Day 160: Mount Popa

Time for a day trip. We had a slightly free day so decided to spend half of it on a trip to Mount Popa, a Buddhist temple atop a small volcano about 50km to the south-east of Bagan. We organised for a "shared taxi" which we sort of assumed meant a van or something, but actually turned out to be a 5-seater sedan.

The other occupants were a French couple in probably their 60s, who didn't speak much English, making for a slightly awkward ride. It was about 90 minutes each way, and also included stops at a traditional peanut oil factory where they used a cow-powered mill to grind down the peanuts, and a silk factory as well. Both stops felt pretty touristy and inauthentic, so we didn't spend much time there.

Mount Popa was great though! It's a long climb to the top - 777 stairs in all, but we made it with a couple of rest breaks for me. Lots of souvenir stalls on the paths, as well as large numbers of monkeys snatching at things and making a nuisance of themselves. Amazing view from the top as it was a fairly clear day, though we were too far away to see Bagan. You could just make out the Ayurawaddy River in the distance though.

I'm not really sure why Buddhist temples and monasteries are often built in such difficult, out-of-the-way places. I guess it's something to do with meditation and self-reflection being such large parts of their religion, they don't want to be disturbed? I dunno.

Had a good time up the top, then walked back down to await our driver and the trip back to town. It was only a half-day trip, so we were back by around 1:30pm and high time for lunch. Went to a cafe next door which had looked promising, but the food was a bit average sadly.

Spent the rest of the afternoon in our hotel room having a little bit of down time, though I took advantage of it and compiled the long-overdue video of our stay at the Funny Lion. Not my best work, but got the job done! Dinner was more Myanmar food at a nearby restaurant, along with a beer of course!Read more