Myanmar Day 5-8: Kyaiktiyo Pagoda & Yangon

Posted On 08/06/2016

When I was doing research about the trip, almost every page said that the Burmese trains are slow, old, and with frequent delays. Err, that makes it even more attractive to me. Let's do it!

Buying tickets from this ancient station with the time tables written on a chalkboard. Where on the contrary, there's plenty of mobile phone charging stations!

There's upper and lower class seats to choose from. The upper class is a hefty double the price of lower. (Aka US$1). For six hours, I think I can afford this luxury of taking the upper class. Haha.

The train started slowly, and slowly, and it never sped up. Vendors keep hopping on and off from the tracks selling all sorts of snacks and items. There's no air conditioning but the slow motion of the train and large windows let in comfy summer breeze. We fell asleep and awaken and asleep and awake and asleep and.... After exactly six long hours, we arrived punctually at our destination, Kyaikto.

The golden rock is a rock hanging dangerously on the edge of a cliff. Seeming like it could fall on the weight of a feather, but stood there for many years. Legend said that it was the Buddha's power that held the rock in place, protecting the village below it. Believers of the past and present stick golden foils on it as a tribute, resulting in this current golden colour.

The golden rock is located at the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, which takes another 45 minutes of bumpy truck ride on the winding mountain road from the Kyaikto train station.

It wasn't the perfect day to visit. It had been foggy and drizzling all afternoon. We were holding our umbrella in one hand, a plastic bag containing our forbidden shoes on the other. Walking barefooted through the thin layer of water on the cold tiles of the Pagoda. A chilly sense shoots up the brain from our feet on every step.

To make things more uninteresting, women are not allowed to get close to the rock as we are believed to have damaging power against the rock. Well then, let's get a quick photo from a distance and... wait please hold my umbrella, and ouch my bag of shoe just dropped... And there is no dry place at the exit for us to wipe our feet before putting our shoes back on. Arrrgh! Shouldn't have come on a rainy day. (Like we've had a choice. Haha.)

We took the bus back to Yangon which takes one 4 hours as compared to the 6 hours needed by the train.

We strolled along the streets and alleys of Yangon on the last day. The messy electric cables with large amount of pigeons looked just like Vietnam 7 years ago when we travelled there by bus. After 7 years, travelling to Vietnam by bus has finally become a trend, even a gimmick by travel agents.

One evening it was dark. V accidentally stepped on a pile of wet dirt near the drainage. We couldn't tell if it was dirt, mud or sh__. Prepared for the worst, she almost scrapped her skin off washing her feet. The next morning, we saw a disturbing scene of a skinny young man, halfed soaked in the black sewage, scooping out dirt from the drainage onto the roadside. We both agreed that it is the worst job in the world.