It is not the name of a vietnamese military airplane or the nickname of a C.I.A. spy, but only the brand of a thai energy drink. M-150, a code which we'll remember for long time. We are few kilometers away the Soppong village (Pang Mapha), on one of the many hilltops that this winding and steep road pass over. Tired, we admire the huge forest plans that cover the landscape all around to the Myanmar border. It is late in the afternoon and the sun setting down starts to paint in gold leaves and branches, while we are drinking quickly.

The day has been one of the thoughest of our journey, not only because of the steep ascents, but also because of the humid hot we got on the road between Mae Hong Son and Pai. Drinking something fresh and sweet seems to us a god gift. The meeting with Ken give us strenght after a lot of sweat and fatigue: this big canadian with a deep voice and a fast tongue comes close to us while we are wondering whether to go further on to the village or not. At the beginning we were a little suspicious and disappointed for our interrupted quiet but after a minute Ken conquer us with his kindness and with his precious informations about the next step of road to follow. We'll meet him again few hours later in Soppong waiting for us with his thai wife in their small guest house, while planning the construction of a cooking school he wants to open with his life-mate. On our way to Chiang Mai we not only met the canadian migrant, but also an incredible event about which we had lost remembrance since Lopburi and Ayutthsys's time: rain. This time our friend Ken has had no great future vision:"We are in the dry season, it tries to rain but it doesn't for 5 months!", said him to us...and in the next two days a little storm in the high surprised us cooling down the air a lot. After the first day's fatigue, although the road climbs up and down continuosly, our legs go faster and we are able to taste completly the awsome landscapes and panoramas that the road gift us, being amazed in the morning above a see of mist that covers valleys in front of us as well as in the evening in front of a waterfall hidden inside a natural teather in the middle of a national park. Landscapes and persons, tribal villages still isolated on the hills where only a track gets to them... and then discopubs with Bob Dylan's greatest hits playing snd european beer served on the tap among the "only guesthouse" roads in Pai: this hippy town is to populated with faces similar to ours to deserve a stay longer than a day. Mass tourism has already arrived in this world edge among hills and unluckly it happens that going to visit a Karen village where Paduang women (giraffe women) you enter a circus where you have to pay to take some pictures. Digging a bit underground you can still found untouched places that elevate you spirit back and give you strong and lasting emotions.