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

Boy band material, Yushu

Potala Palace and reflection, Lhasa

Flower seller, Jana Mani, Yushu

Upper reaches of the Yangtze, outside Qumarleg

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

Behind the Potala Palace, Lhasa

Sunset, Nagchu, Tibet

Girl, Jana Mani, Yushu

Road yaks, Serqu

The roof of Ramoche Temple, Lhasa

Lake Yilhun La-tso, Manigango

Wolf, Serqu

A Gyarong Castle, Wori

We crash a wedding near Danba

Mani stones, Nam-tso

Snack time, Serxu

Frosty morning in Tagong, Mt Yala in the background

Night, Tuotuohe

Sera Monastery, Lhasa

A young tulku (‘living buddha’), Serxu

Snowclouds, en route to Serqu

A mile of prayer stones, Bagemani, Serxu

Mani stones for sale, Yushu

A yak! Luhuo

Day 1: Our first 4,000 metre mountain pass

Waiting, TIbet

Noodle action, Qumarleg

Frozen reservoir at dusk, Serqu

Amdo nomad style, Yushu

Sunset over the Trola Mountains, outside Ganzi

Moonrise over the Four SIsters’ Mountains, Sichuan

The frosty road to Nam-tso

Yak butter lamps, Yushu

Autumn in progress, between Danba and Bamei

Earthquake damage, Yushu