Turk recently signed a book contract with Frommer’s and is writing a guide book on Austin and San Antonio. She is a member of the faculty in the department of English and Communication Studies at Texas Lutheran University.

Stories and photos by Janis Turk:

The A-Ma Temple in Macau, China

Macau, China: Contradictions and Tiny Miracles

It's midnight in Macau, and a stout little Chinese woman is standing on my back.

“Whoa! This is unexpected!” I think as my chest caves into itself on the tall, hard massage table of the Wong Chio On Mo Chong Sam salon.

It's only 120 Hong Kong dollars (about $20 US) for a one-hour massage, and soon a stern-looking woman whisks me upstairs. The place conjures images of a Haight Asbury hippie coffeehouse circa 1969, or worse an opium den.

In a dark room, the woman covers my naked back with threadbare towels and proceeds to climb upon the massage table. In one quick astonishing move, she's standing on my back where she will stay for the next hour — working intricate miracles, surprises in my sinews, massaging my muscles with her toes. Read more...


The Four Corners Region: Exploring the Mysteries of Hillerman Country

Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River in Arizona

The four corners of mystery writer Tony Hillerman’s world aren’t on any map.

They lie someplace between fiction and fantasy, myth and memory, and are bordered by ancient cliff dwellings, steep canyon walls, sun-baked Zuni pueblos and dry winds that sweep across Navajo lands.

So the best way to experience Hillerman Country is to go by the book.

Take along some of Hillerman’s 20 best-selling novels while traveling through Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado, and see the Four Corners region of the Southwest through new eyes.

Hillerman recalls it as “love at first sight,” when he first beheld the Four Corners region, and says he’s “been getting acquainted with its mountains, canyons and interesting cultures ever since,” and so have his readers, who have fallen in love with Hillerman’s characters and the rugged country where his murder mysteries are set. Read more...

More Stories by Janis Turk on GoNOMAD:

England: Finding Moushill Mead

Cape Town, Again

Hiking in Huangshan, China: Finding My Own Lost Horizon

South Africa: A Photo Safari at the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve

Into a Still Country: On Safari in Namibia

Jordan: Lessons From the Other Holy Land

New Orleans Rising: Finding New Hope After Katrina

London Finally Figures out the Food Thing

The Marbles of Monroe County, Kentucky