Places Maya W Wants to Go

Rivers of cattle blood gone, a strange Escheresque building remains, the last of its kind.

This ratty natural history collection is a charming relic among a city rushing into modernity.

A giant scale model giving a sneak peek at what urban planners see for Shanghai by 2020.

Lifelike statue of the Chinese philosopher in the bathtub.

A total of 999 stairs lead visitors through a massive hole in a mountain known as the Gateway to Heaven.

For those with no fear of heights: a skywalk 4,700 feet up on a Chinese mountain.

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

A magical work of architecture where a wind turbine enables monks to levitate.

These tiny statues form a terracotta army from China's Han dynasty.

This abandoned fishing settlement may well be the greenest village in the world.

In its continuing quest to recreate famous parts of the world in miniature, China now has its own ghost Paris.

This massive collection of taxidermy is full of specimens collected by missionaries during their international travels.

Incredible labyrinth of man made caves.

Shells collected from over a hundred different countries line the walls, floors and ceilings of this fantasy museum.

This active volcano's siren song to suicide jumpers forced authorities to build a fence.

450 dead and frozen fish, proudly on display in Japan.

This sawtooth mountain range still bears the strangely lovely marks of its history as a medieval quarry.

This giant seated Bhudda of Healing dates to the 1780s.

Be a ninja - or just act like one.

Largest graveyard in all of Japan surrounds a famous mausoleum.

The tallest bronze seated statue of the Buddha in Japan.

The third-tallest statue in the world depicts the "Buddha of Infinite Light," complete with observation deck in his chest.

An unlikely hit, this museum is dedicated to the inventor of instant ramen and cup noodles.

This neighborhood thoroughfare is haunted by dozens of homemade monsters.