My time in Seoul has been far more hospitable thanks to the assistance of a family friend, Ellen, who teaches English here. I am extremely grateful that we met in this distant land. It is one thing to have a local guide to show you around and another thing entirely to have someone from your own culture who really understands your motivations for travel. It isn’t simply that we communicate well, though we do—she also gets my travelling style in a way that most people wouldn’t, not without a great deal of explanation.

Seoul is a fantastic change of scenery after the many challenges of Thailand. My experience here in South Korea has been fantastic from the very moment I stepped off the plane. The airport is extremely well-organized and connected to downtown Seoul by rail. I spent all of $3 to get downtown and transferred to the appropriate subway line to reach my hostel without mishap.

This gallery contains more shots from in and around Bangkok, this time with a focus on patterns, texture, grit, grime, decay, terror, and the sublime beauty that haunts the streets of this chaotic metropolis.

Gathered here are several more of the many photos I shot in and around Bangkok during my two months in Thailand in 2012.

Collected here are eight of my finest shots from a lamentably brief stay in Hong Kong in January 2012.

This gallery contains several photos from my first few walking tours of Mong Kok, Hong Kong, in January 2012.