We made it! Despite the worryingly high chance of getting snowed in en route, we got all the way from Chengdu to Lhasa – 3,000 kilometres – with only two tyre changes, one mild case of altitude sickness and one lost-and-later-found passport. I leave Lhasa today, heading back to the oxygen-rich fug of Chengdu to defrost (with the help of some mapo tofu), and thence to Hong Kong on Tuesday.

I’m due at the airport shortly, so a full report will need to wait for a day or two, but for now, here is a photographic taster of the last fortnight’s travels…

Enjoy!

xx

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Waiting, TIbet

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Boy band material, Yushu

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Snack time, Serxu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Road yaks, Serqu

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

A traffic jam inside a long tunnel damaged in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake

Wolf, Serqu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Night, Tuotuohe

We crash a wedding near Danba

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

A yak! Luhuo

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu