Shwedagon Pagoda and Golden Rock

 The 326' Swedagon Pagoda.

 Some of the chapels around the pagoda platform.

 A parade of family members celebrating the novice monk, wearing the helmet.

 Pouring water on the buddhas head.

 A monk with a typical Asian 'beard'.

 Another section of the pagoda platform.

 The Tuakkyan War Cemetery.

 The view out my hotel window.

 Golden Rock.

Wednesday, May 23^rd.

We ate at 6:30 and left by 7:00. Our driver for the next three days was the same man who picked me up from the airport and our vehicle is a Honda minivan.

We drove to the famous Shwebagon Pagoda that I could see from my hotel window for the last three days. It is situated on a 90-metre hillock in the middle of the city. Pu Pu paid our admission, we left our shoes, I zipped on my legs and we took the elevator to the pagoda platform. It was a beautiful clear blue-sky morning and the glow off the golden stupas was blinding. Pu Pu told us some of the history of the pagoda and its importance to Myanmar Buddhism as we walked once around it. Then she gave us an hour to explore by ourselves and take photos. The whole complex is beautiful and as usual I enjoyed watching the people. I saw a group of people all dressed in their best clothes with three young boys dressed in very traditional clothing being followed around by a camera company. Turns out the boys are going to be monks and this is the celebration ceremony of the families and their friends.  

Then we drove for about an hour through the busy traffic of the city before we reached the Tuakkyan War Cemetery, where many of the Allied soldiers from the First and Second World Wars who died in Burma building that infamous railroad, are buried. Myanmar has three such cemeteries that are taken care of by the Commonwealth. We walked around for about fifteen minutes and I happened across a marker for a 22-year old Welsh private who died on November 11, 1944, a year before Remembrance Day.

After that we drove for about four hours out of the city, across the flat flood plains to the mountains in the east. Finally, we arrived at a little town where we left our driver, van and most of our luggage. We took only a day bag and after Pu Pu bought our tickets we boarded a large truck with an open back that carried about 40 passengers up the mountain to our destination, Golden Rock. We were the only group of Western tourists. We sat in the back row of the truck and held on tight as it raced up the winding mountain road. I have no idea what the hurry was, but it made for an exhilarating ride. We stopped half way up where some people got out to take the cable car the rest of the way. We arrived at the top of the 1100-metre-high mountain and had to walk about five minutes to our Mountain Top Hotel. It was a very nice hotel with rooms with excellent views of the valley below. We took a break in the rooms for an hour waiting for the heat to cool down before we walked the ten minutes to Golden Rock. As it turned out it is a large rock that sits precariously on the ‘table’ or precipice of the mountain. It is covered entirely in gold leaf and has a stupa on top of it. It is said to contain two of Buddha’s hairs in it, which is why the Buddhists consider this a holy pilgrimage site. Some of the pilgrims come here to spend the night chanting and sleeping on the platform. Older, or infirm ones can be carried from the bus area by four men on a stretcher. We walked around observing the rock from all angles. The views from up there were excellent and we saw the sunset as well. I also watched a group of four lithe young men playing a game of what Kristian from Brazil called ‘footie’. It is basically volleyball, but you can’t use your hands, so it is more like soccer over a bamboo pole at volleyball height. Amazing game to watch.

Then we walked back to the hotel where we had dinner in a large, empty dining room, because this is the low season for tourists and the pilgrims can’t afford to stay here. Dinner was good, although expensive, about $20. Then we headed off for bed about 8:30.