Hạ Long Bay in northeastern Vietnam holds around 1,969 islets, most of them limestone, rising from the sea like sculpted towers. The limestone was laid down over roughly 500 million years, and the karst landscape was shaped over about 20 million years by a tropical wet climate that dissolved the rock. Rain and groundwater carved caves and steep cliffs, and when the land was partly submerged by rising seas, the peaks were left standing in water. The name means descending dragon, a legend that explains the islands as a dragon's tail plunging into the sea.

Israeli reports also say the cabinet directed the military to prepare for a possible new attack on Iran.

Angkor, near Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries. At its height the city spread across about 3,000 square kilometres, making it the largest pre-industrial city on Earth by area. Its growth depended on water: huge reservoirs called barays, along with canals and embankments, stored monsoon rain and carried it to rice fields. That system let farmers harvest more than once a year and fed a very large population through the dry season. The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century, is the best-known monument and still stands at the heart of the park.