There have been times during my travels when I’ve compromised my personal safety — unknowingly and deliberately — just to get where I wanted to go. When I think back on these moments I shiver. Yes I was naive and possibly insane.

The idea of riding through backwater roads in rural China with no one but a non-English speaking driver or clambering down a muddy mosquito infested path in an unknown part of Myanmar may sound adventurous but I had to rely on the people around me and my wits.

Yet no matter where I was during the day, it was the nights that made me incredibly uncomfortable. Left alone in a unlisted hotel or  hostel with people who not only looked different but spoke differently from me, I was largely viewed as a crazy foreign woman travelling around with no friends and worse — no man to protect me. I was also seen as wealthy in their eyes because I could travel.

Little did they know that I was nervous about being alone not knowing who might force their way into my room. These nights were often spent in a restless state of sleep waking at the slightest noise, keeping a makeshift weapon within close distance for that “just in case” moment and trying whatever I could to fortify the doors and windows.

Back then — and it was only a few years ago — there was little in the way of practical personal safety gadgets that women could use.  Now thanks to advances in technology and companies like Ila, personal security has evolved. No longer do women have to compromise their personal security in their home or when travelling.

Using the doorstop concept Ila has created the Wedge with a built-in alarm that emits a piercing siren should someone try to open the door. The siren is loud enough to scare off any hearing able intruder as well as freak out your neighbours and dogs within metres of your home.

Ila has kept the Wedge design simple but stylish constructing the product out of a hard plastic and adding a feminine touch to keep the product from looking drab. It is inexpensive considering the added sense of security it offers: $19.95 for the US market and £14.50 for the UK.

Anyone who takes their travel and personal safety seriously should add this product to their travel list or their friend’s travel list.Detailed information on the Wedge and other security gadgets is available at Ila Security.

Ila Wedge

Caffeinated Traveller

I’ve known Seoul as a bustling beehive packed with commuters, pollution, and construction. A place where expats often go to hide and Asians love to visit for the brand shopping. I also know that Seoul isn’t considered as an exotic travel destination among “Western” travellers the way Tokyo is. Past comments I’ve received from bloggers, family and even friends have considered Seoul as a boring, dirty, crowded old city. I admit there is truth in these comments, but I can also take these words and apply them to any city within Asia, the Americas and dare I say it — Europe.

Despite the global recession South Korea was one of the few countries to pull itself out of the financial quagmire earlier on. With sound financial policies and strategies the country is well on track to becoming a major player in North Asia’s financial hub. Add innovative ideas and a national airline that likes to collect award upon award it’s any wonder why the NY Times has picked up on this happening country particularly Seoul, adding it to the top 31 places to visit in 2010.

So, what’s delicious about Seoul?

Buddhism

by Cate

Buddhist enthusiasts can forget Thailand and its glitzy tourist orientated temples and pagodas. Korea’s Buddhism has remained under the radar for decades and well away from wannabe devotees. Temple stays are available in the country’s bigger temples outside Seoul city and in the country’s southern regions. Personally the idea of waking at 4am to chant has never been my thing, but if it’s what you seek in life, you won’t find the temples overcrowded with cameras except on religious holidays.

by Cate

Street food, Café food

A city in transition means food in transition. Street food and vendors are a large part of the Korean landscape selling toasted bread sandwiches, rice porridge, rock hard candy, popped rice snacks, chicken kebab, rice balls in a vibrantly red chilli sauce, noodles, tempura style vegetables, dried fish and boiled silkworm larvae (hmmm). This is what keeps Koreans ticking; stalls that open at day break and close in the early hours. Usually operated by small strong fierce-looking grandmothers, the prices are cheap and the food is fresh.

by Cate

As Koreans bring food and design ideas back with them from overseas, cafés including brunch or spaghetti specific have popped up like mushrooms and have also shut down overnight. The scene is forever changing. There are also Indian, Thai, Uzbeki. Mongolian, French, German and dozens of Chinese restaurants and other flavours of immigrants to South Korea over the recent years.

by Cate

Old style, New style

Corporate conglomerates like Samsung and LG house their staff in Seoul’s finer pieces of architect, and if they are not doing this for their staff their names gone on art galleries. Transitions can be a way passing over a tired old life for a shiny new including residing in old neighbourhoods. What once was a place where traditional homes clustered around narrow lanes and winding streets, are now high-rise apartment blocks, priced in the millions, safe and secure.

by Cate

Development has threatened Seoul’s historic district Bukchon, but thanks to UNESCO stepping in the traditional home called the hanok will be preserved. Sadly many areas have succumbed to the developers demolition ball and the opportunity to get lost among old rambling streets are rapidly decreasing.

by Cate

Personal Space

In a city with 26 million souls it is difficult to find personal space, unless you know where to go. Set among universities like Seoul National and Yonsei are gardens filled with beauty and prestige designed as backdrops for graduate shots and settings for picnics and romance. Naturally plantings change with the season from autumn hues to bridal pinks blossoms…

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by Cate

Whimsy

I like to think Seoul as a place where whimsy thrives. Old men have the ability to fall into deep sleeps as traffic zooms by honking horns, or hang outside a convenience store in the early hours of the morning debating life over bottles of sochu — at the top of their voices. Whimsy can be seen in the arts districts with retro style fixtures, furniture and music.

by Cate

by Cate

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But there is much more to South Korea than just Seoul. At the southern end of the peninsula lies Pusan, the second largest city with its golden beaches and very traditional fishing villages. Tea plantations like Boseong are virtually unknown by western tourists and the country’s oldest Buddhist|temple district lies southeast of Seoul in Gyeongju. Further south past Pusan is the island of Jeju known for it’s UNESCO lava domes and the ancient volcano Halla. North of Seoul is well, you know, the tiny artificial kingdom of the Democratic Republic of North Korea which opens its southern borders for day trips when diplomatic relations are good.

Caffeinated Traveller

by Cate

Native to Louisiana, Spanish Moss goes with the wind — by its strands or by bird — all the way down to Florida. And there is stays draped over trees, creating the perfect nesting material for birds and an spooky atmosphere for Halloween.

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Prized for its resilience to insects, the fibres were widely used in mattresses during the 19th century. Innovation has seen a change in the demand for this green moss, but that doesn’t bother me. As a newbie to this area I love the look of this plant, the way it captures the light, the way it flows with the wind, not against it.

by Cate

I haven’t seen any moss around my area; only palms, palms and more palms.

Caffeinated Traveller

I was skeptical and shook off his concerns with a smile.

“This is not Japan … I can’t see the festival being that popular with Americans and in this heat (high 90′s) — and humidity — (high 70′s).”

I got it totally wrong.

Streams of cars crawled along a road that lead away from the town’s centre. It felt like a funeral procession. Drivers payed attention to fluoro clad attendants waving light wands, and to the bright whirling lights on parked police cars. This wasn’t a crash site, this was the entrance to the Bon Festival at Morikami Gardens in Delray Beach, southern Florida.

Obon or, Bon, is one of the main Japanese festivals held yearly in August when the heat is extreme and the humidity is intense. With its origins in Buddhism, Bon celebrates death or rather the departed spirits of ancestors. As a build up to the actual Bon celebrations, Japanese spend time spring-cleaning their homes and around their ancestors graves. These rituals are not uniquely Japanese and are also carried out in Buddhist countries like South Korea and Taiwan in line with their own celebrations.

On the first day of Bon, Japanese call their ancestors back home with the lighting of lanterns and fires to guide them. On the final day of celebration these ancestral spirits are sent back by putting lanterns into streams and rivers letting them float downstream to the ocean.

During the festival historic cities like Kyoto and Nara hold their own celebrations. Kyoto holds a popular bonfire event which is really all about watching fire but there is a little more to this than flames dancing on wood. In the evening once the sun has set and the sky is dark, the surrounding hills come alive.

Five enormous bonfires are lit but these bonfires aren’t ordinary stacks of wood and the bonfires aren’t ordinary orange blobs of flames on the landscape. Everything in Japan has a meaning behind it and so do these five bonfires — three in Chinese characters and two in other shapes — all are symbolic to Bon. Each fire lasts around 30 minutes and are lit within five minutes of each other. The biggest and most famous bonfire is the character Daimonji, meaning large or great, which is lit first and usually lasts the longest.

It was six years ago when I crowded onto the rooftop of an arts centre in Kyoto with dozens of other wide-eyed foreigners and local Japanese ooohhing and ahhing at the orange glow in the distance. This was one of the best controlled burn offs I had ever seen.

via Wiki Commons

Close to Kyoto  is Nara City, Japan’s ancient capital prior to Kyoto and famous for deer. Every year Nara holds the Lantern Festival in line with Obon. Over 10,000 lanterns made of paper, glass, metal and stone are lit in temples, at shrines and displayed throughout the city streets, waterways and in Nara park. It is spectacular walking around the lanterns lighting the old stone temple steps, an inner calm finds you and takes hold. It’s not about finding your Self, it’s about being present. Forget your camera — or miss the moment.

via 1.bp

Uncertain what to expect when I attended the Bon festival at Morikami Japanese Gardens, I went with low expectations despite the professional looking promotion on its website.  Because I had seen the “real thing” in Japan the bar had been set high, but I wanted to share some of my past experiences with Joe who had a growing interest in Japanese culture.

Off we went late in the afternoon down to Delray approximately thirty minutes drive south. First impressions are lasting and when I  look back on Saturday’s event, what really sticks out from the rest is the crowd. Bon at Morkami was a crowd drawer. People in summer dress along with young women outfitted in Yukatas packed the stuffy marquee to standing room only. They patiently sat through the slow methodical female dance  performed then were mesmerised by small-framed women who pounded and rolled Taiko drums and chimed symbols along with some strong looking men. All of this done in the heat with little in the way of cooling devices. And the crowd was patient.

Stalls and vendors gave visitors a glimpse of Japanese cuisine from yaki soba (stir-fried noodles) to Kirin Beer, offered a few mismatched pieces of second hand goods and some museum goodies (parasols and pottery), which I will be going back to buy.

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But it wasn’t only the cultural aspect that attracted the crowds. Around the pristine lake with its flora and fauna pruned and sheared to perfection sat hoards of camera holding spectators waiting under the sun, waiting for the light to end,waiting for the lanterns and fireworks.

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Since I had seen the real thing in Japan on numerous occasions and enjoyed the events at Morikami Gardens during the daylight hours, the thought of sitting it out for the lanterns didn’t grab me. With the sweat building up, the gnat-type-flying-things intensifying all I wanted to do was cool down. Thankfully Joe initiated the idea of leaving early.

Perhaps next Bon I will wait it out for the lanterns and fireworks, I’m glad hundreds of others were enlightened enough to know the virtues of being patient. I know mine is a work in progress.

Next post will be on the Taiko drums. Stay tuned.

Caffeinated Traveller

This chain of coffee hubs hasn’t reached Starbuck proportions yet but it could well be on the way to kicking the triple shot caramel latte maker off the top of the list soon.

So, is Aroma Espresso Bar therapeutic?

Depending on your definition of therapeutic I guess. If wide clean space is your thing then this place is for you.

Branding is paramount and Aroma has made an art of serving quality despite the coffee chain label. Innovative surroundings, mood music, healthy food, consistently good coffee, consistently good staff and a social conscience make this café chain popular in its motherland.

by Cate

Naturally there are people who enjoy a small cosy artsy café to a spacious one, and there are those who don’t care where they drink.I fall into the first category but from time to time a wider cooler place can be more relaxing to sit in than a small crammed and often noisy one

The Aroma outlet in Sunny Isles looks relatively new, frequented by local residents who sit in hidden corners watching people as they come and go. Seating varies from outdoor tables, vinyl smothered but comfy looking chairs, bench seating for privacy and the usual large group set-up with tables and hard chairs.

Phrases and mottos that describe the foods and drinks available act as art on walls and pillars or reading material for the bored.

The coffee is a classic dark roasted blend with a gritty aftertaste.  Watch out if you order a macchiato, a light spoonful of foam was exchanged for some heavy handed froth. I had to spoon most of it off before I could drink the coffee.

But I did like the palette sweetner — carefully branded of course.

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Prices are standard, this is a good café chain to come out of a world of bad coffee chains. Food is available including a wide range of salads. Coffee is sourced from over the world and I’m guessing tea ranks high on the quality list as well.

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Transport is limited to this part of Miami, you will need your own vehicle or take a taxi. If you want to try out a different place and you happen to be around here it is worth visiting, but I wouldn’t recommend taking a bus for the sole purpose of trying out this place.

Update: This information was ever so kindly given to me by a reader.

“There is transportation to this area with the Miami metro bus. Both Route S and H stops at 163rd and Collins which is 60 second walk to the cafe”.

Address: 150 Sunny Isles Blvd Sunny Isles, FL 33160. Parking is free!

Caffeinated Traveller