India is a Great Country Of Contrasts, with a Fascinating Past and a Very Bright Future. Whatever your interest, we guarantee the information found here will give you a New Appreciation of This Often Overlooked Country and It's People Since ancient times India has been the center of the travelers' attention. What on earth you cannot find in India? You can find natural beauty in various forms in India. Picturesque natural sites scattered all over for nature lovers, mighty snow capped Himalayan ranges and warm deserts for adventure seekers, exotic beaches for sea enthusiasts, and holy pilgrimage sites for religious minds. Not only this, there is a very special substance that only India can make you experience.

China is not so much another country as another world. Cut off from the rest of Eurasia by the Himalayas to the south and the Siberian steppe to the north, it has grown up alone and aloof. The only foreigners it saw were visiting merchants from far-flung shores or uncivilized nomads from the wild steppe: peripheral, unimportant and unreal. Apart from a few ruling elites of Mongol and Manchu origin, who quickly became assimilated, China did not experience a significant influx of foreigners until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, something which still colours the experience of today's visitors to China.

Pakistan has borders with Afghanistan, India, Iran and the Arabian Sea. The terrain varies from rugged and mountainous to flat, alluvial plains. Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, is situated on the shores of the Arabian Sea near the mouth of the Indus. The streets are lively with hundreds of street restaurants, teahouses, samosa and juice stalls. Boats can be hired to sail out of the harbour. Lahore, in the Punjab, is a historic, bustling city with buildings of pink and white marble. There is plenty to see: bazaars, the Badshahi Mosque - one of the largest mosques in the world and an example of Moghul architecture rivalled only by the Taj Mahal. Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan since 1963, and Rawalpindi, are both located on the Pothowar Plain.

Formerly known as East Pakistan, Bangladesh came into being only in 1971, when the two parts of Pakistan split after a bitter civil war which drew in neighboring India. Bangladesh spent 15 years under military rule and, although democracy was restored in 1990, the political scene remains volatile. Most of the country is formed by the alluvial plain of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system - the largest delta in the world; water flow is second only to that of the Amazon. To the east of the delta lie the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Flooding is normal and life has adapted to take account of this. Occasionally, excessive flooding, as in 1988, 1998 and 2004, causes widespread destruction and loss of life.

Depending on your viewpoint, Sri Lanka's shape resembles either a pearl or a teardrop, cast adrift in the Indian Ocean. Those who consider this country a teardrop may do so because of its long history of troubles. The first Europeans to arrive in Sri Lanka were the Portuguese, quickly supplanted by the Dutch in the 17th century. The British acquired Sri Lanka (as Ceylon) from the Dutch in 1796, assuming full control in 1802.

Nepal was created from an amalgam of small principalities in 1768 under King Prithvi Narayan Shah. Under the control of a hereditary king, Nepal then became a ‘buffer state’ between the British empire and the territories to the north. The main instrument of British rule from the mid-19th century onwards was a hereditary Prime Minister drawn from the Rana family. The country became formally independent in 1923, but it was not until 1947 (the year of Indian independence) and the total withdrawal of the British from the region that Nepal achieved genuine independence.