Looking up at the star-lit sky in the middle of a Jordanian desert is just a taste of the spectacular experiences in the Middle Eastern country, says Jessica Pickin.

THAILAND is known as the Land of Smiles and strolling along an idyllic beach in Krabi it's easy to see why.

Windsurfing is a lot harder than it looks but it helps if your instructor is a muscled Adonis, discovers author KATHY LETTE on an idyllic break in the Indian Ocean

WHEN it comes to Olympic titles - and who isn't talking about London 2012 now? - there was only going to be one winner: Me!

JILL STARLEY-GRAINGER samples life on a rainforest houseboat and in a stylish beachfront resort but it is the birdlife that really dazzles

From dazzling mosques to rainforest escapes, bountiful Brunei proves a perfect stopover for STEVE McKENNA and, below, TV presenter JOHN CRAVEN checks out Dubai’s superlatives

From dazzling mosques to rainforest escapes, bountiful Brunei proves a perfect stopover for STEVE McKENNA and, below, TV presenter JOHN CRAVEN checks out Dubai’s superlatives

Barbara Taylor Bradford, 78, is a best-selling novelist. Born in Leeds, she now lives in Manhattan with her husband Robert, writes BRIAN CLARIDGE

LOUISE BARNETT finds the Gulf's vast wilderness captivating and its falcon hospital slightly surreal

F1 and the capital of the United Arab Emirates make a thrilling combination. MORENO MICHINI laps up the excitement that today's Grand Prix visitors will experience