I boarded the VIP bus back to Yangon, expecting the same amazing experience as the bus to Bagan, unfortunately the driver was under the impression that tourists couldn't handle the heat here (fair assumption) and had the A.C on full blast the full 16 hours. After pestering him a number of times I gave up and resigned myself to travelling in a fridge and was actually glad to arrive in the hot and sticky Aung Mingalar station. But no rest for the wicked as I hopped on another 6 hour bus to Mt Kyaiktiyo to visit 'The Golden Rock' a major pilgrimage site for the Burmese and which I had seen countless pictures of in shrines and on buses throughout my travels, so I had high expectations.

However, I found the golden bolder perched on a rock quite unremarkable, but the same could not be said of journey to get there. Even on the bus to Kingpun (closest village to the pilgrimage site, where I stayed) I was sat next to a lovely old woman who had been a nun for years and spoke good English. She decided to take me under her wing feeding me up with snacks the whole way, taking me by the hand at the break for the best place for tea and when we arrived swatting taxi touts off me before leaving me in the capable hands of my hotel tout- very sweet. But it was the truck to the Rock itself that was the highlight. They had pimped out trucks as 'buses' so in the back of the truck they put in 7 benches and squeezed 6/7 people per bench and about 6 people in the cab, so in a vehicle designed for 6 people we had 50-60 people! Luckily in the front row you had something to hold on to as taking the winding mountain road up to the Rock at speed was like a roller coaster ride- and lots of fun!

I'm always amazed at the difference between how people behave at holy sites in Asia compared to home- here it's like a big family, fun day out- they sit having picnics, have music pumping from their phones and shop -so many stalls selling an array of crap from plastic cats with the waving arm to pickled rams heads (seriously!). Somehow myself and the two German girls I was with ended up in a cave the size of a shoebox with 10 other locals and a holy man chanting prayers which was pretty cosy. After 10am the marble floored plaza was simply too hot to stand literally, so we hopped on the rollercoaster again to get home.

I don't know if I would recommend the 12hr return journey just to see the rock to anyone else, but for me it was actually a good way to finish off my trip to Myanmar. In the beginning I was struggling to understand why it was regarded as one of the poorest countries in the world, yes from the outset I could see it was poor, but in the main tourist places like Yangon & Bagan no more so than most South East Asian countries. However getting off the beaten track like here in the small one street village of Kingpun you can see the reality where the people have nothing. They have a tiny one room hut for their entire family and maybe a pot or two for cooking and the clothes on their back but overall seem happy with their lot. They are so interested in tourists as a relatively new thing to their country and overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming. I've really enjoyed Myanmar, particularly Yangon and Bagan but it's village life showcasing the country's immense ethnic diversity that will be the lasting memory from this trip.