Long before the familiar lions and cheetahs roamed the open savannas, there was a cat whose world looked very different.

A nearly seven-foot piece of trunk will be featured in an art exhibit to honor the beloved tree. Hugging it is encouraged.

“Like a lot of things, it’s a little bit more complicated than you might think,” he says.

Tucked away behind the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City lies a rare wooden house built during the Nguyen dynasty. Inside, it holds numerous heirlooms cherished by the family as ancestral treasures ...

As the men climbed a sandy bank, they encountered a tree with the carved letters “C R O.” This was, the governor explained, a prearranged code.

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