Nepal

Nepal is vertical. From the steaming lowland jungles at barely 60 meters above sea level to the summit of Mount Everest at 8,849 meters, no country on Earth packs such extreme altitude variation into such a small area. Eight of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 meters are here, including Everest, Kanchenjunga, and Annapurna. This is the trekking capital of the world, where trails wind through rhododendron forests, past terraced rice paddies, and into the shadow of the highest mountains on the planet.

But Nepal is far more than mountains. Kathmandu Valley alone contains seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites within a few square kilometers - ancient palace squares, golden-roofed temples, and Buddhist stupas where prayer flags flutter in the wind. The Buddha was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Hinduism and Buddhism coexist here with an ease that is rare anywhere else in the world. And the Nepali people - Sherpas, Newars, Gurungs, Tharus, and dozens more ethnic groups - bring a warmth and resilience forged by life in some of the most challenging terrain imaginable. The greeting namaste, spoken with palms pressed together, is not just a word here. It is a way of being.