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

A yak! Luhuo

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Mani stones, Nam-tso

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Road yaks, Serqu

Night, Tuotuohe

Waiting, TIbet

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Boy band material, Yushu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Earthquake damage, Yushu

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

We crash a wedding near Danba

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Wolf, Serqu

Snack time, Serxu

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

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa