On the way our guide stopped at a place where locally grown peanuts were being ground to produce oil – the mechanism looked mediaeval and was powered by an ox plodding in a circle.
At the same place they were collecting palm sugar juice and from that producing a fermented drink which was then distilled into a pure spirit and combined with honey to become a sort of liqueur. We saw the various stages happening – again completely ramshackle equipment – and were able to taste the products.
Another stop was to take a walk through a farming village – it felt like Europe must have been 500 years ago. Houses in small compounds with chickens, pigs, dogs and oxen wandering about. Dirts roads and paths, no electricity or running water. Lots of children running around. But there were fruit trees, palm trees, well-tended fields with obviously fertile soil so overall the environment looked quite pleasant, although life is probably quite hard.
The monument at Mount Popa itself is quite a sight – an enormous volcanic plug with a pagoda on the top. It’s quite a climb up but worth it for the views. This particular place is a major place for believers in the Nats. On the way up there are many shrines devoted to them and it was useful to have our guide tell us about them and how they fit into the overall Buddhist beliefs.
And afterwards we went for lunch to the Mount Popa resort hotel nearby, carefully located so that the restaurant offers a spectacular view back to the rock.
One thing we noticed with locals generally is that they often don’t pronounced the final consonant when they are speaking English – so “monk” sounds like “mun” and and “hotel” sounds like “hoteh”. This is OK, but I confess I was confused for a moment when the guide was telling us about the Buddha, before he commenced his serious meditation, spending a lot of his time “hore-riding” with his friends in the forest……………
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