Bangkok is a city to overload the senses. Streets are crowded by tuk-tuks (motorized tri-shaws) and the occasional elephant weaving through congested traffic.

With its ultramodern skyline, it's easy to forget that Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, was once a small town of Bedouin traders.

Luxury resorts rub elbows with backpacker accommodations on the Thai island of Ko Samui, a 15-mile-long palm-covered tropical oasis located off the country's east coast.

This Red Sea resort town on the tip of the Sinai peninsula offers world-class diving with spectacular reefs, magnificent drop-offs and shipwrecks waiting to be explored.