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 - 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 - This city takes a physical toll on most visitors. Whether you're climbing the steep streets of Central District to reach the charming colonial neighbourhoods at Mid-Levels, or exploring the bustling markets that fan out from the base of Hong Kong's world famous escalator, or partying to the wee hours in the famed ex-pats playground of Lan Kwai Fong, you usually arrive back at your hotel exhausted.

BEIJING - My taxi reaches a junction in this ancient capital’s commercial district, Wangfujing, and comes to a stop where two historic hutongs (alleys) — Xiaoweu Hutong and Jinyu Hutong — intersect. The driver points to a striking new building off to the side and struggles with his English to tell me we’ve arrived at the “Way-dof Hah-tel.”

BANGKOK - I follow Etienne de Villiers through the flower-filled lobby of the legendary Mandarin Oriental Bangkok — the most welcoming entrance in the industry — and up a staircase to the property’s mezzanine.

KARUIZAWA, JAPAN - Excitement builds in Car 8 as the Shinkansen (bullet train) rumbles out of Tokyo Station. The usually reserved elderly Japanese are in a festive mood; lively chatter and laughter fills the car as the high-speed train whizzes past the lush rice fields that dominate the countryside just outside the capital.

TOKYO - When we reach the landmark Nihonbashi Bridge that crosses Tokyo’s fabled river of the same name, we find ourselves standing in the centre of Japan, literally.

SHANGHAI - The one-hour drive from Pudong International Airport through snarled traffic seems to take longer than the 14-hour flight that brought me to China’s largest city. By the time the cabbie turns off the legendary Bund and onto Nanjing Road and I see the yawning doors of the Fairmont Peace Hotel waiting to welcome me, my body and mind are in a state of total jetlag numbness — the result of getting only a few hours’ sleep on the flight.

KYOTO, JAPAN – It’s quite late when the cab we hail outside Kyoto’s main rail station deposits us at a small boat landing on the Oigawa River in a remote area of this ancient city known as Arashiyama. We admire the beach-ball-shaped moon’s reflection bouncing off the black water while waiting for a boat to take us to Hoshinoya Kyoto, a traditional inn known as a ryokan that is the talk of the Japanese hotel industry.

SINGAPORE –It’s not yet 6 a.m. but already there’s plenty of people splashing and laughing in the gigantic swimming pool that’s atop this city’s brand new 2,561-room Marina Bay Sands Hotel.