When Taiwan's high court passed a resolution in May 2017 ruling it was unconstitutional to ban same-sex couples from getting married, it was seen as a rare beam of light in a region infamous of its repression of LGBT people.

With its pastel-hued shop houses, labyrinthine lanes and impenetrable swarms of motorbikes, the Old Quarter is among the most-visited areas of Hanoi, Vietnam.

Saif Ali Khan is no stranger to show biz.

At Fusahiro Shimojima's workshop, in the industrial city of Saitama, fires rage in small pits and an earthen floor absorbs the din of hammering. The 44-year-old Japanese swordsmith pounds the nascent blade of his newest creation, sending molten sparks flying majestically into air.