Shilin Stone Forest, China

An old local saying says, “If you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time.” The Shilin Stone Forest covers 96,000 acres with large and small stands of stone “trees.” They actually are karst formations that stand on the earth like stalagmites and looking like petrified trees. Believed to be more than 270 million years old, the stone trees emerged as limestone eroded. Legend says this is the birthplace of Ashima, who was forbidden to marry the man she loved, drowned and turned to stone in the forest. The Torch Festival celebrates her each year.