Namhsan: End of the Road!

And off we go on a motorbike trip to the mountains of Myanmar! At 1700m, this village is surrounded by mountains covered by tea plants. It took us a while to recognise them as the plants were sparse and short, not at all like the luxuriant Malay ones. The whole village makes a living out of the tea production which is exported all over the country. A young guy explained to us that Germans and Japanese were about to visit them to see if they could import Namhsan tea.
We had the feeling of strolling in a living museum there. Wooden houses were really beautiful! We saw a tea factory where most of the work is done by hand, again far away from he Malay efficiency.

But this was the end of the road for us. On one end of the village high street, police officers blocked the road. They were wearing weapons: Kachin rebels sometimes come down over here and trouble may arise. The Kachin state is the Northern one of Myanmar. The civil war between Kachins and the government sees a long list of human abuses...But you never know, maybe one day we will be able to explore this state with our motorbike too:-)

Constructing roads by hand. Camps are set up along the road
with the poorest people used as workers and following
the road progress..

Chealsea sponsorises the best whisky!
And God knows Burmese like their whisky...

Tea plants...and the sun..the bloody sun!

Of course: the pagodas!!

Selecting tea leaves size in the factory

Same haircut:-)

Are they carrying baguettes??
No pieces of wood:-(