The speedboat from the Kuala Besut ferry pier rides high on the waves, skipping along the water like a flat stone flung by a petulant giant.

BBC: The perfect trip: Singapore and Malaysia

Blurred footprints, a smooth flat stone good for skimming.

NEWYORKER: Getting Closer

Those summers were when David felt most fully himself, trotting alongside Priscilla down the rocky streets, climbing at midnight up the slender path beside the stream to a large flat stone that they considered their own, reclining there shoulder to shoulder, talking without thinking as stars fell overhead.

NEWYORKER: Or Else

The buildings, with a circular shape and a flat roof, were made of mud, sun-dried mudbricks and stone.

UNESCO: Choirokoitia

Near the top, a path broke off and led to a flat open plot, where the castle should have been, but, save for an old stone wall, there were no ruins to be seen.

NEWYORKER: Master of Play