The controversial final resting place of the equally controversial first president of Turkmenistan.

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.

This famed Silk Road oasis was one of the largest cities in the world before it was destroyed by a Mongol horde.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

Home to what was once considered the largest gate in central Asia.

One of the most ethnically diverse spots on the planet.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.

Ancient barriers wrap around what was once an important stop along the Silk Road.

Once a bustling fishing port, this semi-ghost town is now more than 90 miles away from the shore.

Lonely minaret stump of a destroyed city.

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

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

This 100-foot tall tombstone memorializes victims of 40 years of nuclear testing in Kazakhstan.

A Stalinist prison camp for the wives and children of men accused of betraying the Soviet state is now a memorial museum.

This Soviet statue is based on a piece of propaganda that's been elevated to national myth.

This sprawling market is a one-stop shop for traditional Kazakh foods, from mare’s milk to sheep’s head.

Beatlemania is still going strong... at least in Kazakhstan.

In Kazakhstan, a colorful cathedral with many lives once survived the most powerful earthquake in the region.

Rusting ships sit in a desert where a sea used to be.

This bridge made famous in a novel and on-screen wasn't actually built over the river Kwai.

This dazzling Buddhist temple was constructed from over one million ceramic tiles salvaged from a British shipwreck.

Six times a day a train runs right through the middle of this Thai street market, sending vendors scrambling.

One of the world's tallest flagpoles.