Looking like nothing more than a cartoon deserted island, this tiny sandbar is home only to a single umbrella.

This mountaintop lake bubbles and steams in a perpetual boil, thanks to its direct link to the Earth's interior.

The floor of the oldest surviving synagogue in the Americas is entirely covered in sand.

The Kaveri River cuts through the rocky terrain then drops off to form these misty falls.

Inside a beautiful Indian temple is a seemingly magical floating pillar that doesn't touch the ground.

World's tallest monolithic statue has served as a pilgrimage site since its completion in 993 CE.

An ancient iron pillar in Delhi that seems to be rustproof.

The largest tiger reserve in India is a vast expanse dotted with ancient ruins of Nagarjuna Viswa Vidyalayam.

The second-longest continuous wall on the planet protects a hidden secret in the deserts of India.

A mecca for India's Jains.

This complex of vertically-excavated Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu monolithic temples in India's Maharashtra providence illustrates a spirit of tolerance characteristic of ancient India.

Centuries-old bridges grown from tangled roots.

Thousands of exquisitely carved stone water storage wells, hundreds of stone steps fill this exquisite medieval stepwell.

This serene bamboo walkway allows Buddhist monks from remote temples access to the nearby village.

Self-mummified monk who wears sunglasses and has become a gecko hatchery.

Surat Thani's official flower—and the world's largest—smells of rotting meat.

At a Bangkok bistro, one pot of beef stew has been cooking non-stop for more than 45 years.

Secret North Korean passage discovered below the world's most dangerous border.

This Sumatran root bridge took almost 30 years to knit itself together.

A sprawling nature preserve harbors the world's only living dragons.

Bali's remote "gateway to heaven" is one of the most sacred places on the island.

Isolated atop this Balinese sea crag is a lovely Hindu temple that is said to be guarded by sea snakes.

The notorious "Hanoi Hilton" where Vietnamese colonial subjects and later American POWs, including John McCain, were imprisoned.

Monument to a brutal, ineffectual US bombing campaign and a sobering reminder of the human cost of the Vietnam War.