Up and ready for my ride at 8:30. We head immediately out of town, toward our first stop, Salay. This is the largest town I’ve been to thus far, and it shows in the variety and size of markets. There are plaster buildings and indoor food markets – Internet cafes! We hop out and down a dusty side street to my favorite spot – the outdoor food market. We cross up and down the alleys, me asking for identification of baskets of dried or prepared foods. The stand where woman are serving food are of course, my favorites. What’s that? What’s she putting in there? What kind of noodles are those? Most common is either the soup with all kinds of toppings or the salad. Today I watch as she tosses from a tray containing piles of shredded cabbage, sprouts and other greens into a stainless steel bowl (kind of like at Mad Greens), then squirts in a variety of sauces, topped with sprinklings of peanuts and mixes it all by hand.
I am practically foaming at the mouth! My guide, who is starting to get the hang of this now, asks the woman if I can try a bite. She acquiesces and
I enjoy a crispy mouthful of juicy veggies, marinated with essence of peanuts and a spicy kick at the end. I know I must give him a puppy-dog look, but he says only one bite or my belly may not like it. I don’t know if I believe him or not, but I let it go.
We continue on and ooh…..what are all these fried things in the big bowl? He explains one by one and we get a bag of samples.
It’s kind of scary how he and she touch half the stuff in there picking some out. No wonder their stomachs can tolerate so much bacteria! I sink my teeth into fried fritters with green veggies, or chilis munching a rice cake (like a pancake, not that dry, nasty diet stuff at home) all the while. Oh, gotta stop and buy some fried honey treats from the Indian woman and some sticky rice snacks wit banana as well. And a bag of peanuts, please?
We make our way out of the market and back into the car. I gleefully sample all the treats and am happy to report that very little was as yummy as I’d imagined. The fritters were good, but after a few bites, it was enough grease. The peanuts were good – I wonder why we don’t get peanuts like that at home? Could it be because ours are pumped full of pesticides and such to make them super-big? Or is this just a cute, little, extra crunchy variety? I’m going to check the Asian market when I return to see what’s what.
We head up the road a bit and stop at the monastery which has been converted into a small museum, detailing some of the original artwork and building art from the 11th century.
As well, across the street is a very small building that houses a very large lacquered Buddha that was found in the local river. This is not your mom’s Buddha – this is a large, 20 foot by 8 foot Buddha that someone somehow misplaced in the river? When found, it was still in the black lacquered state, so it was finished off with gold leaf and settled into this building. Amazing!
On the road again, we drive for close to an hour to Mt. Popa, one of the two largest “peaks” in central Myanmar (at a mind-blowing 4500 feet above sea level). A lot to observe in the countryside on the way: the predominance of bamboo housing; some with long, bushy roofs like palapas in Mexico and others, with more elegantly woven mats that have been put together for side walls and/or rooftops. Once in a while there is a corrugated metal roof and about one half of the houses are elevated or on stilts – I guess for the rainy/monsoon season. We pass a lot of open fields, which my guide says have already been harvested so are lying fallow. We even pass women drying chilis in the sun (the chilis were raised across the street and down in the valley along the river). They sort through the pile, and then load up a basket atop their heads, then sprinkle the chilis out of the basket into a single layer that lies out to dry in the sun before taking to market. The women were delightful.
And their home, on the side of the field:
Plenty of what looks like dried river beds as well. I am told that the dirt is built up to enable the rainy season run-off to stay in a narrow channel. In answer to my question, they do not really try to capture rainwater for their own use (abundant access to wells), but might capture for the cattle. I don’t really see much cattle, although later we do come upon sheep and goat herds.
As we get closer to Mt. Popa, we climb up the mountain and I notice that there are some houses made from plaster and a few quite a bit nicer than any I’ve seen. Evidently there is money in this town! We wind around and get to the top, and I’m reminded somewhat of Darjeeling. Little mountain stores and cafes, a Temple atop a ridge (as shown in the movie Samsara),
and monkeys! When we head up the 800+ stairs to the top, there are monkeys everywhere trying to pick up every bit of trash and possible foodstuff. I look up and notice the wire blocking off their entry to the framework that holds up the stairwell roof, and the guide tells me that monkeys used to sit up there and then pull off people’s hats and cause general mischief and mayhem. Ha!
I walk up through the tschotschke shops and steep stairs to the top.
Everything in the distance is hazy – not excellent for pictures – and I remember it’s the dusty season. More rooms with gold Buddhas and other spirit statues, and all with money stuck into their ears, necks, etc etc.
Mt. Popa is considered special for the spirits that live there, as well as for paying tribute to Buddha and make wishes for health and success. Some things are universal, I suppose.
A look around
and it’s back down the stairwell.
At the bottom, I am careful to stretch out my calf muscles a bit. They’ve just taken something of a beating – like going up Red Rocks a few times! Into the car and in a few minutes, we stop for lunch. The guide and driver eat outside with the others, and the restauranteur provides free lunch for them. A large group of Japanese tourists are just finishing up, and for about 15 minutes I have the place to myself (then the German bus arrives). I order hot and sour tofu and fried cauliflower, steamed rice (I get a mystified look when i ask about brown rice) and fresh pineapple juice. Mmmmmm. I am expecting “hot” to mean “yowch”. but only vaguely spicy.
I use plenty of the ubiquitous garlic sauce too!
When I’m filled to the brim, when take the hour drive back to the hotel. My guide (and yes, as you’ve figured out by now, I have no idea what his name is and of course too late to politely ask) points out where they are processing petroleum and even where they are building the pipeline to send it all to China. Those wily Chinese have bought futures from every major oil producer to fuel their growth for how many years into the future? Once at the hotel, I gather a bit more money, then we head back to the lacquer shop, where I purchase a few teacups to bring home to the fam. Then we hit an Internet cafe (actually two, but the first was closed due to power outage) and I attempt to upload pictures, fans. I upload one to get a feel for how long it takes and go through my whole chip to note which numbers I’d like to post on the blog. When I finish that, after 30 minutes, that first picture hasn’t finished uploading. Sorry, gang, no time for that nonsense. Not ’til I get home.
Back to the hotel, where I sit riverside and enjoy a lovely (but still hazy) sunset, catch up on the blog, and suck down a couple of (yay!) cold iced teas. Pack up, shower, and get ready for my 6:40 am pick-up. Flight at 8:05 to Heho, where Ms. Valerie Finberg will have arrived 15 minutes earlier. So excited!