Built for over a million people, the city of Ordos was designed to be the crowning glory of Inner Mongolia. Doomed to incompletion however, this futuristic metropolis now rises empty out of the deserts of northern China. Only 2% of its buildings were ever filled; the rest has largely been left to decay, abandoned mid-construction, earning Ordos the title of China's Ghost City.

A voodoo priest smokes in the face of a woman as she holds a cup on her head during a voodoo ceremony in honor of Kouzen Zaka, also known as St. Isidro, in Mexico City, May 2, 2015. According to Haitain voodoo, Kouzen Zaka is the patron of work, whose patronage will help with employment and safeguard crops from robbers. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

A girl with her face painted to look like the popular Mexican figure called "Catrina", jumps as she takes part in the annual Catrina Fest in Mexico City November 1, 2015. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

Stingray City is a series of shallow sandbars found in the North Sound of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It is a tourist attraction, where southern stingrays are found in abundance and visitors can pet and interact with the animals.

Yakutsk, a remote city in Eastern Siberia along the Lena River, is the coldest city in the world. Located 1840 km away from Irkoustk and 5000 km away from Moscow, this city founded in 1632 by the Cossacks imposes upon its inhabitants an extreme way of life. And yet, despite particularly harsh conditions, Yakutsk boasts a population of 270,000, or a quarter of the entire population of Siberia. No other place on the planet experiences the temperature extreme found here: in winter, the temperatures regularly fall to minus 40° (the coldest temperature recorded was –64°C) and in summer often reaches temperatures above 30°C. Photo: January 2013. A scene in Yakutsk, Siberia, the coldest city in the world. (Photo by Steeve Iuncker/Agence VU)

A girl pours water over a dog to cool it down, in the rebel held besieged town of Douma, eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, Syria, June 23, 2016. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)