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 Royal Castle is seen a veil of heavy winter smog in Budapest, Hungary on January 30, 2017. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)

A couple wears face masks as they share a moment during sunset on January 31, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. With over 9800 confirmed cases of Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) around the world, the virus has so far claimed over 200 lives. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Athletes attend training session at the Ak Bulak Nordic Arena outside Almaty, Kazakhstan, July 16, 2015. Kazakhstan is aspiring to host the 2022 Winter Olympics but many in the Central Asian nation view the bid as yet another vanity project of long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Almaty, the financial capital, will go head-to-head with the Chinese metropolis Beijing on Friday when the International Olympic Committee elects the winner at its session in Malaysia. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

Harry Potter collectible busts are displayed in the home of Menahem Asher Silva Vargas, after he was presented with a Guinness World Record title certificate for the largest collection of Harry Potter memorabilia, in Mexico City, Monday, September 29, 2014. Silva's collection consists of more than 3000 individual items, including trading cards, wands, and books in multiple languages. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

The public get the first view at the opening of the new miniature model Knuffingen Aiport at Miniatur Wunderland on the airport's opening day on May 4, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. Miniatur Wunderland is the world's largest model railroad landscape, and the model airport, also the world’s largest, goes into operation following 6 years of development and construction and an investment of EUR 3.5 million. The airport is a reproduction of Hamburg’s international airport and includes 40 aircraft that take off and land and 90 vehicles that autonomously move around the runways on May 4, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)