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

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Snack time, Serxu

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Waiting, TIbet

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

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

We crash a wedding near Danba

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

The frosty road to Nam-tso

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Road yaks, Serqu

A yak! Luhuo

Boy band material, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Wolf, Serqu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Night, Tuotuohe

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa