Workers from the Qinghai-Tibet Highway Management Bureau have to maintain and repair nearly 1,200 kilometers of the highway. They always take painkillers with them to relieve headaches caused by high altitudes before heading out the door.

With the weakest of phone signals, they stick cigarette cases to windows to strengthen the signal receptivity only to hear the voices of their children who study in Amdo county, Nagchu prefecture, north of the Tibet autonomous region.

They always eat dried yak meat and Tsampa, a Tibetan specialty made with barley flour, and drink salty Tibetan butter tea at the roadside in the almost-uninhabited area.

Photo by Hu Yongqi

Vital lifeline	Miserable nights and enthralling days in Amdo	A high life, but not a pleasant one