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

A yak! Luhuo

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

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

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Night, Tuotuohe

Earthquake damage, Yushu

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Wolf, Serqu

Road yaks, Serqu

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Waiting, TIbet

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

The frosty road to Nam-tso

We crash a wedding near Danba

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Boy band material, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Snack time, Serxu

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Sera Monastery, Lhasa