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

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

We crash a wedding near Danba

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Night, Tuotuohe

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Wolf, Serqu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Road yaks, Serqu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

A yak! Luhuo

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Waiting, TIbet

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Snack time, Serxu

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

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

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Mani stones, Nam-tso

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Boy band material, Yushu

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu