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This article describes the changes that have taken place in Hanoi since the end of the Vietnam War. What was then a squalid third world capital struggling to recover from the devastation of the war, is now a stylish metropolis with lakeside promenades, tree-lined boulevards, ancient pagodas, and streets filled with young people on motorbikes. Sixty percent of Hanoi's residents were born after 1975 when the war ended.

The article offers information on miscellaneous topics including the festival held at the pagoda Shwemyitzu on the lake, tourism of the country, and risk associated with the environment of the country due to the lake.

The article offers travel descriptions of Yangon, Burma which features the Shwedagon Pagoda, Governor's Residence luxury hotel and the Bogyoke Aung San Market.

The article offers travel descriptions of Xi'an Shi, China which features the Great Mosque of Xian, Big Wild Goose Pagoda and 14th-century Drum Tower.

The article offers information on the city of Herat in Afghanistan where local residents rebelled against the government backed by the Soviet Union in 1979. It states that Ismail Khan, former governor of the region who once led the civil war are now preparing his former fighters outside the city to counter the Taliban forces if the national army is not willing. Moreover, the call raised fears around the country and weakened the trade of Herat due to the 2014 troop withdrawal of the U.S. army.

IN March, Justin Mott photographed the temples and pagodas in and around Bagan, Myanmar, just as deeply flawed elections in that country led to a new president and the possible easing of travel restrictions. Myanmar has been under military rule in one form or another since 1962, but since the elections, tourists have begun to trickle in, eager to be among the first few to explore the country as it opens. ''The country is a traveler's paradise with all the treasures of Southeast Asia but without all the tourists,'' Mr. Mott wrote. ''For the early riser, novice monks with their saffron robes are there to see, in perfect composition for a photographer. Wherever you go you will rarely have a smile unreturned. It's easy to forget that the country's beloved Nobel Peace Prize recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest for the better part of the past two decades before her release in November.'' See more of Justin Mott's photographs at nytimes.com/travel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There was a pagoda in the Egyptian wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Thursday night, at least at first glance. The sandstone Temple of Dendur was bathed in red light, as several hundred people -- mostly Chinese-Americans -- gathered to celebrate connections between China and the United States. At times, the shadows cast on the temple's lintel conjured the up-ticked eaves of Asian architecture. Henry M. Paulson Jr., the former United States secretary of the treasury and a birding enthusiast, was honored; Nocturnalist asked what work he did with China. ''I was birding in Central Park today,'' he said. Didn't we just ask about China? ''I was so pleased. We saw a Canada warbler and a magnolia warbler.'' Good to know. So, China? ''Central Park is the best place in the world for watching the spring migrations of warblers,'' he said as we began to question our sanity. ''You can see 25 species of warbler here.'' (He eventually said something about a recent trip he took to China, but almost midsentence, he strolled away.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It cannot have pleased Myanmar's ruling family: the collapse of a 2,300-year-old gold-domed pagoda into a pile of timbers just three weeks after the wife of the junta's top general helped rededicate it. There is no country in Asia more superstitious than Myanmar, and the crumbling of the temple was seen widely as something more portentous than shoddy construction work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports on the renovation of the peace pagoda, which is located at the Connecticut River Valley, Massachusetts, in preparation for the 20th anniversary of its dedication.