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)

Nigerian make-up artist, Mary Oni, creates artwork on her chest using make-up, in her home in Lagos, Nigeria on January 26, 2022. (Photo by Seun Sanni/Reuters)

A visitor kneels on the 180-meter-high and 300 meter-long glass-bottomed suspension bridge at the Shiniuzhai National Geopark in Pingjiang county, in central China's Hunan province, 24 September 2015. (Photo by Jiao Zi/Imaginechina via AFP Photo)

Vietnam's Khuat Phuong Anh (R) celebrates winning the women's 800m final during the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi on May 16, 2022. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Primary school students attend an emergency evacuation drill on China's national day for disaster prevention and relief on May 12, 2022 in Hefei, Anhui Province of China. China's national day for disaster prevention and relief falls on May 12 every year. (Photo by Ge Qingzhao/VCG via Getty Images)

Spain’s fans react after their team lost the match against Italy while watching the match in a bar during the Euro 2020 soccer championship semifinal match between Italy and Spain, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Tuesday, July 6, 2021. (Photo by Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

A child dressed as Hindu god Krishna watches a mobile phone as a woman gives finishing touches to his costume on the occasion of “Janmashtami” festival marking the birth of Krishna in Ajmer on August 30, 2021. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/AFP Photo)

In a photo taken on November 4, 2020 visitors wearing traditional Korean hanbok dress walk beneath yellow ginko leaves in a courtyard at Gyeongbokgung palace in Seoul. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)