Places Seeking the Edge Wants to Go

Dedicated to a Bolshevik revolutionary, this museum is a true time capsule of the Soviet era.

An unusual monument to a gentle giant who became a Kyrgyz hero.

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

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

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

Extremely isolated Silk Road caravanserai in the middle of nowhere.

This unique wooden mosque resembling a Chinese pagoda was said to be built without the use of nails.

Granny Smiths and Fujis can both be traced back to Kazakhstan, where apples still grow wild.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

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

An eccentric museum dedicated to Islam Karimov, the former dictator of Uzbekistan.

The foundation of this ancient stupa dates back to the 1st-century.

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

Where Stoddart and Connolly suffered in the infamous Bug Pit.

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

An 18-meter-long sarcophagus of a constantly growing dead prophet.

These "50 Fortresses" have been unearthed in the ancient oasis of Khwarezm.

Final palace complex of the last of 29 Kokand rulers.

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

The last standing example of an ancient district's teatime tradition.

The cave holds a spectacular array of stalactites and stalagmites, including one shaped like a giant human heart.

Fast food feels like fine dining at this award-winning modern Georgian building.

Monks in the empyreal Alazani River valley have preserved their 1,000-year-old winemaking tradition.

In the garden of a Georgia museum, without any explanation, is a monumental head of the Communist icon.