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

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Road yaks, Serqu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Snack time, Serxu

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Boy band material, Yushu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

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

Waiting, TIbet

A yak! Luhuo

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Wolf, Serqu

We crash a wedding near Danba

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Noodle action, Qumarleg

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Night, Tuotuohe

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu