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 man carries a block of ice left behind by a hailstorm in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 19, 2014. After the severe overnight hailstorm a layer of hailstones as deep as 20 centimeters covered streets and parks, drawing people to make snowmen and play in the ice, an unusual scene to the city. (Photo by Nelson Antoine/AP Photo)

A man rides his bike along a controversial bike lane on Prospect Park West on August 17, 2011 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. In what is being viewed as a victory for the Bloomberg administration, a judge on Tuesday dismissed an effort by Brooklyn residents to remove a bicycle lane installed by the city on Prospect Park West. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with his transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, has attempted to make New York more bicycle and pedestrian friendly with numerous bike and pedestrian lanes around New York City. The effort has angered some in the city who see the lanes as adding to traffic, taking up parking spaces and a danger to pedestrians. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Singer, songwriter, actress and philanthropist Miley Cyrus, L, takes a selfie while doing her signature tongue-out pose with GMU students Samaria Moss, 18, C, of Spottsylvania, VA, Jaide Tarwid, 18, from Wisconsin, and Zimuzo Okala, 19, of Chesapeake, VA, (blocked) as Cyrus makes a campaign visit for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine in Northern Virginia at George Mason University on Saturday, October 22, 2016 in Fairfax, VA. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

A team from Woody's Ice Cream shop wrangle a large inflatable dinosaur down the street during the Independence Day Parade in Fairfax, Virginia July 4, 2015. Americans marched in star-spangled parades, ran relay races, gathered for fireworks shows and crowned a new world hot dog eating champion as they celebrated Independence Day in traditional style on Saturday. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

A ghost glass frog in the Chocó rainforest, Ecuador in November 2020. The marbled swirling “hypnotising” eyes are thought to be helpful in attracting a mate. (Photo by David Weiller/WENN)