Fittingly, we started at a Chinese noodle factory, where the only activity was the setting out of the noodles to dry...
because the day before had been Chinese New Year. There were traces of the celebration in front of some buildings.
We learned the Shan for "hello" - mai sum ka (phonetic) - and used it liberally as we strolled through the villages, invariably prompting smiling responses...
I was again taken by the architecture of the homes.
They really look livable, tho quite humble.
We stopped by a blacksmith shop...
which had a cool bellows (you pull and push the handle on the tube on the left)...
as well as fire protection from both an ancient extinguisher and a Nat plant offering, side by side.
There were the usual Nat towers, which are built before the village is formed...
as well as this Nat flag pole at the edge of a field...
and a larger structure (at the highest point in the village), with horses...
carved by this man (eating lunch)...
And there were other village crafts in view, such as this semi-mechanized mud block operation...
bamboo fan making....
basket weaving...
and cigar making.
We took a break for lunch and then went to the Hsi Paw town Nat, which is a sizable complex with both Shan and Myanmar shrines.
And there were some intriguing drums in the Shan Nat...
which we also had seen elsewhere (e.g. over the shoulder of the carver's wife, in the pic above above).
We finished the day by being chauffeured to a sunset viewpoint, where there was a pagoda...
and great views...
especially of the sunset.
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