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

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Boy band material, Yushu

The frosty road to Nam-tso

A yak! Luhuo

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Wolf, Serqu

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Road yaks, Serqu

Night, Tuotuohe

Snack time, Serxu

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

We crash a wedding near Danba

Waiting, TIbet

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

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

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa