The Golden Rock and back to Yangon

From Bago, I decided on a day trip by motorcycle to visit Kchychtio (which is definitely spelled wrong), a.k.a the Golden rock stupa. I went by day trip to ensure I would reach Yangon in time to celebrate the Passover Seder with the country's minuscule Jewish community of 8 families, all living in the capital. We left Bago at 4:30 AM for the three hour moto ride, and arrived around 8 at the base camp. The Golden Rock is at the top of a mountain, and hangs precariously off the side of a cliff. It looks as though, with a good push, it will tumble down the mountain. Luckily, a hair from the head of the Buddha holds it in place. After taking a pick-up most of the way and then climbing the steep last 45 minutes, I arrived at the top. The rock really is quite something to behold. I don't understand how it has been standing for so long. unfortunately, I only took vertical pictures of it and don't know how to flip them on this blog :-).






On the way down, I had a seat right in the middle of the back of the pick-up, which was painful, but super fun. There are about 8 rows of six people sitting on wood boards crammed like sardines in the truck on the way down. It is probably goos we were so tightly packed, otherwise, with nothing to hold onto, I might have gone flying out. It was like going down a tame roller coaster, but with your hands in the air and nor restraints whatsoever.

The next morning, I booked a ticket for the 2 hour long 11:30 train to Yangon. They wouldn't let me on the train because I was a tourist, and instead made me take the very late 1 PM train which got to Yangon at 6:30. I rushed immediately to the synagogue to see if I could find out about the Seder, but no one was around, which was very disappointing. I went back to the Shul for services the next morning, and found out that there hadn't been a Seder anyway (and there weren't any services).

I spent the last couple of days going to the markets and back to the Shwedagon pagoda, and talking to locals who kept stopping me on the street. I will soon leave for a couple days to visit the nearby ruins of Ayathaya, and then on to the Philippines, my last foreign stop. My South East Asia adventure is almost finished!