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)

Colombia's Tatiana Renteria Renteria (red) wrestles Japan's Yuka Kagami (blue) in their women's freestyle 76kg wrestling semi-final match at the Champ-de-Mars Arena during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 10, 2024. (Photo by Punit Paranjpe/AFP Photo)

A Hezbollah supporter fires a rocket-propelled grenade in the air to celebrate the arrival of Iranian fuel tankers to Lebanon, in the eastern town of Baalbek, Lebanon, Thursday, September 16, 2021. The delivery violates US sanctions imposed on Tehran after former President Donald Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers three years ago. (Photo by Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, January 3, 2018 photo, yoga instructor Danuta Wolk-Laniewski, demonstrates goat yoga at the Aussakita Acres farm in Manchester, Conn. The farm is partnering with the Hartford Yard Goats, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies baseball team, to offer goat yoga at Dunkin Donuts Park, the team's $71 million stadium in Hartford. (Photo by Pat Eaton-Robb/AP Photo)

A woman villager cleans garbage in front of her house as flood hits Tanjungsari village in Tasikmalaya, Indonesia, February 23, 2018. (Photo by Adeng Bustomi/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A police officer tries to prevent an anti-government protester from pulling the hair of a woman who is part of group that appeared to show their support for the government during a march of healthcare workers critical of the government, in La Paz, Bolivia, on July 21, 2022. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

“Great White Shark of Guadalupe Island”. A great white shark very quiet under the boat and a lot of fish. The sun ray lighting the head of the shark. Location: Guadalupe Island, Mexico. (Photo and caption by Marc Henauer/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

In this January 6, 2017 photo, transgender inmates get a security check from female officers before entering their cell at Pattaya Remand Prison in Pattaya, Chonburi province, Thailand. The prison separates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners from other inmates, a little-known policy despite being in place nationwide since 1993, according to the Department of Corrections. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)