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

The frosty road to Nam-tso

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Waiting, TIbet

Wolf, Serqu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Night, Tuotuohe

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

We crash a wedding near Danba

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

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

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Road yaks, Serqu

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

A yak! Luhuo

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Boy band material, Yushu

Snack time, Serxu

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg