Golden Rock, Bago

From Pa'an we went to Kyaiktiyo, or first to the village of Kinpun. From there we went the next morning up to Mount Kyaiktiyo or better known as Golden Rock. We took an overcrowded truck to get closer to the top, at the back of the truck we felt like chickens, there was no space, the bench uncomfortable and the driver very crazy, driving as fast as possible... The last part we had to walk, local people could get another ride to the top, but for foreigners it was prohibited, too dangerous.


After an hour walk to the top we finally came to the Golden Rock, a much bigger version of the rocks we already saw on the trip from Mawlamyine. The view was nice from the top and there weren't a lot of people, nearly no tourists and only a few locals, however it's one of the holiest Buddhist places in Myanmar and a famous pilgrimage site.


From the Golden Rock we went along the pilgrimage way in 4,5 hours back to the village of Kinpun at the base of the mountain.


After Kyaiktiyo we continued and went towards the north. We wanted to go to Mandalay, but on the way we stopped in Bago, once the capital of Myanmar. This small town or big village is famous for a lot of temples to visit in and arround the town, the only remainings. Only temples were built of stone, palaces, monasteries, houses, etc. were made of wood or other materials which aren't visible anymore. A lot of Buddha images can be found, standing, reclining, big, small, one's etc. There are so many that we had only time to visit the big one's.
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But not only Buddhas are possible to see, the big Pagoda is very impressive even if they repair it at the moment Bago has also one of the biggest monasteries with a lot of monk. A curious temple is this one of the big python, a really fat and long snake which is the king inside it and is free to move around. Last but not least we also visited a cigarette factory, where we could see how they produce them, all hand made (of course).