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

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Boy band material, Yushu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

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

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Wolf, Serqu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Snack time, Serxu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Waiting, TIbet

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Road yaks, Serqu

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

We crash a wedding near Danba

Night, Tuotuohe

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet