BLUE MOON VALLEY, Lijiang, China.

• Nestled in the towering mountains of southern China (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain -  a mountain massif in Yulong Naxi Autonomous County, Lijiang, in Yunnan province, with its highest peak named Shanzidou 5,596 m (18,360 ft) above sea level), an impossibly turquoise river passes over a beautiful set of terraces. As the water runs over these flat platforms, it forms dozens of miniature whitewater waterfalls, cascading down the mountain valley.

• Local legends of the Nakhi people claim the water in Blue Moon Valley gets its blue pigmentation from the raft that the gods took to the valley. In actuality, the river, which originates from the melting snow of the Himalayas above, gets its turquoise tint from copper ions in the water.