Aerial view of Khao Sok National Park, Surat Thani, Thailand

© Peetatham Kongkapech/Getty Image

A jungle adventure. Khao Sok National Park in Thailand

Today, we are in a wildlife-packed wonderland with rainforests older than the Amazon—Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani province, southern Thailand. Established in 1980, the park is home to diverse wildlife, including the Malayan tapir, white-handed gibbon, gaur and hornbill, making it an ideal destination for anyone ready to swap city noise for jungle sounds. And then there's Cheow Lan Lake—a reservoir created for hydropower in 1982 when the Rajjaprabha Dam was built. Over time, the lake transformed the landscape into something you'd think was straight out of a movie, as featured in today's image. The dam, originally known as the 'Cheow Lan Project,' was later renamed Rajjaprabha, meaning 'light of the kingdom,' a tribute to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who ruled from 1946 to 2016.

Just as Khao Sok thrives as a biodiversity hotspot, the Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests echo a similar richness. It forms a tropical moist broadleaf ecoregion spanning Northeast India, southern Bhutan and parts of Bangladesh. Covering 56,700 square kilometres, this ecoregion stretches across the alluvial plains of the upper Brahmaputra River as it flows westward through Assam.