Putrefaction plateaus in Iran, where the dead were sent for decontamination before going to their final resting place.

The palace of the King of Kings, burned by Alexander the Great.

Mirrors and glass shards cover every inch of this arrestingly beautiful mosque.

Marked by the hand of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley.

Cockatoo Island is a Heritage-listed island in the middle of Sydney Harbour.

A collaboration of art and ornithology mourns the calls of Sydney's lost birds.

A special train service transported Sydney's dead from this station to "Necropolis Receiving Houses" at Rookwood Cemetery.

Ninety years of Sydney buses under one roof.

An otherworldly restaurant perched on the edge of a jagged cliff next to a medieval holy city.

An imperial fortress city that incorporated cultural elements from the entire Mughal empire, only to be abandoned the year it was finished.

Home of the unusual art of water puppetry, one of Vietnam's oldest curiosities.

Sacred Buddhist home of some spiritual monkeys.

The most famous location in China was home to whole dynasties worth of imperial rulers.

Beijing's version of Disneyland, completely abandoned, mostly destroyed.

Named after the Goddess of Harvests, Annapurna is the deadliest member of the Eight-thousanders club.

The world's longest outdoor covered escalator system transports commuters through Hong Kong's hilly terrain.

A small subculture of boat dwellers keep their traditional way of living alive at this Hong Kong Typhoon Shelter.

Teeming with illegal goods and services, this towering maze of vice is also a popular tourist accommodation.

Ha Long Bay's "Cave of Surprises" houses a popular phallic rock formation.

An extravagant monument to an extravagantly unpopular Emperor.

Giant pagoda houses the car that drove Thích Quảng Đức to his death by self-immolation.

A bronze statue dating back as far as 1252, still has remnants of gold on its right cheek from ancient gilding.

This odd 1930s shop remains stranded in time and shrouded in mystery.

The yawning remains of a complex naval fortress still haunt this Australian shore.