A tunnel dug through the side of a mountain by hand provides convenient yet death-defying access to a small village in China.

Massive series of 45 caves and over 51,000 sculptures carved from cliffsides in China.

Rock-cut caves and 7,000 Buddhist sculptures carved into the nearly sheer face of a sandstone mountain.

Snow-capped peaks, colorful waterfalls and stunning vistas on the edge of the Himalayas.

This Tang Dynasty behemoth is the biggest Buddha in the world.

A complex and beautiful system of rice terraces covers a million acres over the mountains.

A sacred mountaintop temple offers a fine cup of tea to visitors who can survive the journey.

The latest in a series of long glass bridges suspended at terrifying heights.

A canvas of crops grow from vibrant red soil in this terraced farmland.

These layered sandstone mountains in China look like they are made of pressed crayons.

Intensely colorful calcite pools in Southern China.

This vertical pinnacle in China was the inspiration for the floating mountains in the movie “Avatar.”

A part of the world's largest marsh seems to be growing bright red Martian grass.

Take a ride back in time with a steam locomotive trip through Eritrea’s mountainous countryside.

The Earth's saltiest natural body of water belches toxic gas.

According to one local legend, this image was created during a battle between a wild lioness and the archangel Michael.

Ethiopian standing stones featuring remarkably preserved carvings of swords and people.

An ancient Ethiopian cave church is endangered by the simple building of a road.

An ocean in the making, in the Ethiopian desert.

An Ethiopian cloud forest protects some of the last wild arabica plants.

Reaching the "Church in the Sky" requires scaling the cliff face of a sandstone pinnacle with a 650-foot drop.

Ethiopia's "smoking mountain" is in one of the hottest regions on the planet and is home to two lava lakes.

The hottest place on the planet.

An Ethiopian "Jerusalem" featuring a church hewn out of a single rock.