It's Myanmar! First impressions? We are impressed. Yangon was an amazing introduction for us. But we will be back in that city before moving north, so will post about that a little bit later.

For now, it is all about Mt. Kyaiktiyo - the Golden Rock. Not a site that you are just going to stumble upon - we made a very hot 5 hour bus journey from Yangon to the town of Kinpun where we then boarded a 45 minute "monster truck" of sorts up the mountain to reach the site. This part of the journey really deserves its own blog post, as it was a truly harrowing/exhilarating (depending on who you ask) journey. Picture a Canada's Wonderful roller coaster titled, "Myanmar Mountain Adventures". Then add the requisite "woo!"s cried out by passengers as you fly around a hairpin turn. Then throw in a few people vomiting. This was the journey. Thank goodness the seating area was open so we could feel the breeze, and that Troy confidently declared the truck as "new", and "in good shape". Sure! Anyways, the journey is most definitely worth it as this Buddhist pilgrimage site boasts stunning views over the valley, and the giant gleaming boulder with the small pagoda placed on top of it is a marvel. The legend of the site is that long ago, upon a chance meeting with the Buddha, a hermit was given a strand of the Buddha's hair. The hermit then took the hair to the King for safekeeping, and requested that it be enshrined on a boulder which resembled the shape of his own head. The King found the right rock at the bottom of the sea, and transported the rock to the mountain in a boat. The boat then turned to stone, and exists in the form of Stone Boat Pagoda, which you can also see at this site. Since we are in the low season here in Myanmar, the site was not very busy, but apparently during the cooler winter months the Golden Rock is quite the sight with lines of pilgrims, chanting, and candles being lit. As it is, while we were there the site had a deep air of mystique, and we were lucky to have the mist and clouds shifting beautifully over the two hours we were there, bathing the rock in lovely, varied shades of light. Oh, and then we had to get in the truck to go back down the mountain, which quite literally threw us back into reality. But we survived and even thrived on our first independent Myanmar excursion, so we are off to a great start!