Our travel to Myanmar turned out to include a visit to the three most sacred Buddhist sites of the country. Those are the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, the Mahamuni Pagoda in Mandalay and the famous Golden Rock. A golden boulder topped by a Pagoda balancing over a cliff’s edge!
Locals believe, the rock is balanced on the cliff by a precisely positioned strand of Buddha’s hair in the Pagoda after the rock was taken from the bottom of the sea by a king with supernatural powers. Truth or myth, it’s still amazing. Unfortunately, only males are allowed to attach gold-leaf to the boulder to gain merit.
From below it looks like it’s about to drop down on you
As it was more or less on our route from Rangoon towards Hpa-An and the Thai border we made the decision for a detour. One could reach Kinpun by train or bus changing in Kyaikto. Unintentionally we booked a bus that drove us directly to the town of Kinpun. From there it is an one hour ride uphill to the Pagoda on the back of a modified flatbed truck – and believe me, this is part of the attraction as it goes up and down and through hairpin bends with a dramatic scenery. All for 2,000 Ks one way only! Arriving on the top, it’s a ten minute walk to reach the Golden Rock. Entry Fee comes a bit hefty with 10,000 Ks per Person. But would you turn around if you’ve almost made it? In theory, you could enter with another foreigner’s used ticket as it is a day pass. At the mountaintop you will pass by hundreds of shops until you get to the temple’s entrance where you have to take off your shoes. Now, be careful of the scorching hot dark tiles. One thing we don’t understand about the Burmese is, why do they spit out their betel even inside temples. It’s not funny to step into it. Besides the Golden Rock there are pavilions and prayer halls. But to us, this wasn’t of importance. We went to the upper and lower terrace to get different angles of the Rock itself. One of the most impressive views was from between, where you can see it’s really balancing on the edge.
It’s balancing on the edge!
Even though we left Rangoon at 7am on the first bus we were in a rush to catch our onward bus from Kinpun. It turned out we missed our onward bus to Mawlamyine where we planned to stay for a night. We were driven from Kinpun to Kyaikto by the bus company to be seated in front of their make-shift office at the main road and told to sit down and wait. Nothing happened. After waiting for 30 minutes we got a little uneasy as dusk came. I started talking to a lot of people about our ticket to Mawlamyine as it was not really clear who was working with the company and who was just hanging around. At some point 90 minutes later a bus stopped driving towards Mawlamyine and partly to my interaction they took us on board after a short discussion between the transport company’s clerk and the bus driver. In the end, we were happy to sit on a comfortable bus with AC that drove us all the way to our destination. I think, the bus belonged to another company and the discussion was about whether they let us on board or not.
The modified truck that takes you uphill
Due to this hassle, I would recommend others to only do it in a day when you’re ready to be stranded or have iron-cast nerves. Better to stay overnight in Kinpun, enjoy sunset or sunrise and continue your journey hassle free. Still, the Golden Rock is an awesome sight not to be missed.
Arriving in a huge city you’ve never been to before at night is never a good thing, especially when you arrive at a bus station somewhere as far outside of the city as the airport. Looking at the glancing eyes of hordes of taxi drivers waiting to pull off their deal of the week when they see western foreigners arrive. I really don’t like that feeling, as you are tired and exhausted from a long ride in a more or less comfortable seat with having enjoyed a more or less crazy sort of entertainment at an immense volume. Still, we made our way through hassling with the drivers unless we found one that took us downtown for a high but not crazy price. You can’t expect anyone to pay the full price for a taxi smelling of urine and dead cat, not even in Burma.
Sunset over Chinatown, Rangoon
We were thrown out of the cab next to the side street of a main road in chinatown were we believed our hostel would be. Luckily, our faith didn’t misled us. First impression of Rangoon at night was, it’s huge and cramped. We walked up a narrow and super steep staircase straight up to the 3rd floor, where we found our small room. At least it had a window.
Downtown Rangoon
The next days we spent with exploring Rangoon. It’s in a way like other huge cities in southeast Asia but has its own twist and some Indian influence without a doubt. That steep staircase leading straight up to 3rd floor I mentioned earlier, it’s a normal thing in Rangoon. Some are inside a building, some are outside and some are in between buildings. You will find clean and really dirty and slimy ones and they seem like their way to cope with an architectural style that could be a Chinese version of Amsterdam in terms of narrow but tall buildings. It’s quite interesting looking up those narrow staircases from the road. Most look like dark holes at the entrance and change as they climb up higher. You will find markets, malls, restaurants, street food stalls and shops almost anywhere and traffic is one big congestion. Still you can feel and see this is the place where China meets India. Compared to Mandalay the city of Rangoon has got soul. Even though there aren’t as many teahouses and beer stations around they do have some streets where one bar is next to another and you can get loads of cheap seafood and barbecue. Still, some colonial buildings have survived and most of them are situated at the riverside like the main post office, embassies or The Strand, a classic Grand Hotel. Around the corner you will find people sleeping on the street… In cities like this, where you have rich and very poor next to each other and one can hardly imagine how unforgiving this hot and humid concrete city might be and how hard it must be to make a living here, if you don’t have anything.
People trying to make a living in downtown RangoonEntrance to the Shwedagon Pagoda
We’ve made our way to the city’s most famous sight, the Shwedagon Pagoda. It’s the most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar – the other most important ones being the Mahamuni Paya in Mandalay and the Golden Rock at Mt. Kyaiktyo. The Pagoda is situated on a hill and can be accessed from four sides, guarded by giant mystic lions. Once, you’ve passed them it’s time to get off your shoes. The way up is roofed and sided by tons of shops selling mostly Buddhist items or souvenirs. Fortunately the hawkers aren’t too aggressive, as this is more a site of national importance and foreigners are being left alone. Only when it comes to the entrance fees, which are collected at the top end of the stairway, as they are remarkably higher for foreigners (10000Ks pp) than for locals.
The Shwedagon Pagoda is a 99m tall, gold covered pagoda topped with gems. It’s truly impressive and due to its size you won’t see too many foreign tourists around. Also, locals will approach you and ask for a photo or stand beside you giggling.
The Shwedagon PagodaColonial buildings at the riverside
Back to the city we made a detour to have a glance at the old colonial buildings before we took the ferry across the Yangon River to get to Dala. I’ve read on multiple guides that one should do this trip to get an impression of an ordinary lifestyle in Burma outside a big city. Getting across is more expensive for foreigners again and you are only allowed to cross the river with the ferry, but hey, you’ll get a free bottle of water with the tickets. You will see locals crossing the river with goods ranging from food to motorbikes to refrigerators on small, motorised boats. After arriving, we had to fight off the touts and (motor)bike drivers for not taking us on a guided trip around. Also the ticket agent of the ferry company tried to make a dollar out of us in the same way earlier. Dala is truly rural, although only divided by the Rangoon river from the former capital.
Street life in Dala
It’s still interesting, though we’ve seen places like it earlier during our travel in Burma. Still, I think, if you arrive in Rangoon and don’t have much time, a trip to Dala will be rewarding. Just be prepared to see general waste and pollution everywhere, especially on the banks of the river. Myanmar in general has a huge problem with garbage and the average Burmese seems like he doesn’t care about pollution and proper waste disposal at all. I’m not even sure if anyone ever heard of recycling. And we’ve seen the municipal garbage collection driving trucks through the streets on several evenings during the week. Still people will litter everywhere, everytime. There is a lot of work to be done educating people about it.
Bank of the Yangon River
Another thing I have to mention about Myanmar is child work. Children will work in many places throughout the country. Some will sell food as a hawker on a boat or at a bus station while a lot of children will work at tea houses. I’ve read a lot of blogs and some background information about this issue. While some will go to school and after school go to work to support their families, others don’t attend school at all and it feels bad to be served by a ten year old. It’s almost impossible to avoid being served by children if you want to experience a traditional tea house in Myanmar. Children in Myanmar are obliged by law to attend school until finishing 4th grade. Still I’ve found statistics stating that about 90% of all Burmese children attend an ordinary (either government or private run) school at all. But Myanmar and statistics is a topic on its own. I’ve read that some NGOs suspect the Burmese (military) government to aim at keeping the masses uneducated or at least poorly educated to remain in power. In the end I suggest everyone who is interested in this to search for some keywords and make up your own mind.
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