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)

Runners sleep before competing in the 2016 New York City Marathon in the Manhattan borough of New York City, NY, U.S. November 6, 2016. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Workers carve ice art works at Harbin Ice and Snow World one day before the 32th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin city, China's northern Heilongjiang province, 04 January 2016. The festival will run from 05 January to 05 February. (Photo by Wu Hong/EPA)

Cars slowly move along a bridge in traffic jam in central Moscow, Russia on December 11, 2018. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP Photo)

A view of the fireworks during the Edge at Hudson Yard's 4th of July Celebration at Edge at Hudson Yards on July 04, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Edge at Hudson Yards)

In this Tuesday, June 19, 2018 filer, clouds are illuminated by the sun setting sun over a church during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Podolsk near Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

From Britain to China to Mali, new maps showing travel times to the nearest urban centre reveal huge differences between countries. Using Open Street Map and Google, a University of Oxford team have created a visual breakdown that suggests major inequalities when it comes to commuting. Here: China. The dataset used for China was unique as it relied solely on Open Street Map, due to restrictions on accessing Google data. The population is densely concentrated in the east and accessibility is increased, whereas rural provinces in the west remain remote. (Photo by Daniel Weiss/Jennifer Rozier/Malaria Atlas Project/University of Oxford)

The buildings of the banking district are seen through thousands of rain drops on a glass railing in central Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, January 11, 2017. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)