In Mongolia's Gobi desert, thousands of heavy-duty trucks laden with coal inch along a cluttered highway towards the Chinese border in a journey that can take more than a week. Truckers cook, eat and sleep in vehicles covered in coal dust, many subsisting on the same meat soup that fuelled Genghis Khan's Mongol Horde more than eight centuries ago. Alongside the trucks a bustling microeconomy has sprung up of traders peddling cigarettes, water and diesel as drivers wait to clear Chinese customs in a queue that can stretch for 130 kilometres (80 miles). Here: Thousands of heavy-duty trucks loaded with coal are lined up for up to 130 kilometres from the Mongolia-China border on a sole road in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 31, 2017. The journey can take more than a week. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A man eats instant noodles in the cabin of his truck at Khanbogd Soum, near the border with China in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 30, 2017. Truckers cook, eat and sleep inside their vehicles. Noodles are sold from smaller vans driving up and down the road. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





Sheep meat and cooking gas are seen in the back of a van on the road to the Mongolia-China border at Khanbogd Soum in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 31, 2017. Smaller vehicles travel up and down the highway to the Mongolia-China border selling water and food to coal truck drivers who are many days away from a rest stop. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





Three men eat a dinner of instant noodles and dried beef inside a truck at Khanbogd Soum, near the border with China, in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 31, 2017. Truckers cook, eat and sleep in vehicles covered in coal dust, many subsisting on the same meat soup that fuelled Genghis Khan's Mongol Horde more than eight centuries ago. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A heard of camels graze at Khanbogd Soum, near the border with China, in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 29, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A man stands by a damaged truck after an accident en-route to China in Khanbogd Soum in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 29, 2017. Getting to the border can be a harrowing ordeal, as vehicles speed towards China and back down the one-lane road. With no street lamps to guide the way and drink-driving a constant problem, danger levels increase at night, drivers say. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A man smiles as he tries to free his truck, which is stuck in the sand at Khanbogd Soum, near the border with China in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 31, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





Thousands of heavy-duty trucks loaded with coal are lined up for up to 130 kilometres from the Mongolia-China border on a sole road in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 29, 2017. The journey can take more than a week. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





Trucks full of coal wait along the road at Tsagaan Khad, some 20 kilometres from the border with China in Khanbogd Soum in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 30, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A photographer casts his shadow near a coal truck which flipped over at Khanbogd Soum, near the border with China in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 29, 2017. Getting to the border can be a harrowing ordeal, as vehicles speed towards China and back down the one-lane road. With no street lamps to guide the way and drink-driving a constant problem, danger levels increase at night, drivers say. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A portion of an unfinished railway project is seen in Khanbogd Soum, near the border with China in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 31, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A man services a tyre on a coal truck near the border with China at Khangobd Soum in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 30, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A truck driver repairs his truck on the side of the road near the the border with China in Khanbogd Soum in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 29, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A man sits outside a ger at the Tsagaan Khan rest spot for truck drivers at Khangobd Soum some 20 kilometres from the border with China in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 30, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





Trucks filled up with coal are lined up in the early morning in Khanbogd Soum, some 20 kilometres from the border with China, in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 30, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A woman stops to sell food to truck drivers near the border with China at Khanbogd Soum in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 31, 2017. A megaphone mounted on her car plays a recording letting drivers know she can offer food, water and fresh meat. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A man carries tanks with diesel fuel on the road near the border with China in Khanbogd Soum in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 30, 2017. Vendors sell fuel by pushcarts and from the back of cabs to coal truck drivers waiting on the road. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)





A man sits on top of his truck to get a better signal to make a phone call at Khangobd Soum near the border with China in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, October 31, 2017. (Photo by Bazarsukh Rentsendorj/Reuters)