This collection of lakeside pagodas and temples are flanked by giant lions, tigers, and dragons as well as their welcoming maws.

Only through deep darkness and tragedy did this elaborate royal palace become a sacred temple.

The world’s largest work of glass art hides in this stunning Taiwanese subway station.

A hotel in Taiwan based on the better business practices that can be gleaned from Jewish law.

A small alleyway lined with locally drawn scenes of nostalgic anime and cartoon characters.

Paiwanese restaurant run by native indigenous Taiwanese singer songwriter, and home to a DIY arts-and-crafts folk garden.

Grandpa Rainbow felt the neighborhood needed some color, so he picked up a paintbrush and went to work.

A secret passageway from World War II is now a quirky pedestrian shortcut.

A rare pod of derelict midcentury Futuro and Venturo houses lines a semi-abandoned beachfront resort outside Taipei.

This Taiwanese promontory is covered in otherworldly hoodoo formations.

An imperial art museum offers edible versions of its most treasured displays in an on-site fine-dining restaurant.

Looking for a crappy restaurant? Pull up a porcelain bowl and enjoy your meal.

Enormous pendulum helps keep Taiwan's tallest building from swaying.

These charming mailboxes became social media stars after a typhoon failed to topple them.

Taiwan's last Chinese character letterpress preserves the dying art of Chinese character mold making.

Memorial to the father of the Republic of China.

Hollywood's oldest hotel is the site of the first Academy Awards, the birthplace of Marilyn Monroe's career, and the home of Montgomery Clift's ghost.

When the Soviets destroyed the historic Armenian monastery they somehow left its bell tower intact.

This iconic tattoo shop has its own onsite museum with artifacts from the early history of modern body art.

19th-century operating theatre in which the use of ether was first demonstrated - plus, a skeleton and a mummy!

A statue of the legendary Celtic warrior queen who fought the Roman invaders stands in one of the cities she once destroyed.

This innocent-looking townhome is actually a subway exit.

Detailed facade of a brownstone in Boerum Hill.

The second building of its name to occupy this location might be the finest flatiron building in San Francisco.