Bathers brave the cold waters of the North Sea as they take part in the annual Boxing Day dip at Redcar Beach on December 26, 2023 in Redcar, England. The event attracts hundreds of people each year, with many wearing fancy dress, who take to the water to help raise money for a number of charities. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

A military cadet refreshes her lipstick before the National Day parade in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, December 1, 2023. Tens of thousands of people turned out in Romania's capital on Friday to watch a military parade that included troops from NATO allies to mark the country's National Day. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

A Cucumber and a Chuta Cholero hug during the traditional festival “Desentierro del Pepino” (unearthing the Cucumber) to mark the beginning of carnival on January 21, 2024 in La Paz, Bolivia. People dug up the cucumber from the cemetery and walk through the streets with two characters, the Ch'uta and the Chola. (Photo by Gaston Brito/Getty Images)

Carey Williams leaps into the icy waters of the Snake River for the 2022 Polar Plunge at the Hells Gate Marina on Saturday, January 1, 2022, in Clarkston, Wash. (Photo by August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP Photo)

A woman throws an object at police vehicle during clashes as people gather at the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos park for a party called “La Boum 2” in defiance of Belgium's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) social distancing measures and restrictions, in Brussels, Belgium on May 1, 2021. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Ukrainians attend an open military training for civilians on a training range in Kiev, Ukraine, 06 February 2022. According to a survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from December 2021, 50.2 percent of Ukrainians said they would resist in case of a Russian military intervention into their city, town or village. Every third respondent to the poll said they were ready to engage in armed resistance, and 21.7 percent said they were ready to participate in civil resistance actions. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Vegetarian 19-year-old model Courtney Stodden gets ready to serve veggie hot dogs wearing a lettuce bikini during a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) free veggie dog handout on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 16, 2014. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP Photo)

Nine years ago, Tom Carter traveled from San Francisco to China, responding to a job posting that turned out to be a scam. He managed to find another job as a teacher, and saved enough money to embark on a 56,000 km trip through all of China's 33 provinces that lasted two years. Carrying a camera – just a a 4-megapixel point-and-shoot – Carter captured some amazing images of the widely varying landscape, people, and architecture across the nation. Photo: Buddhist pilgrim family from Sichuan. (Photo by Tom Carter via The Atlantic)