Pictured: Hegra

Saudi is working feverishly to make tourism a bigger contributor to their economy. Our favorite stop in Saudi Arabia was definitely AlUla, a short flight from Riyadh. Our last stop in the Middle East before returning home was a relaxing one in the desert with the highlight as touring Hegra.

Pictured: Magic Camp Desert in Wahiba Sands

Oman is such a quiet country, we visited three different parts of the surrounding Muscat area: the mountains, the ocean, and the luxurious Jumeirah Bay. Like Saudi, Oman is still working to develop their tourism industry - and you can see why they haven’t had to as you drive by miles and miles of oilfields and pipelines.

Pictured: Posing with the Yemeni-famous Dragons Blood Trees on the outskirts of the Hajhir Mountains.

Yemen (or Socotra Island) was our absolute favorite landscape visits in all of the Middle East. Their scenery and natural beauty is unlike anything we’d seen before and is almost incomparable to any other place. The diversity of the landscape, mountains, trees, beaches, sand dunes, and rain forest like climate seems almost impossible to all fit on a small island that you can drive around in 5 hours.

Pictured: Fishermen’s boats taking a break in the Biblos mini-marina

We drove across the border from Syria to Lebanon; from Damascus to Beirut. The contrast between the two was stark - Lebanon, although not without their share of conflict, has been given the opportunity to rebuild and construct a beautiful and vibrant main city. The food in Lebanon was THE best in the Middle East (but I do believe all the chefs are Syrian).

Pictured: With the few standing remains at Palmyra - just 3hours outside of Damascus.

Syria will probably go down as my favorite country in the Middle East. The historic sites we visited were breathtaking, unimaginable that they are still standing, confusing that we’d never seen or heard of them before. Aleppo and Damascus are two absolutely brilliant cities. The constant conflict they endure keeps them from being able to build their country to the way it could be. Given the chance - Syria would be unstoppable.

Pictured: Standing at the “gates” of Babylon, just 2 hours outside of Baghdad

Our tour through Iraq was history filled and surprising at every corner. Babylon, Baghdad, searching for the “Garden of Eden”, the Tigris, the Euphrates, finding the roots of Mesopotamia, a local and authentic speed canoe ride through the Chibayish marshland, and some ridiculously amazing food.

Pictured: Standing outside a mosque on the other side of the hill from Kabul’s main center.

Afghanistan challenged us in many ways. The people were so kind and friendly, we felt very welcome. The Taliban “securing” the country kept us on the edges of our seats a little bit. The topography of Bamyian Valley loosely reminded us of Napa Valley and we’d love to go back to see more of the Afghani countryside including the Herat area.

Pictured: Taking a photo with the Pakistani military men at the lowering of the flag ceremony at the Wagah India Pakistan Border.

Pakistan was action packed from start to finish. The Pakistani’s are hard workers (when they need to), and there’s always business to be made somewhere. Our craziest day was in Peshawar where we saw many things that we wouldn’t dare film and wouldn’t dare write about in a blog :)

Pictured: View of the Bahrain Bay from the Four Seasons Hotel

Our time in Bahrain was relaxing, we took a day at the beach/harbor area, had a spa day, indulged at the nice restaurants at the hotel, and explored around the mall area after dark.

Pictured: Standing outside the main government building during their camel procession that takes place two times a day, every day.

Doha is the main city we visited and we took an entire day to tour all around the burgeoning young city. Visits to the souks, national museums, ports of old dhow boats, the “worlds nicest fish market”, the falcon market and falcon hospital - the culture of Qatar is very much developing.

Pictured: Taking an obligatory camel photo with Max’s camel after taking a jaunt through the Gobi Desert.

Mongolia was so beautiful every step of the way, from radiant glowing sunrises to no light pollution star gazing at night. We must have experienced every season of weather while we were there. It snowed, it was warm, it was cloudy, it was bone chilling cold, it was dry, mountainous, and flat.

Pictured: The main attraction in this area of Timor Leste, Cristo Rei of Dili

We had 1 night in Timor Leste and we did our best to explore as much as possible with only a short time there. While walking around we saw many people out and about, training for sport, a wedding at a church, people selling food & a group of mischievous kids seemingly putting a smartphone back together.

Pictured: At the AlSadu Society workshop where designs from the Kuwaiti culture are maintained and preserved by the women inside.

Kuwait was incredibly hot, over 100 degrees every day we were there. We did manage to get a tour around the city and saw many incredible places that the Kuwaitis have built over the years. The Peace Palace was one of the most incredible museums we've been to and we learned so much there in just the short amount of time that we were there. Everybody we met or interacted with was so kind and graceful.

Pictured: Standing outside the Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, named after the 29th and current Sultan of Brunei

We spent a few days touring around the island of Borneo. We didn’t realize it at the time, but we actually booked our trip in the middle of Ramadan, so, as a byproduct of this oversight, we were actually able to learn a bit more about this cultural tradition of theirs.

Pictured: Taking a selfie at the bottom of Big Buddha In Leshan, China.

China: what a beast. We spent about a month in China covering 6 different cities all over their massive country. We feel like every city had something different to offer and were so grateful that we got to see the variety of things. We had some incredible food, saw some breathtaking cities and live performances, and even after spending almost a month in China, still want to go back to visit Tibet, Harbin and many more.

Pictured: Taking a bike ride around the island on Joali Being

Spending 8 days in the Maldives is a lifetime of dreams. We wanted to see Maldives multiple ways, so we booked multiple resorts that have a different experience and are on different islands. We’re so happy to have had the versatility in our discovery of the Maldives, and we’ve already decided that next time we visit we’ll also do the same.

We arguably spent more waking ours under water diving, and while some go to the Maldives to relax, we found ourselves running from activity to activity (except for the 1 day that Max would allow a day of rest).

The most exciting sighting was a 5 foot long matured reef shark swimming along the reef… 15 feet in front of us.

Pictured: Cultural festival running through the streets of Galle

Sri Lanka was a dream! Prior to arriving, we did not have many expectations on what the country would be like, but we were blown away at how incredible the small country/island is. Precious gems are found in the mountains, the streets are busy but clean, the people are present and friendly, and the scenery is unsuspectingly beautiful. We spent our time mostly within the walled city of Galle and found ourselves in the middle of a Sri Lankan cultural parade at one point. We loved walking around at night after dinner and the mom and pop shops that lined the Main Street.

Pictured: Dressed in our Diwali best at Aman I Khas in Ranthambore

Im not sure how long one needs to spend in India to properly explore, but 7 days is certainly not enough. A month should seem sufficient, but even Indians will tell you that to see all that India has to offer you would need to spend a lifetime.

We spent time in 3 different areas of India, all offering a different and unique experience. We got extremely lucky in Ranthambore and were able to see 7 different bengal tigers in their Ranthambore National Forest. I’m told that not everybody gets to see the tigers, but in all our safaris, we saw one every day. Ridhi and her 2 month old tiger cubs was the highlight of the tiger safari. Visiting Agra is a must for the Taj Majal visit.

Pictured: Taking a photo with local students inside the Lalbaugh Fort

We admittedly did not know much about Bangladesh prior to visiting, but we left having learned about the country, its formation, its history, and what the future could look like for it. While we were there, we were unable to go to the fishing village due to political unrest in the area. We did, however, get to explore the markets in Dhaka which is where we got a feel for what daily life is like for a Bangladeshi.

Pictured: Standing in front of the Chorten Memorial in Thimpu on Descending Day of Lord Buddha (The day marks the return of Lord Buddha to earth from the heavenly realm after three months of teaching).

We spent 5 days in Bhutan and are already planning a return trip. Flying into Paro was an adventure itself, known as the world’s “second most dangerous airport” and only a handful of licensed pilots are even allowed to fly into it.

We loved the people, the scenery, the food (oh my goodness, the chili, cheese and red rice!), the culture and the stillness that we felt while touring around. We visited 2 of the main cities while we were there, but plan to visit their smaller cities when we return to get another feel for the other regions of Bhutan. Our hike up to Tigers Nest was a memory we will hold onto forever.