THAILAND - Pai - Part 3

I woke up mid morning not too eager but wanted to get some important things done before I went exploring. First thing on my agenda was going to a travel shop and buying a but ticket to the Laos border and then buying a 2-day boat ticket for my journey into Laos itself. It would be 3 full days to get to the heart of Laos but everyone told me it would be well worth it. So I took my bike and road to the well know travel shop and bought my ticket no problem. I had a pretty sad looking receipt so hopefully it was legit. While I waited in line, the child of the front desk lady was running around and ramming his head into my body. He was very playful and I went along with it. After a few minutes I was holding his hands and spinning him across the room. He was laughing uncontrollably.  I missed having so many of these encounters. Although I got cut in line a bunch of times I would never forget playing with this kid. Well worth it. After my next leg of the journey was carefully thought out I hopped on my scooter and followed Etiens map to the hidden organic farm in the country side. The drive was dry and windy on a back road. There were a lot of leaves falling in front of me and others enjoying a nice ride. I saw the sign for an organic family run farm that served free samples! So I parked my bike as 2 other men were parking theres, and to be honest struggling a little bit which was funny. I crossed the road from the man made lake that offered tubing, but it looked very dirty... At the farm stand I was greeted by a nice young lady who offered me a table to sit down on and a platter of free samples. She poured me a glass of homemade hibiscus red wine and showed me to my table. I sat down and she quickly ran back to prepare my platter. As she brought it over I had a full array of goodies placed in front of me. Plantain chips, dried tamari with salt and sugar, hibiscus jam, peanuts, banana, and sweet potato. And it was all soooo good and fresh, and FREE! I had multiple refills of food and wine, but then things got a little weird when this local guy sat down across from me and wouldn't leave me to eat in peace. He just stared at me for 30 minutes watching me eat, then insisted I take a picture of him as well a picture of me. I just to shrug it off, but I got more and more uncomfortable so I got up and left to explore the farm and the huge crack in the earth that was created by an earthquake only a few years ago. I followed the path up a steep dry dirt path which came to the top of the farm and there was a clear sharp crack that formed a mini valley below me. There was signs describing the event that had occured here and it was a very interesting and different experience from what I have seen so much of here in Thailand. I walked down the side of the crack and stubbled into the valley. I walked through the overgrown path until I reach the end of the crack and hiked back up. I continued on the path to loop around and view the rest of the farm. The day was very smokey still from all the burning of the sugar fields. I walked again amongst the avocado trees and other fruits, was very inspiring to start a garden of my own. I got back to the farm and felt bad about eating all their food for free so I bought a jar of their homemade hibiscus jam and some bananas, I also left them a donation. But before I left I stopped to pet there adorable little puppy dogs that just laid around the property. They were covered in mange and bugs, but still very cute, I just felt bad for them. After I spotted the old man coming towards me again I left, to avoid weird awkward silence again. I got on my bike and headed down the road further to find a waterfall. The road got steeper and windier. It got a little scary at some points because my brakes weren't the best. Using my map I sort of got the idea of where this waterfall was. I parked my bike on this sharp curve with a dirt pull out and there was a few other bikes there as well. I started up the path and passed a local family that took the day to explore as well. They were leaving so I had the whole place to myself. The path traversed this cut out section of the mountain and turned into a bridge that crossed the gorge and lead into a tall gorge with a small waterfall. It wasn't the rainy season yet so the waterfall features weren't as extravagant as I thought they would be. But I hopped on the rocks protruding out of the calm water and turned the corner to glance at the waterfall. I took the time to sit on this tiny rock and meditate a little at the silence. I felt a little lonely right now but I used it to my advantage and catch up on my thoughts and feelings. I heard 2 couples coming up the path below and I gathered my stuff to head back down again. I said hi to them as I past them and gave them my opinion of the site, not much but still beautiful. At the bike I had a huge hill to climb up to make my way to a "Bamboo Bridge". It was a long journey and I kept doubting myself but I continued anyway. I then came to a fork in the road and thankfully made the right turn and pulled into a dirt parking lot for a small little restaurant. I saw some folks sitting and drinking on this patio but I passed them and found the beginning to the bamboo bridge that hovered over a huge rice field with lots of water buffalo grazing beneath it. I walked on this ricady bridge until I reach a stopping point where you could feed koi fish in the pond beneath you with a donation. The donation box gave money to kids to go to school, I least I hope it did. I fed the fish for a while which was surprisingly very calming and meditative, I could see why monks do this a lot. The fish got very violent with each other trying to eat. I kept walking further towards a round-a-bout with a decorated pole in the middle. I walked around it and tried to get the buffalos attention below me, it was fun to just watch them grazing. After snapping  few pictures I wanted to head back to try and find a memorial bridge of some sort and see Pai Canyon. On my way I passed huge farmland where I saw elephants tied up to front porches of locals homes as pets. They looked very sad and hurt. I felt bad but some tourist support this kind of behavior. Sad indeed. I stopped to check and see if I was headed in the right direction and sure enough I was close to Pai Canyon. My little motor bike crawled up the mountain to a dirt pull out full of bikes and little shacks selling water and food. I ignored all the vendors and brought my pack of goodies to hike into the canyon. Everyone was in groups, but I was a loner, I didn't mind though. I walked up some stairs and got to the top of this hill that overlooks the entire valley of Pai and the steep walls of the canyon dropped far down. I hiked around the area where not many people were surprisingly. The trail was steep and dangerous in some parts, but that didn't stop me from climbing in my sandals. After wandering around I sat down and pulled out my notebook to draw and write a little bit as I watched the sun lower into the sky and the colors change. More tourists showed up as the colors got more and more vibrant. I sat up from sitting and minded my own business as people crowded my view of the valley. I introduced myself to a Norwegian circus performer. He had a hula hoop with him and did some pretty amazing stunts in front of me and I help video tape him for some movie he was making. After that 2 guys kept catching my eye since they were glancing at me here and there. I finally introduced myself to them because I had a feeling they wanted to talk to me, sure enough one of them named Stephan from Switzerland. He had bright red hair and a freckle face, a very pretty man I thought. His friend was tan and looked Hispanic and they kept having me guess there ethnicity. The tricked me a few times but finally admitted they were both from Switzerland. They sat down next to me and out down there cameras to really enjoy the sight with me. We laughed at some girls forcing their boyfriends to get the perfect shot. After the sun was below the distant hills, Stephan asked me to join them for dinner at the night market. I had no plans for my last night in Pai so I said yes. I followed them back to their bikes and we joked all the way. They were very funny and they had a stuffed toy fox on their backpack that I asked why they had it with them. They told me they won it at an arcade when they first started traveling and decided to take a picture of it all around the world. Cool idea I thought, the fox has its own social media accounts which is really funny. When I saw their bikes my mouth dropped. They were really nice really big bikes. Better than some I find in the US. I asked them why they had such nice bikes and they told me they have been traveling on bike through Thailand and wanted the best and most safe ride, which I understand. But I was a little embarrassed to get on my bike after seeing theirs. But I told them I would follow them to get gas first and then go to the night market. On the road, my bike could not keep up at all with their speed. They were making fun of me going so slow and doing wheelies and tricks around me. Hard to take them serious with a toy fox on their back though... We finally got to a gas station were we went inside to get some water, but we got distracted in the candy aisle. We were pointing out our countries candy and I told them that I like Toblerone from Switzerland and they told me they like Hersheys from the US. We laughed over the fact that we dislike our own country's chocolate. After talking some we decided to buy the chocolate and enjoy it outside on the curb. We then hoped on the bikes and continued into town to park our bikes. We walked around the market and tried to find food. First stop was coconut pancakes which we shared and were delicious. The next food we ate was sushi, which I tried not to think of how unsafe it was but it did look appetizing... After I made them try Durian, the smelliest fruit in the world. I didn't like the raw version but I liked the candy. Their faces were really funny while they ate it. I gave the rest of my fruit to a random stranger that wanted to try it as well. The locals laughed at us as we laughed at ourselves for doing such a gross thing. At the end of the night we just shopped around and talked. I got to know them a lot and they got to know me pretty well. The gave me props for traveling alone. We exchanged contact info since we were both leaving different ways the next morning early. They invited me back to sleep at their hotel but I passed on that since I didn't want to go to a complete strangers place and leave all my stuff at the hostel unattended. I hugged them goodbye at our bike as a thunder storm started shitting rain on us. Before I went home I went into a gas station to try and find peanut butter before I traveled the next day, and I finally found it! So I went back to my hostel and packed my things and double checked I had my travel arrangements all in order. I was ready to leave Pai and Thailand in general, but something really weird would happen the next day, that would change the rest of my trip in the best way possible.