Drug Tourism in Southeast Asia

To my faithful Southeast Asia followers, I want to let you know that a lengthy piece I wrote on drug tourism is Southeast Asia is now posted on The Atlantic.  You can find it here.

I am receiving both congratulatory and job-well-done messages, along with this-is-the-stupidest-thing-I’ve-ever-read messages.  I guess, read it and see for yourself which side you fall on!

Best,

Eve

New Piece on NPR’s Kitchen Window

Colonizers’ Influence Infuses Southeast Asian Cuisine

I share some culinary observations and recipes from my trip!  Please read and comment and cook!  Eve

Meditation in Thailand

Tripped Media published a short piece of mine today about my experience meditating in Thailand.  You can read it here.

Thank you for your support and interest!

Eve

Photos

Just as an FYI, I want to let readers know that I have taken my photos off of Flickr (after hearing some not-so-great stories about photo theft).  Almost all of my photos from the trip are available through my website: http://eveturow.com/photographs/.

  

If you are looking for another photo that you do not see listed or would like to purchase any of the photos on my website in full resolution, please let me know.  I would love to have others enjoy these images, as I loved creating them!

Thanks again,

Eve

New Article

I have a piece published today with the Chicago Tribune that discusses the difficulties of relaying the small yet influential moments of life.  I talk about this in regard to my trip to Asia.

If you’re interested in reading it, you can see it here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/#&lid=Opinion&lpos=Main

Thank you for all the support!

New Website

I just finished designing my new website: www.eveturow.com

I have all of my publications, blogs, photos, even music linked to through the site.  Please check it out and pass the link along to others.

Thanks!

Eve

 

New Publications

Just a couple articles I want to mention:

Tomorrow’s Chicago Tribune will feature a piece I wrote on the effects of Facebook on relationships post relationship.  You can view it online here: Chicago Tribune Opinions Section: “Breaking up with Facebook”

I also had an academic psychology piece published earlier this week with the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue.  The essay address the role of religious symbols in jury decision-making and the effects of perspective-taking in alleviating religion’s influence.  Check it out here: “Balancing Judgment: The Effects of Religion in US Courtrooms”.

To come: another piece for NPR’s Kitchen Window on the colonial influences on food in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia!  Dishes highlighted will include laap (L), ban xeow (V), green mango and smoked fish salad(C) and gado gado(I).

Please read, comment and share!  Thanks!

Just to Wrap Up

A quick update on me: I am still home!

Kidding.  I returned home still in a phase of sleepiness.  I tested negative for mono, but I’m 99% sure that that’s what I had, it was just perhaps not the best to wait 3 weeks before getting tested.  The doctor could only conclude that my body was clearly fighting off something.  Then, of course, because my immunities were so low I got a pretty nasty chest cold this past week and thus am still spend a large part of the day stationary.  I had one week of full energy and it was great!  I’m just waiting to get back there!

In the meantime, I am organizing photos of the trip, brainstorming articles to write and finding housing in New York!  As they say, everything happens for a reason, and I am so grateful I came home early.  I would have been freaking out otherwise- there is so much for me to do!  Unpacking and repacking, finding an apartment, signing up for classes.  In the end, it’s all worked out well.  Now I just need to get healthy!

All of the photos of the trip have been uploaded onto my Flickr page, so be sure to click on over there to see them.  The last batch from Nusa are some of my favorites of the trip.

Also, if anyone is looking to donate to a worthy cause, here are two organizations I highly recommend:

Cambodia Landmine Museum: http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/

 

 

 

Cambodian Children’s Painting Project: http://www.letuscreatecambodia.org/

 

 

 

Thanks for all of the comments throughout the trip.  Please continue to check back as I will post any articles or essays I write that relate to this journey.

Eve

Cremation Ceremony Video (Ubud, Bali)

Walking to get the holy water in the afternoon of the cremation ceremony.

The End

My last few days in Indonesia were blissful.  Saturday, I went on a walk around the northern end of the island where the resorts end and the local neighborhood begins.  Locals work outside gathering seaweed, loosening it from the sea floor, gathering, hauling it ashore and then drying it out in the sun.  Women and men of all ages spend the sun light hours out in the shallow sea.

The tide was low that afternoon, the sky was clear and the water was still.  The reflections of the clouds on the water with the Balinese mountains in the background and the multicolored fishing boats near shore, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of thescenery.  I think I took about 50 photos on that walk alone!

On my walk I met three young boys who let me take their picture.  Back in Ubud I did three days of classes in Bahasa Indonesia, and I am so glad that I did.  Bahasa Indonesia is one of the easiest languages to learn in the world because there is no conjugations, no present, no past.  You simply say “yesterday I go to the store” or “tomorrow I go to the store.”  Easy peasy.  So, with these boys I knew enough to say hello, how are you?  what’s your name?  They were so adorbale.  The kids on the island I found to be more personable, more laid back than the kids I was with in Ubud.  Perhaps it is because it is a poorer community and a place without so many Westerners, so maybe I am more exciting to them, but I loved just talking with them and playing around for a bit.

Then I met an older woman carrying seaweed who wanted me to try carrying the seaweed on my head.  I objected, only because I could totally see myself dropping the whole thing and she’d just spent hours collecting it!  But I felt welcomed by the locals on the island.  It seemed like a warm community.

The following day, yesterday, Kara and I went snorkeling in the morning with two very nice Swedes, Pontus and Diana, and an odd older American man (honestly, the first guy my whole trip to creep me out.  Good thing I’ll never see him again!).  Besides the oddball American, the snorkeling trip was awesome.  The water was so clear you could see the coral and fish perfectly.  I wish I knew more about marine life, because I cannot tell you the names of anything I saw, all I can tell you is that it looked exactly like Finding Nemo! Haha.  Red, blues, greens, it was neat just to watch the different plants sway in the water.  There were iridescent scaled fish and the sun shining through the water made everything sparkle.  In the second spot, you could see 50 meters down.  It was the perfect final day experience.

At the end of the evening, as we did every night on the island, we watched a magnificent sunset.

The end of my trip was filled with beautiful sights, good food and good company.  I feel completely blessed to have had such a successful and enjoyable journey for the last few months.  I began to tear up waiting in the immigration line here at the Denpasar airport.  I am ready to have some home comforts for a bit, but I must admit I have already gone through my travel book and planned out a month long trip through Laos.  Perhaps next summer!  I am trying to think of this as Part 1 of 2.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be back sooner rather than later.  There’s too many places left to see.

But for now, I head to Hong Kong in about an hour, from there San Francisco and from there, Chicago.  I will be back in the States in 18 hours!

Once I’m home, photos to come.  Promise.

P.S.- If anyone has any freelance writing work for me, I will have time this summer before classes begin!  Feel free to contact me via the blog or pass along the address to anyone else who many want to contact me.  Essays, articles, what have you.  Thank you!