The first photographer on your homepage to traverse the Paimo Highway

Medog, the last county in China to be connected by road. Previously, reaching Medog took 4 days, but now it only takes 4 hours—a feat made possible by eight years of arduous construction by the Chinese people! In 2023, I traveled the Paimo Highway with the *China National Geographic* scientific expedition. P1: Duoxiongla Pass, located on the northern ridge of the Himalayas, is perpetually snow-capped, with sudden rain, snow, hail, and fog. Crossing it is more challenging than scaling many 5,000-6,000-meter peaks. Many porters and horses carrying heavy loads never made it past the pass, earning it the local nickname "the Gate of Hell" on the road to Medog. On December 24, 2017, after the final blast in the Duoxiongla Tunnel—constructed by Huaneng—the dust settled, marking the successful completion of the 4,789-meter tunnel, the toughest challenge of the Paimo Rural Highway. P3: The Laohuzui Tunnel, the last critical node project on the Paimo Highway. Salute to all the builders! P4-P5: The towering glaciers of Medog. P6: The black bulbul, not so black after all. P8: A wild impatiens (?) in the rainforest. P12: A lepidopteran insect spotted on the Paimo Highway.