Taung Kalat Monastery

Palm business products.

Fermenting palm wine.

Now to figure how to get it home.

A band of macaques harassing people for food. 

The entrance to the monastery.

Taung Kalat Monastery.

Some of the art work at the monastery.

A river flowing swiftly with storm run off.

Men fishing the river...

and women selling the catch.

Rural scene on the road up the mountain.

Wednesday, May 30th.

Our first stop was at a palm tree plantation to see what the locals use the trees for. Well as it turns out they use it much the way the natives used to use buffalo, they waste nothing. We saw the ladders they use to harvest both the sweet sap from high up and the palm fruit. The sap is collected and boiled down until it is made into sugar. The palm leaves are used to weave hats, boxes, and to send to the lacquerware shops. The trunks of the tree are used for tables and furniture. The fronds are used for the roofs of the houses and the husks from the fruit are sold to farmers to feed their animals. While having a cup of tea we sampled some of the products they make from the sugar and some of the fried nuts they prepare. They also gave us some tempura of onion and a root vegetable. It tasted like onion rings.

Then we moved on. We drove for another hour to a low mountain area and as we drove up Pu Pu was trying to find a monastery on a hill top, but it was encased in fog. So, we drove to the base of the hill where we found people trying to buy fruit and vegetables and being harassed by macaque monkeys. From here there are 800 steps up to the monastery. You can keep your shoes on for the first 150, so up we went past several shops of souvenir sellers and chapels where the faithful could pray to the deities. When we got to that point I decided to continue to the top as I had heard that this monastery was beautiful. Pu Pu and Young didn’t want to, partly because they didn’t want to remove their shoes. The rest of the steps were treacherous because they were smooth tiles and were very wet and slippery from the rain and were also mined with monkey droppings. I carefully climbed the very steep steps until I reached the top. The monastery is perched high up on a volcanic rock formation and covers it completely. There were numerous stupas, chapels and viewpoints. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the view because of the mist. I stayed for a bit and then began the descent, which was more dangerous. I almost wiped out four times as the floor and the steps were incredibly slippery. It was like being on ice. I get religious traditions and rules, but this is stupid. They need to provide a less slippery surface. I am sure that there have been people who have hurt themselves. Anyway, I survived and made it to the bottom with wet dirty feet and hands, from holding onto the handrail. Thankfully they provide a little alcove at the 150 step spot where I left my shoes, to wash up with detergent,

Then we walked the rest of the way down and surprise, the mist had cleared and we could see the monastery at the top. Young bought some bananas from a seller and was saved from the monkeys when the woman pulled out a slingshot and aimed at them and they scattered. Pu Pu got us back in the van to drive to the view spot where we could see the Taung Kalat Monastery quite clearly. It is more beautiful and impressive from here than on the top. Again, it is amazing the effort devote people will make in the name of religion. I can’t imagine lugging all of the building materials up there.

Next, we descended back to the valley and took a different road part way up the Popa Mountain to a resort that commands an amazing view of the monastery. We got there just in time to see it disappear again in cloud. We had lunch there and enjoyed the surroundings and the quite of being on the mountain. Just when we finished the cloud lifted yet again and we got a couple of good pictures.

After that we continued on our journey. We had a five or six hour drive to Kalaw, a town famous in the region for trekking. On route we came across some fisherman using nets to catch fish in the dirty runoff from the rains and then we also saw the women selling their catch on the side of the road. Most of it was very small but there were a few foot-long snakeheads. The last hour of the drive was all switchbacks up into the mountains on a road that is under construction. We finally arrived at the town and found our lovely little bed and breakfast hotel and moved in. We had an hour to relax before meeting up and walking to a little local place for dinner. Then we retuned about 8:00 and retired to our rooms.