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

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

We crash a wedding near Danba

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Road yaks, Serqu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Boy band material, Yushu

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Night, Tuotuohe

Earthquake damage, Yushu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

Waiting, TIbet

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

Mani stones, Nam-tso

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

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Wolf, Serqu

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Snack time, Serxu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

A yak! Luhuo

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Yak butter lamps, Yushu