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

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Waiting, TIbet

Road yaks, Serqu

Wolf, Serqu

Boy band material, Yushu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

A yak! Luhuo

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Snack time, Serxu

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

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

We crash a wedding near Danba

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Night, Tuotuohe

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Earthquake damage, Yushu