Yangon and Golden Rock

This time we did not opt for the VIP bus from Bagan, but took a regular and much cheaper nightbus. It was surprisingly good, we had again dinner included, got some cute owl blankets and even some travel pillows. And a big plus: as the row behind us was free we spread out and each one of us had a row for him/herself and we could even sleep a tiny little bit. Upon our arrival in Yangon at around 4am (again), we were facing the same taxi crowds (again) trying to rip us off (again) for the ride to the center. We had both already pre-discussed a maximum price we were willing to pay and managed to negotiate a fare within that range. We arrived at the pre-booked hostel in downtown Yangon (a bit of a weird place, but it was cheap) and luckily they had beds available already so we could sneak under the blankets for a couple of hours.

When we got up, we took a shower and headed out to discover the ex capital city of Myanmar. Yangon used to be called Rangon and was still the capital until 2005 when the government decided from one day to another to move to Naypyidaw - so should you ever participate in "Who's going to be a millionaire" remember Nypyidaw, just in case you stumble across this question ;). One of the reason of this move is related to history. Each dynasty in Burmese history had established a new capital, so by doing this the military junta stated itself as a dynasty ... scary, isn't it?

So the two of us were toddling a bit around Chinatown until we reached Mahabandoola Park with the Independence Monument and the City Hall and yet another golden stupa around, the Sule Pagoda. We were wandering in the old town center and decided it was time for lunch, so we passed by a Shan noodle shop before heading north to one of the main attractions in the city: the massive Shwedagon Pagoda!

We intentedly decided to go there in the late afternoon to see it during daylight, sunset and lit at night. As every major pagoda in Myanmar, Shwedagon had 4 stairways (or entries), one into each direction, leading up to the main pagoda. Mind your clothing, espcially as a girl, shoulders and knees had to be covered as we were entering one of the holiest Buddhist buildings in the country.

Whereas historians believe the stupa was built by the Mons between the 6th and 10th century, the legend says that over 2000 years ago two merchant brothers met Buddha himself and received 8 of his hairs. They took them back to Yangon and with the help of the reigning king enshrined them in a golden temple, the beginnings of Shwedagon. During the following centuries, further kings raised its height even more until it reached its present height of 99m (325ft) in the 18th century. The gilding of the stupa only started in the 15th century when the reigning queen donated her own weight in gold to cover the stupa with gold leafs. Up to today, a total of 27 tons (!) of gold have been used to make the pagoda shine in glimmering gold.

In the last centuries it was often shaken and impacted by more or less heavy earthquakes, but it never fell apart. A funny story we read as well: in the 16th century, a Portuguese adventurer even removed the massive 30-ton bell from the pagoda in order to melt it for making cannons, but the funny chap accidentally dropped it in the river and that's where it remained until now :).

If you walk around the big golden pagoda nowadays, you see a lot of tiny golden stupas around the main pagoda which rises so high it dominates the surrounding skyline.
Up on the top sits the famous Buddhist umbrella which is covered with more than 5000 diamonds, more than 2500 rubies and at the very top sits a 76 carat diamond!!! There was a photo exhibition where pictures from all those gems were displayed and it was just incredible to look at. Moni tried to persuade Alex to climb the pagoda and try to get her a ruby or a diamond, but for whatever reason he refused :).

We kept wandering around the pagoda and having a look at "Buddha's footprint" which looks more like a yeti footprint, but hey...
Once the sun set, the pagoda was glowing in orange colours and the monks performed a little ceremony, walking clockwise around the pagoda and chanting prayers. And then they turned the lights on and the big golden stupa was lit against the dark of the night - what a picture. We even headed out a bit further to the People's Park to get a more distant and entire view of the monument.

Then it was time to go back to town and quickly go for dinner. We also bought some stuff for breakfast the next day as our bus was leaving for the next destination at 8:00 and it was a good 45min ride from the center to the bus station. We took one of the shared cabs from the Sule Pagoda which was way cheaper than taking our own taxi, but at the end of the ride the cheeky driver tried to squeeze some more money out of us by claiming that Alex' backpack was so big (well it was indeed) that we should pay an extra adult fare for it. As so often in Asia, we simply refused and the problem was settled.

The bus ride took another 5,5 hours and we arrived in the small village of Kinpun which is the base settlement to go up the hill to THE pilgrimage site in Myanmar: the Golden Rock. We honestly did not like that village at all. There were not too many guesthouses around and either they were super filthy or way too expensive, so we had to decide between pest and cholera and took a little box room that was barely able to take our 2 big backpacks. So we could not be inside the room together unless one person was sitting on the bed, but it was the cheapest "clean" option.

Anyways, we only planned to stay for a day and carry on the next day. So in the afternoon we went to the "truck station" to get a ride up the hill to see the famous Golden Rock. What an experience. Massive trucks with narrow steel benches on the back squeezed in around 40 people and went for the bumpy and steep 45 min ride up the hill. Just when we were saying that it would only be a question of time until they replace the crammed trucks by a cabel car, we saw a board announcing the start of the "Golden Rock cableway project"...

We arrived at the top at around 4pm as we had planned to stay for sunset and take the last truck back to Kinpun. It was another 10min walk from the station to the rock and we passed the few hotels on top (really expensive for what they are) and a lot of pilgrimage shelters where the Buddhists can sleep during their religious journey. Apparently it is the goal of every Buddhist in Myanmar to go on a pilgrimage to the Golden Rock once in their lives to light candles, chant prayers and meditate up there.

The rock itself is a big and precariously balanced boulder coated in gold and topped with a little stupa. Legend says that the balance of the rock is due to a precisely placed Buddha hair in the stupa on top of the rock. Apparently, the reigning king in the 11th century received the hair as a gift from an hermit. The hermit told the king to look for a boulder that had the shape of the hermit's head and enshrine the hair in a stupa on top of it. The king did as said, found a suitable rock on the bottom of the sea and brought it up to The mountain top where it still sits today.

There are several platforms to walk around the rock, but only men are allowed to walk across a tiny brigde to the rock itself, touch it and to fix gold leaf squares to the rock's surface. We stayed around, had a cup of tea on the terrace overlooking the valley, watched the monks pray and waited for sunset. As it was a beautiful day, the setting sun bathed the golden rock in even more shiny golden and orange colours, but see for yourself in the picture section. Even though we would have liked to stay a bit longer and watch the pilgrim rituals in the dark, we had to catch the last bumpy truck down to Kinpun.

We had dinner and went back to our box room, took a shower and squeezed into bed for the night. The next day, we had planned to carry on our journey and go to Hpa-An a bit further east towards the Thai border as we got lots of recommendations from fellow travellers. Stay with us and wait for the next article if you want to know what Hpa-An was all about.

Enjoy the golden pictures and let us know how you are doing back home.
Take care and talk to you soon again,
Moni & Alex