People perform during the Archstoyanie 2023 festival in the village of Nikola-Lenivets, Kaluga region, Russia on July 29, 2023. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A guard follows participants down a hallway in “Squid Game: The Trials”, an in-person interactive competition experience based on the Netflix show “Squid Games”, on December 20, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. At “Squid Game: The Trials” in Los Angeles, fans of all ages can relive the most emotional moments of Netflix's South Korean hit show – but there is a lot less blood and no one wins any prize money. (Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP Photo)

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 streaker races across the field and is caught by security during the Super Rugby match between New Zealand's Highlanders and South Africa's Sharks at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on February 7, 2020. (Photo by Marty Melville/AFP Photo)

Racegoers try to shelter from the rain during day one of the Cazoo Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse in Surrey, United Kingdom on Friday, June 4, 2021. (Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Models cool off in front of an air conditioner backstage at the DUNDAS x REVOLVE New York Fashion Week Show in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 8, 2021. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

Burning candles illuminate graves as a Bangladeshi man observes a contemplative moment on All Souls' Day at the Dhaka Christian Cemetery at Wari in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 02 November 2021. People on All Saints Day and All Souls Day pay respect to deceased relatives and loved ones by placing flowers on their tombs or maintaining their graves and lighting candles. (Photo by Monirul Alam/EPA/EFE)

Girls during a class at the Teire Irish dance school in Moscow, Russia on March 15, 2019. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/TASS)