Many Hindus make the long pilgrimage to this holy city to have their remains burned on the banks of the Ganges River.

An imperial fortress city that incorporated cultural elements from the entire Mughal empire, only to be abandoned the year it was finished.

This peaceful Sikh gurudwara serves around 50,000 free meals every day within its gilded walls.

Built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, this location was used as a resting place for his troops.

More than half of this Indian palace is drowned but it looks all the more spectacular for it.

This magical place built as an astronomical center starred as a James Bond villain's lair.

This stunning 15th-century royal hill fort preserves the age of chivalry in Rajasthan.

Legend has it a commoner volunteered to be buried alive in the foundation so that the great fortress could be built.

Once an indicator of social class, the color blue has come to define this city on the edge of the Thar Desert.

The oldest still-inhabited hill fort in India looks like a magnificent golden sandcastle.

Modest by day, illuminated majestically at sunset.

This ancient Hindu temple is covered in thousands of colorful statues and has a long mythological history.

A vast, otherworldly collection of Buddhist stupas.

A series of tiny artificial islands rich with produce bob atop the surface of the lake.

The tower claims to be the world's only pagoda made entirely from Myanmar's lucrative gemstone.

This golden temple is surrounded by hundreds of stone tablets that comprise the "world's largest book."

These serpents are considered holy and pampered accordingly.

Over 2,000 ancient temples dot the Myanmar landscape at the site of this famed archaeological site.

This gem-encrusted temple is said to contain some of the Buddha's hair which can make the deaf hear and the blind see.

A museum in a law office, filled with authentic and counterfeit goods.

This dazzling Buddhist temple was constructed from over one million ceramic tiles salvaged from a British shipwreck.

Thailand's distressed elephants find peace at this Chiang Mai sanctuary.

An amalgam of precariously balanced boulders, ancient petroglyphs, and Buddhist shrines.

Gruesome statues of people reborn in Buddhist hell stand among the ruins of an 11th-century sanctuary.