Even the brochure writers struggle to sell Dubai, in the summer, as a good place to be. Expat worker Allen Rindfleisch escapes the suffocating heat to drive across the border into the deserts of Oman.
Three students, no problems. Chris Barrett finds an enterprising ex-soldier running the world's smallest school, dedicated to bringing the light of knowledge to a fishing village in Iran.
In 2009 Jordan celebrates a hundred years of statehood. This seems rather modest, as its historical roots reach back for millennia. Jacqueline Beach reports on Amman, ancient and modern.
Max le Grand takes a tour of pre-election Iran, and finds a welcoming country where the secrets in the past continue, hidden, to underpin life in the present day. Axis of Evil? We think not.
Sezgi Yalın finds her meeting with Esfahān, a spirited and insightful Iranian woman, is a highlight of her time in Iran. The fulcrum of America's 'Axis of Evil' clearly has hidden depths.
Between bombs, David Brown strolls from Israel to Lebanon. In the Middle East's most cosmopolitan society he finds plenty of signs of war but also a determination to survive.
This expat's view of the Kingdom in the '80's by Glenn Standish shows there's no copy too old for the pages of Travelmag! Still, we don't get much from this part of the world so here it is..