Derawar Fort in Cholistan Desert , Pakistan.

   
 Fort tell stories

Derawar Fort is a large square fortress in Pakistan near Bahawalpur. The forty bastions of Derawar are visible for many miles in Cholistan Desert. The walls have a circumference of 1500 metres and stand up to thirty metres high.

The first fort on the site was built by Hindu Rajput, Rai Jajja Bhati of Jaisalmer. It remained in the hands of the royal family of Jaisalmer until captured by the Nawabs of Bahawalpur in 1733. In 1747, the fort slipped from the hands of the Abbasis owing toBahawal Khan's preoccupations at Shikarpur. Nawab Mubarak Khan took the stronghold back in 1804.

The nearby mosque was modelled after that in the Red Fort of Delhi. There is also a royal necropolis of the Abbasi family, which still owns the stronghold. The area is rich in archaeological artifacts associated with Ganweriwala, a vast but as-yet-unexcavated city of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Pakistian’s Shandur

You’ll have to be one die-hard polo fan to want to watch the Shandur Polo Tournament first-hand, since it’s probably the most remote polo tournament in the world.

Held every July in the Pakistian’s Shandur Pass, the horse-fuelled action occurs some 3,700 meters above sea level. It takes nine hours of bumpy driving from Chitral to the west, and 13 hours from Gilgit to the east.

Fairy chimneys in Turkey

!Fairy Chimneys Rock Structures Mount Erciyes, Mount Hasandag and Mount Göllüdag were active volcanoes in the geological periods. Alongside with many other volcanoes, eruptions of these volcanoes started in the Early Miocene (10 million years ago) and have continued until the present day. The lava produced by these volcanoes, under the Neogen lakes, formed a layer of tufa on the plateaus which varied in hardness and was between 100 and 150m thick. Other substances in the layer are ignimbrite, soft tufa, tufa, lahar, asy, clay, sandstone, marn, basalt and other agglomerates. Plateaus, having been essentially shaped with the lava from the bigger volcanoes, were continuously altered with the eruptions of smaller volcanoes

               

                                                                     

Archaeological site of Madaen, south of Baghdad, Iraq.

Iraq town seeks shift from 'terrorism' to tourism

Madain, a town of some 7,000 inhabitants, was founded by the Parthian King Mithridates I more than 2,000 years ago.

It now lies between the two main highways linking the capital with southern Iraq, as do historical sites such as the Arch of Ctesiphon and the tomb of Salman Pak -- one of the companions of the Prophet Mohammed.

"We want to restore life to this place and make it one of the beautiful places for tourism," said Abdelhadi Hassan, director of antiquities in the town, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Baghdad.

For more information see:http://en.tengrinews.kz/article/108/
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Kashgar inn China

Global Heritage calls Kashgar -- on China's western border with Afghanistan and Pakistan -- one of the world's best-preserved examples of a traditional Islamic city. It's home to China's largest mosque. Kashgar is under threat from aggressive urban development and what Global Heritage calls "destructive modernization."

Amazing Asia: Sehdar Palace in Iran

Amazing Asia: Sehdar Palace in Iran: The ancient city of Persepolis in modern-day Iran was one of four capitals of the sprawling Persian Empire. Built beginning around 520 B.C....

Sehdar Palace in Iran

The ancient city of Persepolis in modern-day Iran was one of four capitals of the sprawling Persian Empire. Built beginning around 520 B.C., the city was a showcase for the empire's staggering wealth, with grand architecture, extravagant works of silver and gold, and extensive relief sculptures such as this one portraying envoys with offerings for the king.

The height of Persian rule lasted from about 550 B.C. until 330 B.C., when Alexander the Great overthrew the ruling Archaemenid dynasty and burned Persepolis to the ground.

                       Sehdar Palace in Persepolis in Iran, some Persian noblemen are chatting and walking in a friendly way.