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)

Riot police arrest an anti-government protester in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, October 30, 2014. Thousands of protesters marched on Burkina Faso's presidential palace after burning the parliament building and ransacking state television offices on Thursday, forcing President Blaise Compaore to scrap a plan to extend his 27-year rule. Emergency services said at least three protesters were shot dead and several others wounded by security forces when the crowd tried to storm the home of Compaore's brother. Security forces also fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the presidency in the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood. (Photo by Joe Penney/Reuters)

Riot police officers in position to crack down on demonstrators during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas on April 20, 2017. Venezuelan riot police fired tear gas Thursday at groups of protesters seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro, who have vowed new mass marches after a day of deadly unrest. Police in western Caracas broke up scores of opposition protesters trying to join a larger march, though there was no immediate repeat of Wednesday's violent clashes, which left three people dead. (Photo by Juan Barreto/AFP Photo)

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) (R) stands in front of Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as they arrive for U.S. President George W. Bush's annual State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in this January 23, 2007 file photo. Hillary Clinton announced her second run for the presidency on April 12, 2015 starting her campaign as the Democrats' best hope of fending off a crowded field of lesser-known Republican rivals and retaining the White House. (Photo by Larry Downing/Reuters)

A supporter of the presidential candidate for the Honduran Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship for the past election, Salvador Nasralla, lies on the street in front of police officers during a demonstration against the contested re-election of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on January 21, 2018. (Photo by Orlando Sierra/AFP Photo)

A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump, Wednesday, November 9, 2016, in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. (Photo by Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)

Men fix a pinata representing U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as a devil outside a house before it is set on fire at the traditional Burning of the Devil festival, ahead of Christmas in Guatemala City, Guatemala, December 7, 2016. (Photo by Luis Echeverria/Reuters)

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump watch the Florida Atlantic University Marching Band and cheerleaders perform prior to a Super Bowl party at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, February 4, 2018. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP Photo)