Going up the mountain

It's going to be quite a challenge to write this blog from now on as the iPad screen has developed dead spots and so typing is very slow...

The road to mt.Popa is long, straight and undulating, 'up, down, mostly up'.  It was also already getting very warm, despite our early start. So it was a relief when the palm sugar plantations came into sight and we could stop for a visit.

First we saw how peanut or sesame oil was extracted.  I'm sure there are much more efficient, and quicker, ways to do the job.  But for now it's just a man, a bullock and lots of walk around in circles...

There are many different varieties of  palm tree ( over 2,500 actually according to Wiki) and this one is the type grown for the extraction of palm sugar. 

The plant stem of the female fruit is cut and the sap harvested.

Small clay pots are hung under the cut part of the tree and the farmer climes up each day to collect the sap.

This is then slowly heated in large open pans until it has evaporated and a sticky mass is left. Sometimes extra flavourings are added such as freshly grated coconut or ginger, tamarin or plum. Whatever the flavour is is highly addictive....trust me, I speak from experience!

See the little baskets?  Yes I indulged my vice once again. ;-)

The sap is also mixed with water and other flavourings and put through a distillation process to produce a 40% proof toddy.  Pretty lethal!  See how they distill and bottle in the lower left photograph? Whiskey bottles!

This is a family run operation and I just loved the swinging cradle hung between two poles in the shade.  There's no paid maternity leave here, so the children are kept close.

 

Green tea and a condiments tray consisting of freshly grated ginger, fresh green tea leaves, sesame seeds and spiced lentils are traditional offered to visitors in a Burmese home.

Anyway we couldn't put off the cycling any longer, we had more miles to cover.  This is a fast group, all much stronger than me, so I try my best at the back.  Someone has to be last don't they?!

The top left photograph shows you where we are heading, the pagoda at the top of Mt. Popa.  But first we stop off to look at some Nats (spirits).

These highly stylised and colourful statues/models leave me baffled and bemused in equal measure.

As does the display of 37 Nats at the base of the mountain.  Frequent nat pwes (spirit ceremonies) are held in their honour.  See the chap on the horse in the top right photograph?  That's Ko Gyi Kyaw, patron Nat of tramps and alcoholics.  He's adorned with whiskey bottles because he was a heavy drinker and the vice took him prematurely to his grave!

The little cub can just be spied peeping out from beneath the skirts of another Nat standing next to the tiger.

There are 777 steps to the top of Mt. Popa ( not that I counted them, that's what it says in the trip notes!) and you run the gauntlet of entrepreneurs, flogging all manner of tourist tat, and marauding monkeys!  

The pagoda at the top had many stupas, Buddhas and shrines, plus bells. Love the bells and the gentle tinkling in the breeze.

It also afforded a fine view of the countryside and the route we had just cycled.

Interestingly, in common with other shrines, list of benefactors are recorded for public perusal.  Look who donated 25000.000 (about£15,000). I wonder what his good deeds were?

But at least we know what Derek Plamer got for his birthday, a new umbarella.  Not the rainy weather kind I suspect, but the highly ornate affair that sits on the top of a stupa!

So there was one last dong of the bell - love the decoration on this one, don't you?

and it was time to brave the attentions of the monkeys and climb down the 777 stairs to reclaim our shoes and go for lunch.