The next 2 days we stayed around Yangon but went to see the Golden Rock, another religious site about 3 hours drive by car, truck and hike from Yangon. We drove to the "base camp" area at Kinpun where we are crowded onto the back an open bus/truck on benches that are very uncomfortable wooden boards.
You have the choice of riding up in a sedan chair carried by 4 local men for about $10, but that's embarassing so I trudged up. However I must have looked rather tentative as 4 guys followed me up with an empty chair waiting for me to give in. I prevailed as we got to our hotel:
That's our porter with our overnite packs in the basket.
On the top is a broad plaza with some monasteries, many vendors with kiosks selling almost everything to thousands of folks who come here. There are also some hotels and restaurant/bars. Many families set up housekeeping and stay overnite at the plaza.
The main attraction. as you can see from the first photo, is a rock with a small stupa on top that is poised precariously on a promontory at the end of the plaza. The rock has been painted gold and the stupa has gold leaf covering it.
The sunset was magnificent:
We stayed overnite and reversed the process the next morning. A hike down that took half the time of the previous day; a harrowing ride to base camp in the truck that was careening down the narrow bumpy road. Here are some of the people we saw on the walks up and down and at the shrine:
After we got down we made a stop on the way back to Yangon in Bago, a former capital, to see the 1,000 year old Shwemawdaw Pagoda which is 376 ft high. It has been added to and rebuilt several times over its lifespan as wear and tear and earthquakes have taken their toll.
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