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

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

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

The rocks are a time capsule of a 407-million-year-old Earth.

Lonely minaret stump of a destroyed city.

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

This village was once a thriving Soviet uranium mining center, but is now semi-abandoned and desolate.

Extremely isolated Silk Road caravanserai in the middle of nowhere.

The origin of this sinisterly shaped forest is rooted in mystery.

A boulder carved into the shape of the cosmonaut's head.

Glacial lake that mysteriously empties itself every year.

Mysterious spherical rocks in the semi-desert of western Kazakhstan.

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

This was once the largest city in Kazakhstan, and a major stop on the Silk Road.

An abandoned Soviet-era mining town in the mountains of South Kazakhstan.

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

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

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

Submerged trees jut ghost-like out of an idyllic turquoise mountain lake.

Nicknamed Kazakhstan's Grand Canyon, this natural wonder lies east of Almaty near the Chinese border.

Local lore says this 700-year-old tree has sacred and medicinal properties.

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

One of the most horrible legacies of the Cold War is a site where the Soviet Union tested nuclear bombs on civilians.

A replica of the straw hut where Vladimir Lenin lived in hiding, disguised as a hay farmer, in 1917.