Su-25 jet fighters release smoke in the colours of the Russian state flag over Red Square during a flypast rehearsal ahead of a parade on Victory Day, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Moscow, Russia on May 5, 2021. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/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)

Model Daisy Lowe has been camouflaged into a wall of daisies by world-leading body paint artist Carolyn Roper, to showcase the Samsung QLED TV's Ambient Mode feature in London, United Kingdom on August 2, 2018. The work took eight hours to complete. (Photo by Matt Alexander/PA Wire)

Darth Vader balloon above Clifton Suspension Bridge during the hot air balloons mass ascent at sunrise on the first day of the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta on August 8, 2019 in Bristol, England. The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe's largest annual meeting of hot air balloons, attracting over 130 hot air balloons from across the globe. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

In this photograph taken on February 15, 2021, doctor Sergen Saracoglu (L) and nurse Yilzdiz Ayten (C) from the Bahcesaray public hospital vaccination team, arrive at the village of Guneyyamac in eastern Turkey, as part of an expedition to vaccinate residents of 65 years old or above with Sinovac's CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP Photo)

A classic American car is wrapped in plastic to prevent sea salt from corroding it in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Vintage cars in Cuba are part of daily life with most classic cars being used as taxis and to transport tourists. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

A man carries his dog as he prays during Vesak Day, an annual celebration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death, at Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand, May 10, 2017. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

In this Tuesday, December 20, 2016 photo, Mohammad Ramzan, right, reacts while talking to The Associated Press with his young bride Saima in Jampur, Pakistan. Saima was given as a bride to the older man by her father so he could marry the groom’s sister, a practice of exchanging girls that is entrenched in conservative regions of Pakistan. It even has its own name in Urdu: Watta Satta, “give and take”. A mix of interests – family obligations, desire for sons, a wish to hand off a girl to a husband – can lead to a young teen in an a marriage she never sought. (Photo by K.M. Chaudhry/AP Photo)