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

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

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

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

Where Stoddart and Connolly suffered in the infamous Bug Pit.

Prowl through this sprawling bazaar under a massive Soviet-era dome for delicious eats.

An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.

A bustling bazaar with an elaborate facade in Central Asia’s underrated capital.

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

Controversially restored in the 1970s, this giant 15th-century mosque is shrouded in legend.

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

Lonely minaret stump of a destroyed city.

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

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.

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

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

This old-timey Chinatown institution specializes in one of the city’s best Thai-Chinese fusion dishes.

This ambiguous pig shrine is actually a monument to a beloved queen.

Time-frozen department store of dangerous and dusty relics.

Striking, enormous gold-plated sculpture of Buddha installed in the 19th century.

A shrine honoring a legendary ghost bride lies within this vibrant temple.

For centuries young Thai men used this Giant Swing as a slingshot to heaven.

The headquarters of the Mahanikai school of Buddhism, Thailand's largest monastic order.