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

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

A yak! Luhuo

Snack time, Serxu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Road yaks, Serqu

Boy band material, Yushu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

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

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

We crash a wedding near Danba

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Wolf, Serqu

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Waiting, TIbet

Night, Tuotuohe

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background