Places ComradeChocobo Wants to Go

The lovely lake that was naturally dammed, then naturally destroyed, then unnaturally saved.

A stunning blue-green lake located in the Terskey Alatau mountain range.

Built entirely of interlocking pieces, construction of this Chinese Muslim house of worship required zero nails.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

On the shores of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul Lake, a family cooks a feast that tells the sad tale of a people's exile.

According to myth, there's a bloody explanation for the beautiful bright red color of this rock formation set amidst alpine vegetation.

This mysterious complex of abandoned yurts and fading murals was meant to be a center of science and spirituality in Kyrgyzstan.

An exquisite example of Uyghur Islamic architecture.

Extremely isolated Silk Road caravanserai in the middle of nowhere.

An outstanding piece of retro Sci-Fi architecture built into a sacred mountain.

The largest dam in the world and the site of a potential disaster.

This ancient Silk Road outpost overlooking the Wakhan Valley is miraculously still standing.

A strip of neutral ground where the people of Tajikistan and Afghanistan come together to trade.

What was once the base for Russia's first nature reserve is now a ghost town, right on the shore of Lake Baikal.

Former prison camp dedicated to the victims of political repression.

This old mining town, deep in the California desert, has a year-round population of one.

Treehouse motel and treehouse-building school.

A former electrical substation is now home to an eccentric junk art masterpiece.

A free, canine-friendly alternative watering hole near the more famous Barton Springs.

This 19th-century benevolent society and jazz hall was rescued from abandonment to again host live music.

Famous for its bio-luminescent inhabitants, known as "dismalites."

148 feet long and in the middle of a verdant forest.

The summer tourists on these cliffs are thousands of seabirds.

A rare kind of blue bear can be found chiefly in the national park that shares their name.