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 hint of Spring Fever is evidenced by this passerby tipping his hat to a store fixture mannequin on a State St. sidewalk in downtown Chicago on March 23, 1978. The mannequin was awaiting pickup to be transported. (Photo by AP Photo)

Undated handout photo issued by Carhenge Glastobury of the Carhenge installation by artist Joe Rush, on the site of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Made of 24 vintage cars erected in the centre of the festival, the installation emulates the ancient stone structure at Stonehenge. Issue date: Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Photo by Matt Cardy/PA Wire Press Association)

A young Thai man jumps in the air and cheers as his rocket takes off at the Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival on May 10, 2015 in Yasothon, Thailand. During the Bun Bang Fai rocket festival, Thai residents launch enormous home-made rockets into the air to gain Buddhist merit and to celebrate the beginning of the rainy season. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

Members of the Gafatar sect walk in the rain as they evacuate their compound, which was later burned down by local villagers, in Antibar village, Mempawah Regency, Indonesia West Kalimantan Province, January 19, 2016 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Local authorities and police moved the sect members to an army barracks located some 70 km (43 miles) away from Antibar for their safety following recent disputes between the sect and the villagers, Antara said on Tuesday. (Photo by Jessica Helena Wuysang/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A Muslim woman wearing a hijab walks past a lingerie advertisement in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia April 26, 2013. (Photo by Andy Clark/Reuters)

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This aerial photo shows bullet trains parked at a station in preparation for the upcoming Lunar New Year travel peak in Nanjing, in eastern China's Jiangsu province on January 27, 2021, as authorities have encouraged people to stay put during the Spring Festival to curb the spread of of COVID-19 coronavirus. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)