We took the train to Bago at 3:00 PM at Yangon Central Station. We chose low class, the trip was short, so we got into the most picturesque thing we could find.
The train was old, people looked at us with curiosity, the street vendors circulated up and down, they had a restaurant on their head: they sat in a seat, they lowered the tray of the head and they supported it on the skirt, put in a bag a bunch of noodles, put the sauce, the necessary spices, and with the hand I mixed it for a while … it is delivered to the customer, tray to the head and to continue … Clear example that who does not have a restaurant is because does not want …
Curious posters that you find on trains … Attention: Forbidden to Kiss! In addition to spitting, smoking and throwing papers …
The train arrived in Bago at about 4.45pm, and the last one towards Kyaiktiyo at 8pm, so we did not propose to do all the sightseeing that same afternoon and continue the trip. We walk 4 km to a temple where there is an immense python, 5 meters long which they say is 120 years old. They venerate her because they believe she is a reincarnation of Buddha … The truth is that she is immense !!!!! Awesome !!!! You have just eaten a chicken and you see the volume of the animal inside your body, while it digested motionless …
During the road we crossed the town. Near the station there were buildings, even a shopping center with multicine that was out of keeping with the rest of the building, and as we moved away we returned to the middle ages … mud, barracks and dirty children … yes, all smile and kindness !!!!
The truth is that it is immense !!!!! Awesome !!!! You have just eaten a chicken and you see the volume of the animal inside your body, while you digest it motionless … On the way we crossed the village. Near the station there were buildings, even a commercial center with multiplexes that were out of keeping with the rest of the building, and as we moved away we returned to the middle ages … mud, barracks and dirty children … yes, all smile and kindness !!!!
We also visited the Shwemawdaw temple and its huge chide of 114 meters high. Until a worker asked us if we had paid the entrance … 10,000 kyats ($ 8) per person! Yes, only the tourists … So after the warning we decided to leave, towards the train station. But before !! We had a typical Myanmar tea.
It’s an Indian chai type tea, with condensed milk and sugar … it can not be sweeter … but we love it, and more sucando the pastitas that always put you in the teahouses. Tea costs about 400-500 kyats ($ 0.3), and pasta costs about 200-400.
We took the train and arrived in Kyiahto in 3 hours. This train was an ordeal, it was full of bugs, the whole roof full of mosquitoes and mosquitoes, the rack hung from spiders, at a little distance from our heads … It was impossible to relax … And we arrived, late, at 11pm. A local boy started talking to us, he told us that we accompanied him and wanted to help us out of courtesy.
He took us to several guesthouse but I did not want to lose 18,000 kyats ($ 15) !!!! And it looked crazy … We went around, and in the end we got a double room for 15,000 kyats … very dirty, bursting sink, no hot water or internet … Only the reception desk, the first thing the client sees It was full of dead bugs … full !! Accumulated days … a misfortune … That’s just a sample of the state of the villages in that area … the dirt is plentiful and the conditions of the sites quite unhealthy …
Do not go to this guesthouse !!! Dirty? No. The following!
The next morning we started the road to Golden Rock. First up to Kinpun. The bus system was not too clear, so we decided to try hitchhiking … We walked to the outskirts of the city and 2 minutes we got a pick up, a very friendly man who did not speak any English …
Once in Kimpun, there are 12 km of ascent up the mountain. It can be done walking, although it is better to go with trucks with seats in the trailer that goes up by 2000 kyat ($ 1.5) per person. The trip is busy, the driver does not walk with squeamishness … it’s going to stop !!! And the slope brings them … The other tourists, almost all the locals, shouted as if it were a roller coaster …
Once up, the panorama is varied, you are from boys, you like hands, football, Buddhist monks asking, sellers of everything, restaurants, hotels …
Until you get to the entrance that costs 6000 kyats per person … To try to reduce costs, we tried to bargain … and it was easy … they quickly told us to pay only one ticket … great!
The Golden Rock is a rock supported on the rocky limit of the mountain. It is painted golden, hence its name …
The whole area is a complex of Buddhist temples and chapels where locals, or Buddhists from anywhere, go to pray.
It is a typical picture of Myanmar, and a mystical place. Also the views are beautiful, at least when the low clouds let see something … That day it rained, so for security do not let go to touch the rock.
Entry prohibited to women! That’s what the poster says; so respecting cultures but not sharing …
The return we decided to do it walking, a descent of 12 km … in flip flops !!!! The truth … it was not the best idea we had … The landscape is beautiful, among jungle, mixed with clouds, crossing villages in the mountains, with houses made of bamboo canes and plastic tarpaulin.
The floor was slippery, but not by water or mud, but by the water accumulated in the cement … it was like an ice rink … We loved each other like grandparents, taking very small steps …
I fell twice, I recorded it on video … and on the second I broke the glass of the Gopro camera … luckily I can replace it … I already ordered the piece …
All the way was between nature and villages, it was beautiful, you could see the houses of the people open, the road was part of them, so when you passed by you crossed them … It was like being in another century, bamboo huts , coal kitchens, all sitting or stretched on the floor … it is curious to see how the rest of the world composes your home …
From time to time it started to rain, we looked for shelter, an excessive amount of water fell for 15 minutes and it stopped … and we continued … until it was raining again …
In the end we did not stop, if it was raining we walked with the raincoat in the monsoon torrential rain … It took us 4 hours to make 12 km, and we ended up busted … with the cakes made of powder … in flip flops … small luminaries … Imagine walking between rocks with some Hawaiian … We were completely wet and wanting to get to the train to go back to Yangon.
Once we arrived at Kimpun we looked for a bus to get off a Kyaiktiyo, but it was late and they did not pass the local bus anymore … The taxis, scavengers as always, asked us for exaggerated amounts … So without thinking much, or nothing, we We launched to walk on the road, to our destination, to hitchhike … raining, wet …
We began to doubt the sanity of our decision … Until we saw a car picked up that came … and stopped! Hallelujah !!! He lowered the window and … it was the same one that had brought us! Hahahaha … but what filly we have … We were taken to the station and we said thank you 30 times …
In the station, when buying the tickets they tell us that the train to Yangon leaves at 23:30 h … uff … with the busts that we are … We give ourselves the dice that we can try with the bus and a man who I was there chafardeando offers to guide us to the station. Just when we get to the station, we see a bus that stays a few meters ahead … they indicate that it is the one that goes to Yangon!
We run, or rather, we limped towards him and we got it, ole ole ole! Thanks to the volunteer who has guided us! Without him we would have lost it for sure … The ticket costs us 4000 kyat each.
We arrived in Yangon at 9:30 p.m., but the bus left us 20 km from the center … it used to do with the stations where Jesus lost his sandal … We went to the train station, 3 km away from the bus station, but nothing, neither train nor bus. In total we had walked 17 km !! We had to take a taxi … against our principles … We asked for 8000 kyat but haggling it down to 6000 kyat, because in Myanmar taxis do not carry a meter.
And finally we arrived “healthy” and saved to Lotus B & B, great place, ready to sleep like dormice. Goodnight!!!!