For over a decade I’ve been repeating the same guilty pleasure upon checking into a hotel. No, it’s not the spa, or the free cocktail, or the chocolate fondant next to the welcome fruit. I like those things too, but my guilty pleasure allows a stealth peek into how the hotel thinks, and by extension how it projects its brand. I order a Club Sandwich.

A recent indecent reminded me of the value of the quality-pricing philosophy that my travel company, Smiling Albino, uses for the services we provide in SE Asia.

Living in SE Asia one encounters a truly extraordinary breadth of occupations. Urban garbage collectors along Bangkok’s labyrinthine maze of canals, collecting trash buckets on narrow waterways and taking them to city dumps. Mail delivery services along the same canals, using a combination of paddle boats and bicycles to deliver mail village by village.

I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to be a documentary TV host in Thailand for several years. It has taken me around the country, introduced me to fascinating people and places, and humbly proven that I didn’t know as much about this country as I thought I did!