Places Unusualer Wants to Go

Local lore says this 700-year-old tree has sacred and medicinal properties.

A collection of Lenin busts and other Soviet Era statues sit idly behind the Semipalatinsk Hotel.

One of the most horrible legacies of the Cold War is a site where the Soviet Union tested nuclear bombs on civilians.

Nicknamed Kazakhstan's Grand Canyon, this natural wonder lies east of Almaty near the Chinese border.

This unique wooden mosque resembling a Chinese pagoda was said to be built without the use of nails.

An abandoned Soviet-era mining town in the mountains of South Kazakhstan.

The lovely lake that was naturally dammed, then naturally destroyed, then unnaturally saved.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

Rusting ships sit in a desert where a sea used to be.

Granny Smiths and Fujis can both be traced back to Kazakhstan, where apples still grow wild.

Submerged trees jut ghost-like out of an idyllic turquoise mountain lake.

One of only a handful of seaside temples in Korea, this sacred space is home to a legendary healing Buddha statue and a traffic safety prayer pagoda.

A thriving surf community exists in relative remoteness along the former boundary between North and South Korea.

Japan and South Korea both lay claim to islands inhabited by one woman.

Visit the real-life site of the fictional pizzeria in Bong Joon-Ho's film Parasite.

Rocks that take on the likenesses of several recognizable living entities crowd the Wang dong Rock Quarries.

Low tide reveals an ocean bridge to an island full of art.

Visiting this grotto is symbolic of a spiritual journey into Nirvana.

Various forms of phallic art decorate this hill in commemoration of legendary local tragedy.

About as hidden as can be, this specialty coffee shop is wedged between multi-story buildings at the end of a dark, skinny alleyway in Seoul.

Landbridge created by the South Korean version of Moses.

The world's first cruise ship-shaped hotel is perched atop a cliff.

The best place for scenic views of the DMZ and North Korea.

South Korea's women of the sea have completely flipped their society's structure by becoming revered fisherwomen.