Malcolm and Christine Clark are cycling the 12,000 miles from Farnham to their home in New Zealand.This is the latest dispatch from the Kiwis on Bikes.

AFTER a long, hot and very dry time in India with no monsoon we made our way across the border back to Nepal.

The laidback Nepalese approach to life contrasted sharply to that of the intense Indian behaviour we had grown used to over the past six months.

Our reason for returning to Nepal was to try and gain access to Tibet to enable our continued progress across to Yunnan province in China.

We crossed the Terai, an area of Nepal, which was once a larger part of the northern Indian sub-continent. It is now quite populated and supplying a large amount of food to meet the needs of Nepal.

At this time the Maoist guerillas had increased their level of attacks on government establishments. These affected us by the frequency of road checkpoints, curfews at night and in some cases being awoken in the middle of the night by armed soldiers wearing night vision goggles trying to establish your identity.

It was a bit easy when you are the only "gora" (foreigner) in town but nonetheless intimidating.

We made our way slowly but surely back to Kathmandu which we now treated as our second home due to the length of time we have spent there.

After catching up with friends it was time to focus on re-entry to China via Tibet notoriously problematic for individuals especially cyclists. To travel this way, you must have a Tibetan permit and a Chinese-approved guide, which adds much expense and restriction to the adventure.

However after 20 days of planning and bicycle and equipment preparation we had the necessary paperwork and a promise of no guide after our third day in Tibet.

The climb up to the border was tough but we had the advantage of having come this route after our Western Tibet adventure in 2001.

Bidding goodbye to our guide in Nyalam, we were free to continue at our own pace and held the necessary paperwork to keep us legal until Lhasa.

The Friendship Highway is quite populated by Tibetan standards and is very popular with tourists looking for that elusive frontier. Although extremely arduous going from 1,400 metres to a height of 5,220 metres and crossing eight high passes, the route was easily doable with a combination of guest houses, road-workers camps and of course our own mobile home - the tent.

Tourism has affected the Tibetans considerably. Privileged tourists - those having being born in wealthy countries - often indiscriminately give sweets, pens and other small gifts creating a donor/beggar syndrome.

However we still found this stretch very rewarding given the natural beauty and the distinct lifetstyle of the Tibetans who exist in a very harsh environment.

This route was much more fertile and farmed than that of Western Tibet.

After 18 days of cycling and seven days off the bike sightseeing, we rolled into Lhasa for the mandatory photo call in front of the imposing and magnificent Potala.

Lhasa provided us with the delights of Buddhist culture especially the monasteries at Sera and Deprung. However the East was soon calling us.

Due to the restrictive nature and exorbitant cost of travel in this Chinese-administered area, we decided to do what many other cyclists attempt and cross Eastern Tibet without official permission.

From Lhasa life on the road was normal in the cycling sense but supply buying and crossing certain checkpoints and towns became midnight to early morning exercises that made us feel like fugitives.

Eastern Tibet is much more fertile and has a diverse range of landscape which is undeniably stunning. Although the high passes and mountains never leave you, the trees even become subtropical in places.

The local Tibetans were far more natural given the absence of tourists and we were struck by their generosity and hospitality given the little they possess. By the time we reached Zhongdian, which is in Yunnan province, we were legal aliens once again and could kick back and enjoy our freedom.

From here we made our way down to the ancient city of Old Dali. After this, it was farewell to Tibet and Ni Hao to China.

What a contrast. Every day the countryside became gobbled up by fields and communities that made us feel that we were riding through one huge market garden. After the delights of Dali, which retains much of old China with its city walls and pagodas, we next aimed for Kunming, our biggest developed city since Europe. Here we would be able to obtain visas for Vietnam and Laos, our next countries on our sojourn across the world.

Kunming was bright and glitzy with low level (seven floors due to building restrictions) high-rise buildings.

Carrefour hypermarche, McDonalds, KFC and even B&Q were there. However if you look beyond the main streets you can still see the old way of life continuing regardless of progress.

With the necessary visas stamped in our passports, we made our way towards the Vietnam border. Our overnight stops, due to the intense cultivation, became truckstops and cheap guesthouses.

Our brief time in China was extremely rewarding and we found ourselves changing our previous views of the Chinese. We found them to be generous, friendly and really good fun despite the obvious language barrier. Just like all of us, the people of China don't necessarily reflect the policies of their government.

So keep checking on http://www.kiwisonbikes.com">www.kiwisonbikes.com for our current position as we creep ever closer to New Zealand.

Thanks once again to the Fosters, Downing Street Cobblers and MJ Wallace and Associates (dentists of Aldershot) for their sterling efforts in helping to raise funds for our chosen charity, the Gray Cancer Institute, a UK based cancer research organisation.