Extremely isolated Silk Road caravanserai in the middle of nowhere.

These oldest of these "embroidered stones" were carved 4,000 years ago in a high mountain valley.

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.

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

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

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

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.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

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

This retro, UFO-like structure is a remnant of the Soviet-era circus.

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

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

Lonely minaret stump of a destroyed city.

A Black Forest cuckoo clock theme park features one timepiece big enough to walk inside.

You haven’t properly toured a winery until you’ve slept in an actual wine barrel.

A gorgeous stone viaduct crosses over a bucolic valley.

Climb around the high waterfalls on series of iron ladders and bridges within the wildest gorge in the Slovak Paradise.

The ruins of a 13th-century monastery that long served as a place of refuge from wars and raids.

The cultural center preserves the history of the Tlingit tribe, who have lived in this Alaska village for more than 10,000 years.

North America's first frozen mummified remains of an ice age steppe bison, the 36,000 year-old mummy named "Blue Babe."

Faces carved into the cliffs create an otherworldly walking trail.

Beside a busy highway, a colony of Great Blue Herons raises hundreds of offspring each year.