| | | | Travel Amazing Asia | | | |
Even the most world-weary traveler will find something new and exciting in Asia, about which it has been said that there are more cities and people in Asia than out of it.
Asia is that continent that has the greatest land mass and it stretches from the icy Siberian wastes in the east and the mountains bordering the Black Sea in the west to the Indian Ocean and Australian continent in the south and the Arctic Ocean in the north. It is also home to both the highest and the lowest points on earth - Nepal's Mount Everest and Israel's Dead Sea - as well as the lake with the largest volume of water, the salty Caspian Sea. Asian cultures vary greatly depending which area of the continent is under review and can range from Syrian and Vietnamese to Mongolian and Thai.
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Asia is traditionally divided into six regions: East Asia, South East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia and the Caucasus. Each region has its own distinct flavor and travelers can't be said to have truly experienced the continent until they have visited each of them at least once. East Asia consists of those countries that are generally considered The Far East including Taiwan and the Koreas. The Great Wall of China and Mount Fuji in Japan are world famous Far Eastern attractions that would be considered highlights of any trip.
South East Asian countries like Laos and Burma are considered mysterious as most of them were only recently opened to western tourists and no trip to this region would be complete without seeing the ancient Borobudur Temple in Indonesia's Central Java and the equally impressive Angkor Wat Temple Complex in Cambodia. Countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka fall into South Asia, and this region is further enriched by being home to such world famous attractions as India's Taj Mahal and Pakistan's K2, the second highest mountain in the world.
Most Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, have only recently gained independence from the Soviet Union. Uzbekistan is the oldest inhabited area in Asia and tourists can enjoy investigating this fascinating country that was once the hub of the ancient Silk Road as well as Kazakhstan, which offers tours to the Aral Sea with its ghostly cemetery of lost ships. Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Lebanon are quite well known and many thousands of tourists make time every year to visit such Middle Eastern wonders as Jordan's Rose City of Petra and the United Arab Emirates' sparkling city of Dubai.
Russia and the Caucasus may be last but they are certainly not least and this area is also home to other countries like Chechnya and Armenia. While in the Russias, visitors must ensure they see such iconic sites as Moscow's Kremlin and Lenin's Tomb as well as such obscure ones like Georgia's UNESCO protected Jvari Monastery.
But there will, of course, always be some eastern mysteries that Asia will not deign to explain.
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