Imagine walking through an ancient forest so untouched by time that even the soil seems to rise and fall beneath your feet—as if the Earth itself were breathing. Welcome to Shirakami-Sanchi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Japan, home to one of the last remaining virgin beech forests in East Asia... and possibly the most subtly mystical landscape in the entire country.

From the outside, it might look like a jumble of random boulders scattered across a hill—but step a little closer and you’ll find yourself walking through an ancient, rocky time capsule. Welcome to Stone Garden in Padalarang, West Java—a surreal limestone landscape perched high above the city, right beside the mysterious Goa Pawon, a cave that once housed prehistoric humans.