HONG KONG — Artists in Asia’s most colourful city have taken to the streets and are painting the town red — and blue and purple and every colour of the rainbow. And by doing so, they’ve unwittingly created the world’s largest and most interesting outdoor art museum.

TAI O, HONG KONG — As the ferry to Lantau Island glides across Hong Kong Harbour’s choppy surf, I look out from my seat at the city’s congested vertical skyline and try to imagine what this Goliath of modern cities would have looked like back when it was just a humble fishing village.

FOSHAN, CHINA - Long before there was a martial arts actor named Bruce Lee, there was a martial arts master called Ip Man.

IBUSUKI CITY, JAPAN - It appeared a gang of headhunters had arrived in this ancient Japanese city before we did. Heads were strewn all over the public beach - not a body in sight. We gasped at first sight of the heads and gingerly approached one wrapped in a towel. Then, as the eyes on the head opened, and a smile crept across the face, we jumped back. The villagers standing out of sight broke into laughter. The heads were the first thing we faced after arriving in this resort town on the southe...

BEIJING - This is a city that changes in the blink of an eye, literally. As an old building disappears in a cloud of demolition dust, a new one appears when the dust clears.

TOKYO - I arrive at the entrance of the HOSHINOYA Tokyo, the capital’s newest hotel, on the eve of Bunka no Hi (Culture Day), when the nation celebrates its deeply rooted customs and traditions.

HONG KONG - Long before there was Hong Kong Disney, there was Ocean Park Hong Kong, a local theme park where many who grew up in this former British colony spent their youth. Then, when the glitzy Hong Kong Disney opened in 2010, Ocean Park was almost forgotten.

BANGKOK - The steel- hulled long-tail boat slams violently against some unusually high waves churned up in the Chao Phraya River by a far-off typhoon. I brace myself as the captain signals he’s about to veer hard left and abandon our original course. He aims his arrow-straight boat at a small canal leading off the river and soon we are floating on calmer waters.

HONG KONG - The large glass door guarding the entrance to the Mandarin Oriental’s posh Landmark Hong Kong Hotel swings open and out pops a man wearing an emoji happy face smile and holding a frosty bottle of water.

HONG KONG - By the time I reach the Star Ferry Terminal at Pier 7 where people hop on the iconic green boats and sail off to this city’s outer islands, the oppressive summer heat has taken its toll. Sweat drips off my body like rain and the hot, humid air has drained me of all my energy.