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

Snack time, Serxu

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

The frosty road to Nam-tso

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Earthquake damage, Yushu

We crash a wedding near Danba

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Road yaks, Serqu

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Waiting, TIbet

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Boy band material, Yushu

A yak! Luhuo

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Night, Tuotuohe

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

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

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Wolf, Serqu