Wineries are clustered along the length of the 132-mile long Okanagan Valley, which has a string of lakes running through its middle and is surrounded by mountains on either side.

BBC: Canada��s wine scene is taking root

The Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT guys are pretty tough fellas, but several of them had to be airlifted out of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the middle of an adventure race.

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The newly-emerged Asian middle classes have now seen much of their wealth buried under mountains of bad debt or else destroyed as stockmarkets have crashed, currencies have lost value and property bubbles have burst.

ECONOMIST: Its champions are down but not out

Despite it being the middle of April, that spring was exceptionally cold and the waterfalls that streak the mountains were frozen over.

BBC: A route of life-changing moments

Nothing quite matches Hong Kong from above, but it is difficult to get things wrong with mountains on one side, water on the other and skyscrapers in the middle to provide the platform.

BBC: The amazing views of Hong Kong

Unlike the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), who have attacked the institutions of Colombia's democracy from their bases in the mountains for the last 40 years, the ALBA houses are right in the middle of cities and towns.

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