I slept a little, curled up on two seats and then the night gave way to the premature amber mantle of dawn. Roused, I peered sleepily from the window towards the unfolding envelope of the visible world outside. As if from nothing, the glowing light was born, and the freezing deserts of Arabia below the plane came into being.

The day came early and soon we landed in Bahrain. Stout tankers hurried to and fro, trying to slake the worlds frenzied thirst for energy, that thirst in turn feeding the hazy metropolis that sat there, sweating in the desert. No trees or rivers or mountains. Just the sea and the sands and dappled shallows, over which the plane glided lazily, which were scarred here and there by the trails of some carelessly piloted boats.

After two hours sat in the terminal building watching pristinely attired arabic oilmen in their brilliant white creased 'thobes', and shuffling, portly women wrapped in black, some totally concealed from view, others indignant as their tetchy husbands who pointing fingers at flight gates, and ordered them around, albeit discretely. I watched and felt irritated and tired. There was not an ounce of joy in that hall, or even a laugh.

I took off for Kathmandu with a couple of hundred Nepali workers who were returning from the gulf states with new tv's, leather jackets and shoes and watches. They talked and joked, and as the gigantic mountains of the Himalaya crept into view to the north-east I started at last to feel the simple warmth of Nepal, so faint but unmistakeable. It has taken a day for these most well-natured of peoples to warm my frozen British heart to a sub-continental temperature and I bask in the smelly chaos of this extraordinary city, once again. There are a few tourists, and pretty much everything is as it was when I left in April last year. I meant to return within three months, but I got snarled up in all sorts of complications in Europe. But now it is good to see all my good friends again, to arrive unannounced and surprise them. I have spent a day or two fixing up my dusty bike and installing some components I brought over from Europe. I can't tell you how good it feels to be back on the saddle and path again, and to be reunited with my silver steed. She hasn't a name yet, so any ideas will be appreciated.

Tomorrow I am off to the Gorkha region for a week or so, to join my friends who are continuing their project around Nepal. I don't know what they are doing, but I think it has to do with communities who suffer through the serious landslides that can so often bury a whole village when the soft ground is cleared for agriculture and becomes so vulnerable to rain and erosion. I am sure it will involve some hard mountain walking and a lot of music, but until then it is goodbye from Kathmandu and I. Please go and give a pound or so to the Disasters Emergency Commission, as they are trying to alleviate the great suffering of the people in Gaza. Right or wrong isn't important now I guess, just less suffering is better. I know people asking for money can be tedious, but maybe it will help them. The link is on http://www.dariusrideshome.com, or http://www.justgiving.com/dariusrideshome2