Kep, Cambodia was a stylish seaside resort for French colonialists in the mid 20th century. From the New York Times – “… the French colonialists established a beach retreat during their rule here in the first half of the 20th century. They built mansions on the hillsides to catch the gulf breezes, and as in Sihanoukville, the villas’ skeletal remains and shot-up facades are an eerie reminder of the past. Those houses are now being turned into luxury residences and hotels, and new compounds like the colonial La Villa de Monsieur Thomas and the modernist Knai Bang Chatt demonstrate what the future of high-end tourism on the Cambodian coast might look like.”

In December of 2009, our local guide took us on a tour of the “ghost town” of mansions, including a former Prince’s home where we paid a few dollars to walk through the entire house. The remaining structures are impressive and hint at a formidable colonial grandeur to the resort. The ruins also symbolize the scars of French colonialism and American imperialism.

A few images of Knai Bang Chatt, one of nicest hotels we stayed in Southeast Asia …

The construction of the working boats on the Mekong reflects the scrappy ingenuity of the Vietnamese that build and operate them — Retro-fitted Toyota truck prop engines, re-used rubber tire fenders, bamboo pole and re-used industrial plastic/fabric canopies. No vessel is complete without painted eyes on the bow to ward off evil spirits. When we expressed interest into the purpose of the graphic marking, our captain explained and then asked “What do you paint on your boats to insure good luck?” Um … Silly boating logotypes and government licenses ?

An elder on the island of Gilli Air in Indonesia watches his son fish the reef. His grandson plays with some of the other boys on the island on an old boat in the shallow water.

Why have motorbike manufacturers not developed kits for transporting various cargo, 3 or more passengers, or surfboards? After spending 6 months in South Asia, I started to see the Honda motorbike like Amazon’s Web Services, or the Apple App Store.  This photo is an ode to Hans Kemp’s great photography of “Bikes of Burden” in Vietnam – http://www.bikes-of-burden.com

At one of the local Legong Dance Performances in Ubud, Bali, 15 percussionists and 10 dancers entertained a crowd of 10 people.

Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2010. Numbers signify candidates as part of their postering campaigns. The numbers match the candidate’s listing on the ballots.

“Country” is an Indonesian outdoor adventure company who’s graphic language is unfortunately too similar to the classic Marlboro advertisements for cigarettes. I can’t imagine the graphic designer or the business would want to communicate the association of death to kite surfing, or cancer to sea kayaking.

After 6 months on the road in Asia, I started to plot the balance between services and value. I sketched this matrix of “luxury” vs. “cheap chic” attributes and amenities for evaluating guesthouses.