Palm Sugar
Lean had stopped at a roadside stand to show us palm sugar, and we saw this man who had just cut down these coconuts. He was very fast and had incredible upper body strength. The women boil the sap that they collect from the flowers of the palm tree. It is reduced until a syrup, then poured into jars for sale. Some is further reduced and then poured into small forms and sold as candy. It was delicious - very similar to brown sugar fudge. Since we had a definite lack of sugar or anything sweet for the month, it was a big hit.
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more 
