Nov 20, 2012
Hotel: Aung Mingalar, $28/single
I was already templed out after yesterday and had asked the taxi driver about how much would it cost for a trip out to Mt. Popa. He said the same $40 a day, a good deal as it is a 3hr roundtrip drive. There is a Buddhist temple located on top of a volcanic plug on the mountain, reached by ascending 777 steps. The mountain is also the spiritual home of the 37 'nats', part of pre-Buddhist religion. We planned to set off at 9am.
For the first time this trip I got to sleep in as I wasn't rushing off somewhere at the crack of dawn. The breakfast at the hotel this morning was pretty basic.. a fried egg, some toast and congee. The butter pats were sitting in a bowl of water to keep them from melting. I still had a few minutes to kill so wandered up the road a bit to take some photos.
The road to Mt. Popa was in OK condition, no potholes but the surface was rough in places. There was very little traffic, and most of it was oxen carts. We passed through several villages, consisting of thatch and bamboo huts mostly. They make their living by processing palm trees and selling palm sugar candy and palm liquor. Peanuts are the major crop in the Bagan area. We stopped at one of these villages where a local was squeezing peanut oil in a mill. I tried one of the sugar candies, formed by boiling down the palm sap until it caramelizes. These ones were mixed with coconut. They were delicious, somewhat like a praline. I ended up buying a bag for 1000ks. I also tested the firewater/palm liquor. It was a little harsh.
They ferment the sap in huge clay jars for a few days to make a toddy, then distill out the stronger stuff.
Making peanut oil
The area around Bagan is pretty dry and the soil is sandy. Driving along parts reminded me of Texas or South Carolina, minus the pine trees. We finally arrived at Popa village and the driver stopped at a viewpoint to get an overview of the temple on the hill. The lookount point was a short walk down a trail. I was followed down the trail by kids trying to sell rocks, saying 'shakey shakey'. Some kind of hollow rock with something inside it. I asked them why they weren't in school! They said it was a holiday (it wasn't). I don't have need of rocks but did buy some bananas from one of the girl vendors.
Mt. Popa itself is a 5000ft volcano, the temple sits on a volcanic plug on the southern flank. There is the Mt. Popa Mountain Resort located higher up the slops of the mountain and has great views out over the valley. The steps up to the temple began from the village located at the base. I bought a bottle of water first before heading up the stairs. The first part was lined with the ever present souvenir sellers. There were groups of monkeys scampering around the stairs. About 1/3 the way up you must take off your shoes/socks and ascend the rest of the way barefoot. I missed the sign on the way up and was yelled at by one of the workers that tirelessly try to keep the steps clean of monkey poo. At least the stairs were tile and somewhat easier to walk on. Groups of locals and a few tourists were ascending as well. I was msotly OK until I got to two nearly vertical metal ladders that were really painful on my feet.
I eventually made it up to the top of the 777 steps in about 30 minutes. There were more monkeys scampering around and I tossed one a banana. That caused a mini riot as the other monkeys started chasing after the first one. Some of them jumped on my back and tried getting into my bag. I literally had to get the monkey off my back.
The view from the top was incredible, I could see all the way to the mountains surrounding Bagan. Going back down the stairs was actually harder than going up, especially the metal ladders. We drove to a nearby restaurant for lunch where I had Chinese fried noodles. All the food I'd had so far in Myanmar was very good.
Jojo my taxi driver
We were back in Bagan by 2pm where I just hung out at the hotel for awhile. My taxi driver said he would drive me to the airport the next morning for no extra charge. I am a member of a travel board, while browsing it I found out that another member would be in Myanmar at the same time, we then found out we'd both be in Bagan, and the sanme hotel, on the same day! We planned to meet up for dinner or a drink that evening. He had been traveling through Myanmar for a few more days than I had, and had come down the river on a boat from Manadalay that morning. We ended up going out to the Aroma 2 Indian restaurant, whose guarantee is 'No good, no pay!'. We spent a few hours swapping travel stories. The food was very good but at 9000ks ($11) it was my most expensive meal so far I'd had in Myanmar.