In a remote corner of the Pacific Ocean, off the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia lies one of the world’s great archaeological mysteries: the only ancient stone city built on a coral reef. No one knows who built it or how.

Micronesians say their ancestors called it Soun Nan-leng, The Reef of Heaven. Their name for it today is Nan Madol, the City of Ghosts.

On artificial islets connected by a series of canals are massive walls up to 25 feet high enclosing temples, tombs, ritual centers, and platforms for thatch homes – all made of giant columnar basalt stone. Eons ago, lava flows on Pohnpei cooled into vertical pillars. Over a thousand years ago, ancient Micronesians began hauling these basalt logs miles away to build this stone city. With an average weight of 5 tons, 10,000 pounds – and some up to 25 tons, 50,000 pounds each – how they did this remains unexplained. It lies deserted today, abandoned and lost for centuries.

Paddling a kayak through the canal maze of Nan Madol to clamber over these monumental stone complexes in solitary silence – for visitors are rarely here – leaves you in a state of unforgettable awe. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #6 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

There are places in our world so staggeringly beautiful you have to see them to believe they exist. Yet those people walking along the foot bridge can’t see what you’re looking at. That has to be in the air, hovering from high above in a helicopter. We live in a world of such beauty it really does take your breath away. And best of all, the beauty of the Grand Prismatic Spring is right here in America. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #2 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

April 22, 1990.  This is my son Brandon, age six, happily atop a small pressure ridge of sea-ice at 90 North Latitude, the geographic North Pole.  I started leading expeditions to 90N in 1978.  This was my 12^th, and the best weather there we’d ever had.  A glorious day at the very top of our planet, and a glorious memory for both father and son.

If fortune favors you with the opportunity, have grand adventures with your children or grandchildren when they are young. They will treasure the memories so much they will someday tell their grandchildren about them.  Life is short, carpe diem. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #104 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

We’re now well over 100 Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World since we instituted this daily feature on TTP last July. So to refresh your memory of them, we’ll be sprinkling a recycle of them from now on in the series.

Our very first was Surrealistic Art in Nature, which you’ll find unsurpassed in Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon near Page, Arizona.  No artist could paint something more surrealistic than what nature has created here.  It’s a photographer’s fantasy land – enhanced by a Navajo Indian guide who knows all the best lighting and perspectives.

You can explore the world to experience the greatest wonders of nature, but they are also to be found here in the American West. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #1 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

On the remote north side of the island of Malekula in Vanuatu, there lives a cannibal tribe called the Big Nambas.  The men wear a penis gourd wrapped in pandamus fibers, and eat “man long pig,” cooked human enemies.  You have to trek over mountains of thick jungle to reach them.  When I was able to years ago, there were a few men who continued the practice.  This gentleman is one of them.  I was in no danger as they were very kind and gracious to me.

That wasn’t the case a century ago when the first explorers, Martin & Osa Johnson, reached them.  Their 1918 film, “Cannibals of the South Seas,” made the Johnsons famous, and you can see it on YouTube.  Today they are far more benign. It is an extraordinary experience to meet a culture of fearsome reputation and realize they are people like you and me. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #103 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The world’s most spectacular nature park is the 130-acre Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.  In the gigantic greenhouse of the Flower Dome, virtually every rare flower on earth flourishes in abundance, while the Cloud Forest is a wonderland of tropical waterfalls seemingly falling out of the sky high above.

Dominating the park are the 160-foot high Supertrees, towering vertical gardens covered in orchids, ferns, vines, and exotic plants.  There are elevated canopies and walkways between them.  Exploring the astonishing display of hi-tech botanical artistry and genius that is Gardens by the Bay is absolutely awe-inspiring.

TTPer Cassowary was kind enough to guide me through the park as Singapore is his home.  Perhaps he’ll tell us more about it on the Forum.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #102 photo ©Jack Wheeler)