Our first stop after leaving bagan was a toddy palm farm. We were shown all aspects of the process and the other agricultural products of the area. The fields appeared to be fallow and we couldn't work out was the crops were. The soil is sandy and suitable for peanuts,sesame and sunflowers. Toddy palms provide a juice that can be tapped by climbing the trees it's pots and a big sharp knife. We've seen them in Sri Lanka where they have a rope network in the trees to move from tree to tree but here they jump! The juice can be boiled down to produce a brown sugar which can be mixed with nuts,ginger,tamarind to produce sweets or if left to its own devices will ferment to make toddy,a beer like drink. This can then be distilled to make a spirit like raki. Naturally we tasted everything. We then started climbing up to mount Popa,a highly important mountain temple complex which is a centre for the veneration of Nats,supernatural animist beings. 1000 steps lead you up a sheer rock face to a collection of ornate shrines. At over 4000 feet it is a bit cooler and the air fresher than in the river valley below. As the mountain is an extinct volcano the land is very fertile and tropical crops are grown. A long journey across the central plain followed interrupted by lunch and a beer in what appeared to be a service station for a new road that we crossed. Soon the road really started climbing and for two or three hours we had endless hairpin bends on a road built by the british in colonial times and only now getting upgraded which meant we were held up on several occasions. The road is the only main road into Shan province and on to thailand so was very busy with buses and lorries. As soon as we were up in the highlands the crops changed again to rice,cabbages and even a rose nursery! we arrived at dusk,had time to freshen up,find the atm wouldn't work and dinner. We went to a nepali restaurant which was packed and really enjoyed our mutton and chicken curries.It made a change to have a chapati from the rice/noodles we've had in the last few days.