is not entirely abandoned though - it is the home of a hillside cat village!

In the last few years, a whole lot of cats appeared in Houtong, and the residents are so willing to house them that volunteers have started to bring stray cats to the town to live. The small number of families who live in Houtong and have cashed in on the tourist influx which comes with the ‘cat-experience’, opening souvenir shops and selling cat-shaped pastries.

Even the footbridge leading from the station’s exit across to the hillside has been given a distinct ‘cat-look’.

For someone who considers herself more of a dog-person, this town was such a charming place to visit and the old local residents were just so sweet. 

Shi Fen (十分)

From Houtong, a few train stops north is a the town of Shi Fen, which is home to a gorgeous waterfall. You can also sit at the waterfall and have a coffee and some lunch.

The trains between the towns up north were so packed, i'd never seen anything like it. 

Ping Xi (平溪‎): Lantern Time!

One of the things I have been most excited to do in Taiwan is set off my own lantern in Pingxi. My friends surprised me this weekend by suggesting we go north to the town which is famous for this!

Before we set off a lantern we had a look around the Pingxi Old Street, which is built into a hill with the train track going right though the middle with shops selling local food and gifts.

  We ate traditional Taiwanese sausage for dinner – mine was filled with cabbage and mustard – so good!

Once night falls, you head up into the north of the town where you can buy a lantern and paint your wishes onto it. It costs $3AUD for a lantern and a professional helps you send it off into the sky. The lanterns are enormous so it take a while to write down all your wishes. Such a gorgeous way to spend a warm Taiwanese evening. 

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What is necessary for a flourishing Australia China-policy?

An article I've written for Online Opinion - find it here.

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Smith&Hsu

Smith&Hsu is a Taiwanese brand of tea, quite similar to T2 in Australia, but with a slightly higher pricetag. 

It made me think how much I love that the tea culture in Taipei hasn’t been drowned out by artisanal coffee or by trendy bubble tea joints. Smith&Hsu has proven a slow relaxing cup of tea can remain relevant in a bustling city. 

When you sit down, they present you with a taste of the tea of the day – which was orange pekoe and strawberry. Slightly too sweet for me. They then bring along the tray of samples for you to smell. The flavours are incredible, making the choice of just one very difficult.

I decided on No.35 Kir Royale – not because I was secretly hoping it would be cocktail-like but because the combination of flavors sounded incredible: hibiscus, papaya, strawberry pieces, red currant, black currant, elderberry, blueberry and rose petals.

There are Smith&Hsu stores dotted around Taipei. I went to the one at 忠孝市府店, which was nice and small and cosy.

Check out the website here.

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Re-thinking Taiwan's international role

In this article for the Asia Times, I explain the problems with the current position Taiwan holds in the international community. 

Read it here.

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Handmade in Taiwan

This weekend I visited two amazing places in Taipei worth blogging about. The first is the newly opened Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The second is a restaurant that had some pretty stunning architecture. See below!

Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (松山文創園區)

The Cultural and Creative Park has been set up in an abandoned warehouse area in Taipei city and is an exhibition space for some really awesome Taiwanese design. You can also attend design workshops like jewelry making, pottery, glass blowing and sewing classes to make bags and clothes. They also have an incredible collection of restaurants and cafes to hang out in and a 24hr bookshop. I can’t believe it took me so many months to get to this place!

  The Five Dime Boathouse (伍角船板)

Next up is the Five Dime Boathouse - I'll preface this by saying I was so stunned by the architecture of this restaurant that food was the last thing on my mind. Big deal. 

From the outset, the drawcard of this restaurant is the unique design of the building – the architect and owner of the restaurant is self taught! When my friend told me that the building is made completely out of driftwood, clay, iron and oyster shells – I have to admit it was with trepidation that I stepped inside.

But the result of her vision is quite incredible – the building is a fantastical structure resembling a cave-like-castle with twirling clay towers and twisted ramp stairs.

The designer and restaurant owner, Xie Li-xiang is a famous designer who takes her inspiration from traditional Taiwanese aboriginal design. 

The restaurant itself serves classic Taiwanese delicacies – including drunken chicken, stewed pork ribs and a delicious house-made mochi!

This is a really classic Taiwanese experience, I will be highly recommending it to anyone wanting to visit Taiwan.

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Is there potential for greater Taiwanese involvement in the international community?

An article written for Online Opinion. Read it here.

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The Shi Lin Night Market 士林夜市

This is the biggest and most exciting nightmarket in Taiwan! Famous Taiwanese streetfoods you can get at ShiLin include: dumplings, steamed buns, baked buns, giant fried chicken, endless varieties of bubble tea and delicious mango crepes  - I’ve added some photos below to illustrate the experience (however I’m going to have to return to these markets many more times to ensure I get to try everything - way too much food for one outing). *Side note: The markets are so big it takes about 3 hours to see everything! Also, you can attempt to bargain the price of most things, but I failed on most occasions. 

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First Week in Taiwan (台灣)!

It has been an exciting first week in Taiwan - I’ve put together a summary with a few pictures below for anyone interested in a little intro to Taipei!

Adjusting to a new country is always difficult and Taiwan has offered up some whopping obstacles (a typhoon, a language barrier and some preetty hot weather) – but I have already been overwhelmed at the warmth and friendliness of the locals – the city is always buzzing, especially in the quarter where I live – in the middle of a  busy night market.

2013 Asia Pacific Security Conference The first few days of my trip I attended the 2013 Asia Pacific Security Conference with a group of other Young Leaders from around the world. We got to see a lot of the city after the conference each night as well! 

Scooters Something I wasn't aware of (or prepared for) is the amount of scooters in this city. They are everywhere, and they are very quick and sometimes cut corners and use the footpath - so you have to be pretty careful. 

7/11 The 7/11’s in Taiwan are on every corner. This is not an exaggeration - they actually are. You cannot walk 500m without seeing one.

There aren’t many supermarkets in Taipei, so people buy everything from the 7/11 – it is quality, convenient and super cheap.

My Neighbourhood

I live in the university quarter of Taipei – Gong guan 公館. 

Bubble Tea I'm going to dedicate a separate blog post to Taiwanese Food, it deserves as much. But for now here is something everyone must try in Taiwan - bubble tea:

I tried it with brown sugar and cream – so so delicious.

Night Markets I found this quite amusing - a market seller continuing to make dumplings despite a looming monsoon... (night markets will also get a separate blog post).

Beitou One afternoon I visited the beautiful hot springs town north of Taipei, Beitou. I wasnt allowed to take pictures inside the hotsprings or privacy issues (fair enough) so here are a few of the city:

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US ambassador Jeff Bleich shines in alliance debate

This article was originally posted at the USSC blog. The City Recital Hall in Sydney hosted a public debate on the question of whether “The US alliance is our best defence”. The debate, one in a series held monthly by IQ2 and broadcast on ABC and BBC, saw US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich and Katherine Ziesing, editor of the Australian Defence Force Magazine argue the affirmative. Opposing them were retired Major General Jim Molan and Professor Zhu Feng, Deputy Director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies, Peking University.

The debate was a very well matched spectacle and an interesting back and forth developed between the two sides. The opening was delivered eloquently by Jeff Bleich, who argued that no alliance could provide the same level of defence to Australia as the US and no two countries are better positioned to work together. Bleich, as polite as a top diplomat should be, carefully drew attention to two main problems Australia needs to carefully address – resource security and cyber security. Besides this, Bleich painted a rather benign picture of current relations in the region, something that Professor Zhu Feng challenged when he took to the lectern.

Zhu began with an anecdote about his nervousness at flying over numerous US bases as he made his way to Sydney and went on to explain the deep suspicion that exists in China about the US military build-up in the Pacific. Essentially, Zhu equivocated that Australia was misunderstanding China by seeing it as threatening. Instead, he emphasised that all China desires the space to rise peacefully. He suggested Australia should be aiming to befriend China, rather than antagonise it with a strong military alliance with the US. He believes this is especially necessary considering the large trade relationship between the two countries.

The second affirmative speaker, Katherine Ziesing argued strongly that the US is undoubtedly the best defence for Australia, but conceded it is not the only defence. This line of argument was surprisingly followed on by Jim Molan, who also had positive words about the US-Australia alliance, but believed it was time for Australia to become an “adult” and act unilaterally – meaning spending more on defence and relying less on the US for protection.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the night occurred when questioning began – a number of odd questions were asked by members of the World Socialist Alliance and the Free Julian Assange movement. Watching the swift and crafty deflection of these questions by the panellists was quite entertaining. This was no more impressively done than by Jeff Bleich, who was pummelled with difficult questions from the crowd and held his ground magnificently. In the end, the audience voted that the negative won, with more than 50% of the vote – suggesting that in fact the US is not Australia’s best defence.

An interesting and unexpected outcome, at least to this participant.

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Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice Beach, CA

The distant cousin of Crown St, Sydney.

Few places in LA provide a more concentrated stretch of restaurants, bars, food trucks, indie retailers, home design and gift stores. The street even leads directly onto Venice beach! I ventured into Intelligensia coffee to taste their much lauded beans – pretty damn good, especially after a few really, really bad cups since I’ve been in the US. I opted for an iced-coffee because it is too hot to consider a regular cup of coffee. Check out a few pictures below:

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Patriotic Cookies

After returning to the US for the first time in few years, I was reminded about the intense strength of American patriotism. I’m not merely talking about the American flags hanging off each and every house and restaurant, or the pictures of President Obama hanging in airports– these are to be expected of America. 

It is those exertions of patriotism which seem to be in bad taste which can shock most foreigners. Take for instance the box of cookies I found today selling for $3.99 at a Ralph’s superstore (pictured below) – sure to instill the daily dosage of patriotism into every American! 

While I was without doubt caught laughing out loud when I spotted this in aisle five, I also recognise that there is a serious lineage to be considered in determining what informs the bizarre production of national pride statements printed on cookie boxes. I am reminded of the wonderful quote by American essayist Agnes Repplier, which manages to encapsulate exactly why American nationalism has developed into such a powerful ‘brand’. 

"Of all the countries in the world, we and we only have any need to create artificially the patriotism which is the birthright of other nations." (The Atlantic, 1916)

This quote manages to articulate a very important point which is often forgotten when people criticize the crass and uncouth nature of American patriotic sentiment. It is unfortunate that these manifestations of American patriotism are sometimes made in bad taste and give off this impression. Love for one’s country is quite profound and not at all based upon shallow sentiment.

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Enduring a major media event

(Article originally published at USSC blog)

When important news breaks overnight, Australians, Americans and the majority of the developed world wake up and experience an all too familiar phenomenon: sensationalized extended breakfast television coverage, a buzzing Twittersphere, relentless Facebook status updates and quickly constructed op-eds.

This reaction is only natural. It is difficult to avoid getting caught up in the momentum of events like this and as stories begin to develop, people become enthralled and want to know how it will continue.

But the Boston Marathon bombing news coverage showed that fast-paced breaking news can cause significant damage to reputable news agencies. In the age of instant reporting, there is a temptation to latch onto nuggets of information and jump to conclusions.

CNN was one such news agency to fall prey to this temptation after the Boston story broke. David Carr at the New York Timesexplains how Americans instinctively look to CNN to get their breaking news. But CNN is coming under significant criticism for their means of adapting to this new fast paced news environment.

CNN is begging to make a habit of stumbling in its rush to be the first to break the news. In the case of Boston, they were forced to backtrack on a report that an arrest had been made. Last June, they incorrectly reported Obama’s health care law had been overturned. While these may seem like small misdemeanors, they all add up and news organisations need to retain a sense of accountability. The reputability of an organisation like CNN is being compromised by their desire to break the news before anyone else.

This sort of damage is not limited to CNN – the New York Post plastered the image of two innocent men on the front of the paper, suggesting they were infact the two bombing suspects.

An effective response to the back and forth conspiracy theories that surrounded news coverage of major news events is to turn off the TV, stay off Twitter and wait a few days for the truth to bubble to the top. Perhaps reading long books and magazine articles is a much more effective use of one's time.

Rolf Dobelli at the Guardian is the brainchild of this idea and advocates for less of an emphasis on fast paced, 24 hour news. He suggests easily consumable news programs don’t delve deeply into issues and inhibit ones ability to think. Being exposed to small bites of trivial matter does not foster the kind of concentration needed to make thoughtful and logical decisions. This idea has also been taken up quite nicely by Farhad Manjoo at Slate.

Media organisations want us to believe that the news offers us some sort of competitive advantage, when in reality, most people consume the wrong type of news in copious quantities which leads to detrimental consequences. Next time a news story breaks, it would be a good idea to switch off the television, make a cup of tea and sit down with a good book. The truth will surface in time.

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Spoils from China

THE idea that a country as small and relatively insignificant as Australia was able secure such a collection of impressive spoils from Julia Gillard's visit to China emphasises the importance of Australia to China economically, but also strategically.

The implications of this relationship for Australia's alliance with the US have not yet been thoroughly examined. Australia has diverged its strategic allegiances between both countries and this has the potential to turn into a flashpoint in the future. It is going to be difficult to diplomatically manage strong relationships with the world's two strongest powers in the occurrence of a regional dispute.

Australia will have to be optimistic that any future significant confrontation between the US and China is avoided due to the unquestionable need to preserve strategic stability and ensure prosperity.

- This article originally appeared in the letters section of The Australian. 

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The Role of the US in Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute

The stability and security of the Asia Pacific region is arguably at risk most greatly from the tension between Japan and China surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.

Given the unlikelihood that either side will back down in the dispute and the potential conflict any diminutive friction may provoke, many have suggested it is necessary for the US to play a role as mediator in the dispute. With their desire to play a more significant role in the future of the region, this seems like a natural and logical step.

But there are strong arguments for why the US shouldn’t get involved in the dispute - most importantly, jeopardising important relationships with Japan or China.

And until now, the US essentially hasn’t been involved. Administrations from Nixon onwards have stated that the US takes no position on the disputes.

Kurt Campbell, recently retired US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has strongly emphasised that neither side has encouraged US intervention in the dispute and that the US was reluctant to get involved as a mediator.

But the US finds itself inextricably involved in this conflict. The US-Japan Security Treaty (1960) stipulates that the US is bound to protect “the territories under the Administration of Japan”. Therefore the US is bound to guarantee Japan’s security in the event of an armed conflict over the islands. Resolving this conflict in the short term seems unlikely and there is an urgent need to calm tensions. But what should be done? And should the US be involved in this process?

1. An excessively narrow framing of the bilateral relationship between Japan and China is dangerous. Instead, great focus should be placed on trade and cultural relations to ensure tensions do not flare up and each side remains calm.

Hitoshi Tanaka, former Japanese Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, highlights this issue as a serious risk to both the Asia Pacific and the entire world because the countries involved possess the world’s second and third largest economies. Tanaka says it could have “global ramifications, as disruptions ripple along production chains”.

2. While the scale of this conflict has the potential to be grand, the United States needs to stay out of the conflict as much as possible. They need to shake the image of the global ‘trouble-shooter’ as they become more involved in the Asia Pacific region. This will be setting a better standard for their role in the region in the future and avoid any situations of intense dependence as has occurred in the middle east.

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The US Pivot to Asia

How is Australia's strong military relationship with the US affecting its strong regional alliances with friends in the Asia-Pacific region?