THEY built it and I came.
More structures and palaces and stations and walls.
Built from 1859 to 1872, Ahsan Manzil, was the Nawab of Dhaka's official residence. It is now a museum.
An unusual finish to an old Chinese-style shop in Bangkok. I wonder how the design works with the Thai heat?
Khoo Khongsi (Khoo clanhouse) in Penang, Malaysia, is the oldest and grandest of such hoouses built by Chinese immigrants.
Old Chinese shops and trading houses are a feature of Georgetown, the main city and UNESCO site on Penang, Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur's 1910 railway station is one of the most famous landmarks in the Malaysian capital. A 170 room railway hotel,with an ornate lobby housing Charlies Restaurant & Bar still functions today.
Russia's Hermitage Museum is the second largest museum in the world, housing the largets collection of paintings in the world.
There are many beautiful buildings in the complex: "Small Hermitage", "Old Hermitage", "New Hermitage", the "Hermitage Theatre", the "Winter Palace", the former residence of the tsars.
The Kremlin.
A somewhat unremarkable photo, which can never do justice to the surreal feeling of standing in The Kremlin!
Gateway to what was at the time the greatest empire in the world, Genghis Khan's capital of Kharkhorin.
Balconies facng the Gulf of Oman, in the capital, Muscat. They are a common feature in Zanzibar, where the Omani Sultanate moved the capital in 1840.
Once a grand multi-storey home for a wealthy Omani lies abandoned in Ibra.
Carbed and decorated doors are a feature of Middle Eastern and Islamic houses. Buried by time, this door was once part of a family who was part of the city of Ibra, Oman.
The dome and minaret of a mosque, viewed from the impressive ramparts of Nizwa fort, in the Omani town of the same name.
Multi-storey mud houses, some standing, some leaning, others fallen down, make for fascinating viewing in Al Hamra, Oman.
Strong and tall mud walls kept the residents cool from the Arabian sunshine. Al Hamra was once a prosperous town, but these grand buildings are almost all abandoned.
Another excellent example of Iranian and Islamic design, at a masoleum in the eastern town of Mahan.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, the tallest building in the world for a few thousand years.
Navruz Wedding Palace sits in a park in the centre of Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent.
Tosh-hovli Palace is one of the many remarkable buildings from the glory days of the silk road which can be seen in Khiva, Uzbekistan.
Mohammed Rakhim Khan
Medressa dominates the historic old walled city of Khiva.
The arched entrance to a scholar's room in one of Khiva, Uzbekistan's many ancient madrasas (religious schools).
Ulugh Beg Madrasa (1420) is just one of many magnificent silk road buildings in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
Prisoners and enemy were pushed to their death from the Kalyan Minaret, one of the rare structures spared when Genghis Khan took Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The Kalyan mosque replaced the one Genghis destroyed, and features 288 domes in its design.
Built in 1871, the Palace of Khudayar Khan, in Kokand, Uzbekistan is a dazzling display of Islamic architecture. 16,000 "conscripted" workers toiled under 80 master builders. 3 years later, Russian troops deposed the Khan.
The final resting place of arguably the world's greatest conqueror, Emir Timur (Timurlame), in his capital Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
UZBEKISTAN SAMARKAND Registan at night travel central asia silk road timurlame timur
Tilya-Kori Madrasah, built 1646-60, one of three magnificent religious schools which form the Registan square in Samarkand.
Sher-Dor Madrasah, built from 1619-36, also part of the Registan, where citizens would gather to hear royal proclamations.
The shuttered doors of scholars' cells, ornatley decorated, in the Tilya Kori.
Pilgrims enter the Tilya Kori Madrasah.
The domed ceiling which greets visitors to Tilya Kori madrasah.
Day time view of the Tilya Kori Madrasah. On the right, Sher Dor and the left Ulugh Beg madrasahs make up the finest city square in central Asia.
Shah-i-Zinda is the necropolis for the Uzbek Royal family and other historical figures. More than 20 buildings were built from the 9th to the 19th century.
Kusam Ibn Abbas was a cousin of the Prophet. His masoleum is one of the outstanding sights.
Dome of the Mausoleum of Shirin Bika Aga, who was Timur's sister.
In a city dripping with breathtaking monuments of past glories, few -if any- can compete with Shah-i-Zinda.
In fact, Shah-i-Zinda, meaning "living prince" may be the pinnacle of Uzbek design and building.
The abandoned headquarters of the Tait & Co Merchant company in Tainan, Taiwan are being reclaimed by nature.
Centuries of apartment buildings sit wall to wall in Corfu, Greece.