Many of these paths have existed for hundreds of years, and a walk along one of these routes will bring you into lush backcountry, where wild wisteria, irises, azaleas and thick groves of bamboo grow along the trail.

BBC: Rural adventures in China��s backcountry

We hugged three-story-high dirt walls with vines clinging to them, passed dense bamboo forests, fragrant hibiscus bushes and groves of towering rainbow eucalyptus, a rare tree with multicolored bark.

WSJ: Driving the Hana Highway in Maui, Hawaii

It is a scenic drive: lotus ponds, bamboo groves, water buffalo, the familiar smell of rice blossoms.

CNN: DISPATCHES FROM FLOOD COUNTRY