A toddy trip through Myanmar

Take your pick of toddy fruit at Kyauktan. — Picture by Alex Toh/TodayYANGON, June 22 —  Writing about Myanmar in 1934, George Orwell described a lively town set amid a hot, humid jungle. He told of a marketplace of locals haggling over exotic food and spices as well as sweaty expats abusing gin and whisky, keeping cool at the clubhouse.

It's often too easy for someone travelling to Yangon to get swept up in its post-colonial charm and miss out on one genuine local experience — toddy.

Toddy, for the uninitiated, is an alcoholic drink made from the juice of the toddy palm. Naturally occurring yeast acts on the sugars in the juice immediately after collection, causing fermentation and producing alcohol.

As sightings of toddy trees in Yangon are about as rare as the Loch Ness monster in Inya Lake, the only way to get hold of the authentic stuff is to seek it out at its source outside the city. Fortunately, that isn't far.

My three companions and I started our toddy trip early in the morning. Our first destination was Thanlyin, a township just across the river immediately south of Yangon. In good traffic, it's only an hour's ride by car from the city centre. We met our local toddy guide along the way, who led us by motorcycle, weaving through side streets and low-rise houses reminiscent of a Malaysian kampung.

Led through the gates of the houses, I saw the signs of a toddy restaurant tucked away in the garden on the estate, little wooden huts raised on stilts each large enough to accommodate about six to eight people.

A casual affair

If there's one thing you must know about drinking toddy, it's that it is a decidedly casual affair, and our server set the tone. He must have just woken up. Standing by the well, he called out descriptions and recommendations to us in between his morning shower. The only thing separating us and his modesty was a sarong which he kept wrapped around his waist. We picked a freshly made bottle of toddy and some delicacies of the day. Leaving him to dry off, we crawled into our hut and waited to be served.

Our toddy came in a recycled 1-litre plastic water bottle. It looked cloudy white and tasted sweet and slightly fizzy. It was altogether quite refreshing and reminded me of Makgeolli, an unfiltered light alcoholic beverage from Korea.

Our snacks arrived shortly after, consisting of some fried fish and chopped-up frog. But through some garbled translating, we were also offered some "flesh-eating chicken". I thought it best not to attempt eating something that would not be out of place in a zombie apocalypse. Retractions quickly ensued and it was soon clarified that the chicken was instead "free range". It made for tasty freshly fried and crispy morsels, which went nicely with toddy. You can't go wrong with having fried stuff with alcohol. Even for breakfast.

One fun toddy fact to note: It gives you the runs. Perhaps this is another reason toddy remains such a casual affair. Fortunately, there is a local remedy for it — fresh yogurt. It was then only a matter of calling on the itinerant hawker making her rounds. She strolled in carrying a tray of wares on her head weighing about 10kg to 15kg and laden with glasses and pots filled with freshly made yogurt. We each asked for a glass in which a sticky dark brown syrup that tasted like gula melaka was added before serving. I loved its warm sweet stickiness and gobbled down my share.

After our boozy breakfast, we decided to make our way further into the countryside.

Fellow customers at a toddy restaurant in Thanlyin. — Picture by Alex Toh/TodayThe next round

Our next destination was Kyauktan, a township 30 minutes away. Though the day was rapidly heating up, the drive was pleasant enough, taking us past wide open farms and countryside as well as stupas and other religious structures that dotted the landscape, built on the belief that doing so adds to good karma.

A turn off the road brought us to our next destination, a toddy shack on a farm. Behind and surrounding the shack, I could see shady trees interspersed with a mixture of small huts and mats laid out on dusty yellow ground. From the car park, the place seemed mostly deserted, but the further in we went, the more pockets of people we saw lounging in cosy corners, partially hidden under the trees. Soon, we found ourselves in the middle of the grove, surrounded by a hive of activity — groups of families and friends, kids running about and climbing over everything and a few teenagers lying on the floor. I felt like I was close to experiencing the real Myanmar.

It was nearing midday when we found a mat and quickly ordered more toddy and snacks. Our drink came in a large earthenware pot with a plastic cup thrown in as a makeshift ladle. On a hot day, the porous earthenware material allows for evaporation, keeping its contents cool. Bottled toddy for you? — Picture by Alex Toh/Today

Taking a sip, I was surprised at how different it was from this morning's bottle. Apparently as yeast continues its work, more sugars get eaten up and different flavours develop. By midday, the result is toddy which is less sweet and more pungent, with the benefit of a higher alcohol content.

Our snacks this round were disappointing. There was some debate over whether we had asked for a serving of "rat" or the more euphemistically correct "field mouse", but everything was chewy and tasted only of cooking oil. The rest of the day was spent drinking, chatting, and soaking in our surroundings, aided in no small amount by a nice toddy buzz. We headed back to the city a few hours later, pleased and satisfied, and glad that with a generous dose of yogurt and lactobacillus pills, it remained a pleasant ride. — Today

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/06/22/a-toddy-trip-through-myanmar/