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)

Bathing suit models are shown listening to the radio on the beach, circa 1940's. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

The possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of seven newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system that scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground based telescopes have discovered. (Photo by Reuters/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Sister Kate and Sister Claire pose on the beach to promote the documentary film “Breaking Habits?” at the Cannes Film Festival on May 09, 2018 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Regis Duvignau/Reuters)

Ammunition airlift into besieged Khe Sanh, Operation Pegasus, April 1968. (Photo by Larry Burrows/AP Photo)

A Flame Skimmer or Firecracker Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata) rests on a small branch in Topanga, California, USA, 18 June 2018. The Flame Skimmer dragonfly is found in the Western United States near ponds and creeks. (Photo by Mike Nelson/EPA/EFE)

Two Girls who managed to evade the police walk away as police on foot and horseback push back to te curd at Park Row, In New York on April 26, 1960, A milling throng of more than 1,000 High students who storned city hall in a Demonstration supporting teachers wage demands. (Photo by AP Photo)

Two horses appear to burst into laughter before a sweet embrace. The horses both turn their head to look at the camera and flash their teeth, treating the lucky photographer to a rare shot. Moments later the pair show their affectionate side by coming together and “hugging”. Photographer Nir Amos, 34, said he was “amazed” to capture the horses “laughing” in a field near Skógar, in the south east of Iceland on July 31, 2018. (Photo by Nir Amos/Solent News & Photo Agency)