Mt. Kyaiktiyo... Approaching the top

My first view of the Golden Rock from the top ridge. The Rock is the most important pilgrimage site for Myanmar people.

Mt. Kyaiktiyo... scenes from the trail

Alternatives to walking up Mt. Kyaiktiyo Step Two

 You could pay a porter to carry all your gear up in his handmade basket/backpack.

Or you could hire a team of 4 guys to carry you on their shoulders, cradled in a cloth and wood lawn chair nailed between two bamboo poles. This walk is extremely steep, and though paved most of the way, and lined with stalls selling food and, most importantly, cold drinks, it is still a long, tough climb. I can't imagine asking people to pick me up and carry me up this trail! Crazy what people feel good about doing sometimes.

Mt. Kyaiktiyo... Headed up to the Golden Rock, Step One

 Step One. Load into the back of giant dump trucks that have wooden boards laid across width wise as bench seats! Big fun up and down curvy steep mountain roads!!

The dump trucks off load you down here. The Golden Rock is up on the ridge line. The walking trail starts a few feet from where I took this photo.

HpaAn... I gotta get outta this place

 This picture makes it look so much better than it was! I burst out in tears when I walked into this hole!

 This was a huge hole in the wall, with a small board shoved in to close it up. Which it did not do. There was always a huge gap and the board kept falling out all night. I was convinced rats were gonna come streaming in. Cockroaches. Possibly snakes. Luckily, nothing came in, but believe me, I kept a sharp vigil all night!

 Arrived to find every room in every hotel in town was booked, except for this gem in the hostal! I avoid hostals like the plague, mostly because I do not want to GET the plague. Or bed bugs. Or lice. Or have rats crawl into my room at night. Or share a moldy dirty toilet with 20 other people on the 5th floor of a rickety old building that feels like it could tumble down at any moment. I was scared, disgusted and all alone in this nightmare room! It was so late in the day that I could no longer get transportation out of town and was trapped into staying here for the night! After dropping off my backpack in my room and noticing that neither the single nappy blanket laying across the bed, nor the funky matching velour pillow had been changed since the last guest, and most likely hadn't been washed in quite sometime, I quickly realized I would not be doing any actual sleeping that night. I went to buy a bus ticket for the first bus out in the morning. 5 AM was as good as I could do. For the record, I sat, fully clothed, crossed legged on the bed in a state of cat-like readiness all night long.

The stunning view from my 5th floor window.
Strikes 2 and 3, HpaAn!! I'm OUT!

LImestone karst through the smoky haze

As we approached HpaAn the river flowed through a beautiful broad green plain broken up by large clusters of limestone karst peaks. This landscape was made even more surreal viewed through the heavy smoky haze  that engulfed us. I learned later the smoke was from rice farmers burning their fields after harvest, and that it happens like this every year because at the same time that it is time to burn the fields it is also the time of year where the winds become stagnant. All the flat lands fill up with smoke and there is no wind to blow it away or dissipate the heavy, choked air. I quickly started to feel effects from the pollution and knew I wasn't going to want to hang out in this choking smoke for long at all! Strike 1 for HpaAn!!

River life near Mawlamyine

 Bamboo poles line the river's edge, ready for loading.

 Gravel mining. This was a common site on the river closest to the coast.

 Temples glisten on every hill, ridge or cleared area there is.

Local public transport.

On the river from Mawlamyine to HpaAn.

Scenes of life on the river taken on a 7 hour boat journey from the coast at Mawlamyine upriver to the small village of HpaAn. This boat trip is well touted as THE thing to do/way to travel in this region of Southern Myanmar. The trip itself was filled with lovely scenery as well as glimpses into the daily lives of local folk. The trip began in Mawlamyine at 7 AM, with sunrise still coloring the morning.

Mawlamyine... around town

Mawlamyine... the temple of the Wicker Buddha

Burned and re-woven every year! A deep meditation on impermanence.

Mawlamyine... Temple on the ridge

Mawlamyine... Strolling around some temples

Forever Fashion

The Cinderella Hotel, Mawlamyine

 Beautiful artwork lining the hallways.

 

My crib for the night. Finest digs in town, yo! The size of the fridge was truly impressive, and was, in fact, nearly bigger than the bathroom itself.