The steep ride "among dust and holes at Myanmar border" has been an hard challenge for our legs and our V.r. 5.5 and above all for Vero's rack which has broken under the hit of disastrous thai secondary roads.

We had a new and stronger one by a kind and funny mechanic whose main job is...selling flowers!Time runs fast and the will to discover new places and horizons call us on our bikes once again, to the far north west of the country. We spend our morning writing and eating fried bananas while we are waiting for our mtbs.

When we can ride again we do it only for ten meters before stopping to taste a big dish of local pad thai.Today won't be a difficult day and we decide to follow tasting pleasures instead of the riding ones.

After thirty kilometers we are in the sleeping and small village of Mae La Noi which main attraction is the Kaew Komon Cave. Discovered in 1993 by a minerary engeneer it has various chambers covered by white calcium crystals.

To reach it, after three kilometers of up and down, you have to pay 2€ and use a local bus, with two wooden banks to sit, which complete the last and steep kilometers.

The guided tour (only in thai) is about thirty minutes but shining of the crystals is really impressing and because of this, the cave is more interesting than others in the area.

The rest of the day flows on a hilly but sweet road, nothing compared to what is waiting for us the next day. Thung Bua Thong, they tell us, is worth a day tour from the classic choice to Mae Hong Son. In this season thousands of Mexican wild sunflowers blow on the Thailand mountains and it is possible to overnight into the fields. A quick glimpse to our map reveals us the possibility to get back on the main road passing through Mae Surin National Park, but we remain in doubt when, asking around, nobody knows this alternative road. We choose sunflowers fields after watching some pictures of them in the town of Khun Yuam. Leaving early in the morning, we think, we could reach the hilltop soon and dedicate the afternoon to discover the surrounding area, but when, near a waterfall on the road, we meet an american bike-travels lover, who tell us that we still miss fifteen kilometers and they are all steep up, our illusions break down immediatly. We regret his kind proposal to give us a lift to the top, starting back to sweat under the sun getting hotter.

Sunflowers already grow wild next to the road and the fields are full of red tomatoes. While we are climbing air cools down and when we arrive at the visitor centre, the afternoon is almost finished. Another terrific snatch takes us into the heart of the yellow landscape. Although many touristic vans, the view fills our eyes and hearts and we set our tent happy for the choice made. We admire the sunset among mist that surrounds the mountain peaks of this chain which is the ultimate stretch of the Himalayan range where Doi Inthanon emerges with its 2565 meters. We didn't know yet the next day the new Vero's rack would have been tested seriously into Mae Surin National Park.

Little further the waterfall that drew as a road on the maps is nothing but a track into the forest...Moreover monsoon provided to worsten it. We push bicycles up and ride down like two turtles until we finally can fly downhill to Mae Hong Son. Climbs without traffic in an enchanted environment, challenging paths for veterans mountain bikers and funny descents in touch with Nature...what can you ask over to a bike journey?