Passengers take photos at a wildfire while traveling on a train in Zamora, Spain, Monday, July 18, 2022. When Francisco Seoane's train unexpectedly stopped in Spanish countryside that was being engulfed by a wildfire, he and other passengers got a fright when they looked out at flames encroaching on both sides of the track. The Spaniard told The Associated Press it was scary to see how quickly the fire spread. Video of the unscheduled – and unnerving – stop shows about a dozen passengers in Seoane's railcar appearing alarmed as they look out of the windows Monday. (Photo by Francisco Seoane Perez/AP Photo)

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.

Pakistani laborers transport the front portion of a vehicle using a handcart at a road in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, August 3, 2015. (Photo by Mohammad Sajjad/AP Photo)

People sit on a cart with a camel tied to it during “Temeenii bayar”, the Camel Festival, in Dalanzadgad, Umnugobi aimag, Mongolia, March 6, 2016. On the steppes of the Gobi Desert, the crowd urges on Bactrian camels laden down with all that's needed to build and live in a traditional Mongolian tent. Guinness World Records classes the 15 km race thatÕs part of the two-day festival as the largest camel race in the world, drawing 1,108 participants. The winning camel romped home in 35 minutes and 12 seconds, according to the records website. (Photo by B. Rentsendorj/Reuters)

Fans of Germany react as they watch the Euro 2016 match between France and Germany in France at a public screening of the match in Berlin, Germany, July 7, 2016. France won 2-0. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

An Afghan judge hits a woman with a whip in front of a crowd in Ghor province, Afghanistan August 31, 2015. An Afghan man and woman found guilty of adultery received 100 lashes on Monday in front of a crowd who filmed their punishment, TV footage showed. (Photo by Reuters/Pajhwok News Agency)

An internally displaced woman collects water from a pond to construct a mud-house at the Aboushok camp in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, November 17, 2015. The conflict in Sudan's Darfur region that erupted 12 years ago shows no sign of ending. But it hasn't stopped displaced youngsters, some of whom have spent their entire lives in refugee camps, from dreaming big. Twelve children aged 12 explain their hopes and dreams for the future; ambitions include becoming a doctor, an engineer and a teacher. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters)

An injured boy who is undergoing surgery, after he was injured in what activists said was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, rests inside a field hospital in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria December 5, 2015. Douma in Syria, an area controlled by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, has been shelled continuously for the past three years. The injured are taken to basements and shelters transformed into field hospitals run by medical staff who have stayed in the battered neighbourhood of Damascus. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)