Guilin Mountains & Li River, China
(images via: brad & ying, augapfel)
Take a leisurely boat ride along China’s Li River and gaze at the wondrous Guilin Mountains, known for their unusual tall and thin shapes. Guilin is actually a town in the far south of China, sometimes referred to as China’s most beautiful city.
Mount Everest, China & Nepal
(image via: topgold, joe hastings)
The king of all mountains, Mount Everest reaches an amazing 29,029 feet above sea level. Located in the Mehalangur section of the Himalayas, the mountain draws thousands of mountaineers and would-be climbers each year, many of whom never make it to the top.
Gobi Desert, Mongolia
(image via: wikimedia commons, david berkowitz)
Forever associated with the great Mongol Empire, Mongolia’s Gobi Desert is a vast area covered with bare rock with extreme temperatures ranging from -40 degrees Fahrenheit in winter to 122 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. Just within a 24-hour-period, there can be an astonishing 95-degree difference in temperature. The first dinosaur eggs ever discovered were found here, and the dessert is home to black-tailed gazelles, camels, polecats, snow leopards, brown bears and wolves. It’s divided into five ecoregions, each with their own particular set of landscape features, including the sand dunes of Khongoryn Els.
Mount Zao, Japan
(images via: wikimedia commons, satoru kikuchi)
Japan’s Mount Zao is the most active volcano in northern Honshu and contains the beautiful blue-green Okama Crater Lake. This lake is known as ‘Five Color Pond’ because it changes colors depending on the weather. Mount Zao is famous for its ‘snow monsters’, unusual formations of ice caused by lake water that is blown onto nearby trees and shrubs and then frozen.
