Short Cuts

ONE FOR THE ROAD Aside from tourism, Pagan’s main industry is the confection of jaggery, or palm sugar. Hundreds of small palm plantations crowd the Pagan Plain, each tended by a family that taps its livelihood from high up in the fronds. The thin, sweet sap is boiled down in large vats to make a dark, flavorful sugar sold at roadside stands. But for the real treat, look beyond the woven palm baskets filled with the golden lumps for the flask bottles of potent palm toddythe sap that is collected in the afternoon, after fermenting all day in the sun. Unrefined, it is a refreshing, effervescent and tangy beer. Distilled, it makes an earthy moonshine that mixes well with a shot of soda and a squeeze of lime.

PILGRIM’S PROGRESS Burmese artist Ma Thanegi’s delightful book, The Native Tourist: In Search of Turtle Eggs, is a humorous account of her 18-day pilgrimage to Burma’s major Buddhist sites. Her witty observations provide colorful insights into the lives of the practical-minded Burmese who combine religious fervor, holiday making and trade when they go on the road. You can find it in Rangoon bookstores and souvenir shops.