An airplane crosses a nearly full-moon on its way to Los Angeles International Airport near Whittier, Calif., Thursday, December 24, 2015. Not since 1977 has a full moon dawned in the skies on Christmas. (Photo by Nick Ut/AP Photo)

A sand carver works on a sculpture during the Sand Sculpture Festival “Dreams” in Ostend, Belgium on June 18, 2019. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Drag queens Maude Boate, Anita Wiglit and Kita Mean pose for a photograph before boarding the NSW TrainLink Silver City Stiletto train at Central station in Sydney, Australia, 12 September 2019. Drag queens and kings will travel to the outback NSW town of Broken Hill to attend the annual Broken Heel festival, paying homage to the iconic Australian film “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. (Photo by James Gourley/AAP)

A woman visits oil on canvas paintings by Ayesha Sultana of the Experimenter gallery in 14th edition of Art Dubai at Dubai International Financial Centre, DIFC, which features 50 galleries from 31 countries with a focus on modern and contemporary art, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (Photo by Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo)

A volunteer operates a remote controlled disinfection robot to disinfect a residental area amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on March 16, 2020. China tightened quarantine measures for international arrivals on March 16 as the country worries about a rise in imported cases of the deadly coronavirus and anger rages online at how Europe and the United States are handling the pandemic. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

Sumo wrestlers compete during the annual “Honozumo” ceremonial sumo tournament dedicated to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, April 18, 2016. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

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)