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)

A woman is assisted by medical personnel during a celebration in the Mission District in San Francisco, California October 29, 2014. The San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday to win their third World Series title in five seasons. (Photo by Robert Galbraith/Reuters)

A Maasai warrior makes the high jump, in which athletes must touch a high line with the top of their heads, at the annual Maasai Olympics in the Sidai Oleng Wildlife Sanctuary near to Mt. Kilimanjaro, in southern Kenya, Saturday, December 13, 2014. Maasai men and women from the Amboseli and Tsavo region compete for medals and prizes in the event which aims for a sports competition of Maasai skills such as running, jumping, and throwing, to replace lion-hunting as the traditional warrior activity. (Photo by Ben Curtis/AP Photo)

The eruption of Cordon Caulle began on June 4, 2011, located in the Region of Los Rios in Chile. For about 12 months, people and animals became accustomed to living with the daily fall of ash, which also caused problems in the air traffic in South America. The explosions and lightning during first days of the eruption could be seen from hundreds of miles around. This photograph was taken on the second night of eruption from the town of Lago Ranco. (Photo and caption by Francisco Negroni/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.

Police, bystanders and soldiers aid a fallen soldier at the War Memorial as police respond to an apparent terrorist attack on October 22, 2014 in Ottawa, Canada. A gunman is believed to have shot a soldier as he was standing guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. It is believed police then chased the man into the main parliament building at Parliament Hill, where more shots were fired. (Photo by Wayne Cuddington/Postmedia/Barcroft Media/ABACAPress)

“Artist of the light”. While shooting sunrise in the Vermilion lakes area of Banff national park, Canada, I met a fellow photographer on the scene. Most of the time, we tried not to get in each other's way, however, just by accident, I snapped a picture with him in it working on his tripod settings, and it turned out to be a great photo compared to my sunrise shots. (Photo and caption by Victor Liu/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.

Two baby orangutans play with each other at the wildlife department in Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia, October 19, 2015. The Malaysian wildlife department in July seized two baby Sumatran orangutans, found in duffel bags, from traffickers who were attempting to sell them to buyers in Malaysia. According to local media, the orangutans will be returned to Medan, Indonesia on Tuesday. The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be $8 billion a year worldwide, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network. (Photo by Olivia Harris/Reuters)

A man presents a self-made robot that local media reported is able to carry a person, in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, China, April 5, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)