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)

The moon rises behind the skyline and financial district in Toronto, November 25, 2015. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Reuters)

A chicken seller carries his chickens on his head in the market in Peshawar, Pakistan, August 20, 2015. (Photo by Khuram Parvez/Reuters)

Behaviour: Mammals category. Giant Gathering by Tony Wu, USA. Dozens of sperm whales mingled noisily off Sri Lanka’s northeast coast, stacked as far down as Tony could see. This was a congregation of dozens of social units, like a gathering of the clans. Aggregations like this could be a critical part of the whales’ rich social lives but are rarely reported. Some two thirds of the population was wiped out before commercial whaling was banned in 1986. This kind of major gathering could be “a sign that populations are recovering”, says Tony. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017)

Bella Hadid arriving at her hotel on December 7, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Palace Lee/PacificCoastNews)

Residents recently returning to their area cleared by government troops react as they ride a tricycle a day after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city in southern Philippines Wednesday, October 18, 2017. Sporadic explosions continue Wednesday as Philippine soldiers fought to gain control of the last pocket of Marawi controlled by Islamic militants. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

A refugee sits in front of a Greek riot police cordon during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni, March 1, 2016. (Photo by Alexandros Avramidis/Reuters)

Two Girls who managed to evade the police walk away as police on foot and horseback push back to te curd at Park Row, In New York on April 26, 1960, A milling throng of more than 1,000 High students who storned city hall in a Demonstration supporting teachers wage demands. (Photo by AP Photo)