Popa Taungkalat Monastery? Curious we join a day tour.

Elbows, shoulders and knees collide in our overloaded van.

"Another car coming," our driver assures us.

His friend pulls up. Full car. 

$2 discount to the brave soul willing to ride in the trunk.

Quiets the complaining.

The van stops where an ox powers a grinder. 

Palm sap boils and dries into clumps of tasty jaggery. 

Jaggery and sticky rice ferment for two days, then are boiled and distilled to create toddy wine with a kick.

Our guide reappears and soon Mount Popa's volcanic plug stands tall, erupting with golden stupas.

***

Thank you for reading. Would anyone have taken the trunk ride? 

I've included an external link that gives more information about the harvesting of palm sap and making of htanyet (jaggery) and htan yay (toddy wine) - and yes we were offered samples. We took the jaggery and spent the rest of the trip trying to buy more. 

If you're a traveler, this is part of a day trip from Bagan and on the way to Mount Popa. The next drabble will explore the monastery in more detail.