Literature Puzzle

Hello from Germany,

from which cycling-book is the follwing extract:
In the dingy teahouse of the Tibetan guesthouse I bump into two Germans and a Dutch woman whor are cycling in the opposite direction. Whoosh! They have a tailwind, the lucky bastards. The Dutch woman has a litany of horror-stories to tell - getting caught out on freezing passes without sufficient cold-weather gear; getting sick from the altitude on the push up from Nepal; being refused a place to stay by road-maintenance crews. Close to Gyantse, the two German gentlemen overtook her, and joined her for the ride in. The Germans make cycling in Tibet sound like a picnic in Bavaria. One of the has come all the way from Europe - through Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal. After this, he says, matter-of-factly, it`s off to Japan, then Alaska, all the way down the west coast of the Americas to Tierra del Fuego, zip across Africa, and then a little jaunt back up Africa to Germany. Ho hum...He yawns loudly.
Does somebody know the book?

Velomade

Hint: the author was born in England and raised in Australia.

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Next hint:

this book was first published in Vancouver/Canada!

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Hints summary:
published in 1988 in Vancouver/Canada by an english-born author. He was also co-author of one Lonely Planet guide-book, which was called Green Bible among the travellers.

Velomade

Here is one of the last hints: the title of the mentioned travel-guide-book is China a Travel Survival Kit , which was first published in the mid 80s.

Velomade

The last hint:
the first name of the author is Michael
a chinese city is mentioned in the title

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Solution:
the title of this book is CYCLING TO XIAN and other excursions by Michael Buckley, Publisher Crazyhorse Press Vancouver/Canada - ISBN 0969337000

Velomade