Outside Pai: Papaya dream come true

The night before I left Pai I dreamt I was eating fresh sliced papaya.

The next morning I set off in search of a waterfall on my way back to Chiang Mai I and drive past a farm with a sign on the road that reads "Land Split". A smiling Thai man just inside the gate ushers me in to park my bike and sit at a covered wood table outside. Still smiling, always smiling, he comes up and sets a bowl of fresh bananas and a glass of iced roselle juice on the table before me. "Free" he says. How curious...

The otherworldly roselle buds used to make sweet juice, jam, wine - all sorts of tasty stuff

I think free bananas and juice are just great as is, but then this farmer man hurries back from his little shack with three more bowls in his arms and sets them before me: one with boiled sweet potatoes, another of thin banana chips, and the last filled with a sweet roselle jam. Glorious! I hardly have a chance to sample these new additions when this dude is back with four more bowls!! The first is topped with ripe tamarind pods, the second contains a weird yet tasty sour tamarind spread, and the third holds a pile of peanuts for good measure. The fourth dish is literally the bowl of my dreams; brimming with what else but bright orange freshly sliced papaya!! My dream has come true. 

A feast fit for a Thai king

What is this wondrous farm magic he wields?! If all of that isn't enough, and it clearly is, the jolly farmer returns one last time with a small bottle of cold, deep pink roselle wine. What a spread! With one arm he motions towards the farmland before us and that explains it all. Every dish that comprises this colorful feast comes fresh from the soil not thirty feet in front of me. I eat to the point of stuffage, every dish is delicious and frsh2dth. Of course I make a donation to the farm and jot down my thanks and dream realization in the guestbook. Such a generous and delicious setup, this place.

On the farm I encounter the most enormous, handsome rooster I've ever seen. You can tell by the way he struts that he runs the place.

Seen just outside of Pai: Kids crawl inside giant transparent beach balls that float in a pond while puppies run around shore. In real life.

On the road from Pai to Chiang Mai there are 762 curves. Before I embark on this windy path I stop and explore a serene little waterfall and a strange miniature canyon. I want to see everything, all the time!

Sexy waterfall tries to seduce me into taking a dip in it's pool. Not today, waterfall, far too much to see.

Wee little tadpool, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Pai Canyon juts out like a reptilian spine winding different paths through the valley. I walk along crest and drink in the silence.