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

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

This cavernous swimming spot doubles as a home to the largest known colony of bats in Central Asia.

A cemetery with goat-horn bedecked gravestones.

This harsh mountain path was built as a strange attempt to improve the health of Turkmen citizens.

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

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

A huge monument to a bizarre book written by Turkmenistan’s longstanding dictator.

An eccentric dictator's take on a Turkmen version of Disneyland.

If you want to get married in the White Marble City of Ashgabat, you should do it in this surreal disco ball building.

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

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

Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.

The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.

Where Stoddart and Connolly suffered in the infamous Bug Pit.

This Soviet-era athletic and recreation facility is the highest ice skating rink in the world.

Time capsule of a museum, in which the Soviet Union remains alive and kicking.

A modern tower, symbolizing the legend of a golden egg on top of the tree of life.

An entertainment center in a huge transparent tent.

The largest Lenin statue in Central Asia was moved to an empty field rather than being destroyed.

Touching displays of wishes for peace from the Cold War era.

Final palace complex of the last of 29 Kokand rulers.

Looking for a unifying history, Uzbekistan finds its answer in a 14th Century Turco-Mongol conqueror... despite the fact he wasn't Uzbek.

One of the most ethnically diverse spots on the planet.