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

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Night, Tuotuohe

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Snack time, Serxu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

A yak! Luhuo

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Waiting, TIbet

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Boy band material, Yushu

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

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Road yaks, Serqu

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

We crash a wedding near Danba

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Wolf, Serqu