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

A yak! Luhuo

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Snack time, Serxu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

We crash a wedding near Danba

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Boy band material, Yushu

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Noodle action, Qumarleg

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Night, Tuotuohe

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

Wolf, Serqu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Road yaks, Serqu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Waiting, TIbet