Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)

A vendor prepares paan, a betel nut-based chewable stimulant at a flower market in Kolkata, India, January 18, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

With six-inch fangs and weighing in at 600lb, Saber and Janda are no ­ordinary house cats. Yet these huge Bengal tigers live in Janice Haley’s suburban garden and are treated like ordinary pets. They are fed by hand, get strokes and cuddles, and white male Saber goes to sleep sucking on her finger. Janice’s life changed 20 years ago when she spotted an advert for a tiger training course in her local paper – and two years later arrived home with her first cub. Then in 2002 she bought Janda, who is now 12. Photo: The pair are best of friends. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)

A reef shell lies on a beach as the sun sets on Lady Elliot Island located north-east of the town of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, June 10, 2015. UNESCO World Heritage delegates recently snorkelled on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, thousands of coral reefs, which stretch over 2,000 km off the northeast coast. Surrounded by manta rays, dolphins and reef sharks, their mission was to check the health of the world's largest living ecosystem, which brings in billions of dollars a year in tourism. Some coral has been badly damaged and animal species, including dugong and large green turtles, are threatened. UNESCO will say on Wednesday whether it will place the reef on a list of endangered World Heritage sites, a move the Australian government wants to avoid at all costs, having lobbied hard overseas. Earlier this year, UNESCO said the reef's outlook was “poor”. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

A couple dance by the Golden Horn leading to the Bosphorus Strait separating Europe and Asia, in Istanbul, Friday, May 14, 2021. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

Coronavirus vaccinated audience members watch Saudi prominent singer Mohammed Abdu as he performs at the newly built Super Dome, in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, late Thursday, July 8, 2021. The concert is organized by the Saudi General Entertainment Authority after the kingdom lifted coronavirus restrictions on events in May. (Photo by Amr Nabil/AP Photo)

Wildlife agency rangers rescue a Malayan tapir, an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, after it fell into a villager's fish pond in Pekanbaru, Riau on April 20, 2021. (Photo by Wahyudi/AFP Photo)

Lava gushes from the southern side crater of Mt. Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, near Catania, southern Italy Sicily, early Tuesday, May 25, 2021. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/AP Photo)