Clark's Crazy Adventures

Bagan

After 5 hours sleep it was another 4.30am start as we needed to board a plane at 7.00am. The airport was confusing and made no sense. The departure cards were hand written and we were issued stickers to ascertain which company we were flying with. There was only one departure gate and a sign was held up when it was time to board. ‘Air KBZ’ surpassed all our expectations and even provided food. This is a complete novelty for those of us that are used to Asia Air. Ian is hoping we can fly back to Sydney with them.

The weather is hot today with a prediction of more sun to follow.

Our second guide was waiting at the airport for us and promptly bundled us into another minivan to explore Bagan.

Bagan

Bagan is Friggin AMAZING! Haven't got time to write anything yet so you will need to be content with photos for now.....

Sunset

Bago

Today it was time to depart the Golden Rock. A fabulous time was had and it was very entertaining watching all the pilgrims coming and going. In fact the atmosphere was so festive they chanted all night. Luckily I had come prepared with my trusty ear plugs. On the way back down the mountain we were a touch more savvy and scored the front row of the truck. This gave us the privilege of 10cm more leg room and the ability to stand up for the entire journey if we desired. I stoop up, once, but that pesky life preservation thingy kicked in and not wanting to die I returned to the seating position.

Sunrise!

So you know what drinks you can purchase lol

Off we go again!

We travelled again through Bago but this time stopped to visit more pagodas and the Kings Palace. The weather today is hot by the way.

Eventually we returned to Yangon at 6.30pm. ‘Min’ the local travel agent I had arranged everything through was at our hotel when we arrived and asked if we wanted to hang out with him. Before we could blink he had hailed taxis, shouted something incoherent and transported us back into the craziness. Before long Steve was eating grasshoppers. Min had ordered a whole range of local food and the first of three beer towers had arrived.

We discovered a local word that we had been using actually meant that you wanted to proposition someone for sex, insert forehead slap and re-discovered the golden rule of Asia. When a local tells you a dish is ‘a little’ hot you probably won’t feel your tongue for a few days…..

Min - travel agent extraordinaire....

Kyaikityo Pagoda

Today I woke up fresh and feeling relatively normal.... LOL I had forgotten how hard the beds are in Asia, it's like sleeping on a bloody blank of wood, however even that didn't put a damper on last nights sleep as I passed out as soon as I hit my pillow.

Today the weather is, drum roll please - HOT. Just for something different. We left Yangon early this morning and headed for Bago then onto Kyaikityo.

We visited an amazing Monastery in Bago that houses over 500 monks. Our wonderful guide timed our arrival so we could watch the procession of monks heading for lunch, which for them is 11am. I have never seen so many monks in one place..... More came, then more, then more, it was astounding.

After leaving the Monastery we continued to travel onto the Golden Rock Pagoda. Like most religious sites I have ever visited they usually sit atop mountains and include millions of stairs. From what I understood of this particular site there was a road which took you most of the way. However it was never mentioned that you needed to travel that stretch in a truck, in the heat, with 60 other pilgrims. Imagine our surprise!

It was hilarious. We were whisked out from our mini van, climbed some rickety stairs to reach the back of the truck and squished onto a seat that wasn't built for fat white people. Everyone was yelling in Burmese and we just sat there looking completely perplexed wondering what would happen first. It was a debate on whether we would die of heat stroke or our legs, which were going numb, may fall off due to lack of circulation. Eventually we realised that they were yelling at us as it was a requirement that there was six people on each row of seating. As if. Clearly we are slightly different from most locals given that they weigh around 2kgs each, are about 10cm wide and 5" tall. Yelling continued and we agreed to pay for the extra seats. Eventually our truck started, then stopped, then started again. It was at this point we learnt that it would only take approximately 1 hour to reach the top.

Us packed into the truck trying to depart.

At least the fare of $2.50 included life insurance, ha ha ha

On our way, finally........

Going up!

Arrived - yay for us....

Dinner maybe?

A young child being carried up the mountain.

The Golden Rock - Legend states that this precarious position of the boulder is held though centuries by virtue of the power of the Hair relic of Gautama Buddha enshrined in the pagoda.