A road trip to Namhsan

February 15, 2012

In most of Burma it has been impossible to rent a Moto (Motor/bike or scooter).  But not in Hsipaw.  In fact, not only are we able to rent  motos, we can take them out on the open road to other towns.  Everywhere else, even if you can rent a bike, you can't take it out of town.  (Reasonably so, the owners of the motos want to keep track of where they are and most of the time require a passport to insure their  safe and sound return)

So....  Road trip!  Lao and I rented a couple of bikes and set out for Namhsan.  (Lao is the friend I met on the train)

Namhsan is a small tea town in the hills about 5 hours north of Hsipaw.  About half the trip is poorly paved... the other half  is rough gavel/rock to dirt track road.  

The road was long, bumpy and extremely dusty. Fun for the first four hours or so but that last hour I was looking forward to getting to our destination.

Namhson is a town that straddles the crest of a ridge.  There is one road that follows the ridge with buildings on either side and then it drops off from there.

The air is cold and dry this time of year. There is no need for air conditioning since it only warms up for a few hours during the middle of the day.   Our accommodation is basic... there is only one guest house in town... we share a room with twin beds and a shared bath. The bath is down the stairs and along a veranda past the wash sinks on the outside of the building.  You can find it by following the distinctive oder...  Cold water shower available if you need some distraction.  When it comes to showers... nothing says GET THE JOB DONE like a cold shower on a cold day.

In the Morning we warm our hands over hot coals in a bowl on the floor.

 The town roles up and down as it follows the ridge. Life here is simple.

Salt

We visit a tea processing plant and learn about "Pickled Green Tea"  the specialty of the region.

Only the new "green" leaves are picked.

The green leaves are packed into a special barrel that is then placed over a steam pipe.

After the leaves are steamed they are placed into a rolling machine that gives them a wadded/rolled appearance.

Ater being steamed and rolled the tea leaves are separated on a large vibrating separation table the larger leaves are then placed into plastic bags to ferment for about one or two months, while the smaller leaves are used for making green tea. 

After fermentation the "Pickled Tea" is spread out on bamboo matts and placed in the sun to dry.

Typically served as a side dish pickled tea can be found at the table of most meals.

After viewing the process we sat down to a cup of green tea and honey rice cakes.

The owners grandson

The kitchen where our tea was prepared.

In the evening we drove to the highest peak in the area to see the pagodas and the view.

We made our way back the next day, both glad we had made the trip but tired and definitely needing a shower.  I literally had to wash everything including my backpack and camera bag.