Myanmar
Kyaukpadaung

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    • Day 42

      Big Mount Popa

      February 16, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      Es git e grosse und e chline Mount Popa hie. Ufem chline isch e Tämpu. Dä isch darum viu bekannter, es het meh touriste u tusegi vo souvenier lädeli. Mir si ufe gross gloffe dert hets fasch kener lüt gha. Mir si aber are gruppe vo junge giele begägnet u wosi üs hei gsee heisi umbedingt es foto wöue mache mit üs. Speter heimer pickniket, ner si si nomau a üs verbi gloffe ner heisi nomau gfragt obsi üs dörfe fötele 😂 😂
      Leider ischs hie fasch immer mega dunnstig darum gsetme nid mega wit, vo däm bärg us hätmä nämlech e riiiise ussicht.
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    • Day 21

      Bagan: Palm Sugar & Peanut prcessing

      March 10, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

      On our way to Mt Popa we stopped at a palm sugar & peanut processing family owned businesses. They also make “Firewater” aka Moonshine from fermented palm sap and sticky rice. To create palm sugar they boil down palm sap with a ratio of 100 to one.Read more

    • Day 21

      Bagan: Mt Popa (Contiued)

      March 10, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

      On our 800 step climb to The Summit of Mt Popa we enjoyed the Macaque monkeys who roam wild and are friendly. They are territorial and get into scuffles with other monkey entering their territory or if they bother their babies. Fascinating to be with them in their habitat.Read more

    • Day 78

      Mont Popa & hospitalité bouddhiste

      May 27, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      Depuis Bagan, apres avoir visité quelques derniers temples, je file vers le mont Popa, une cinquantaine de km à l'est. Ca monte mais ce nest pas si terrible et je suis ravie de me dire que chaque centaine de mètres pris en hauteur signifiera peut être un degré de moins?
      Ce mont est sacré car habité par les anciens esprits "Nats". On y a donc construit un temple, bordé par de nombreux monastères. Je monte à la tombée du jour et trouve refuge dans un des monastères où je suis gentiment accueillie.

      Seul bémol, un moine qui pour m'apporter de l'eau, me pointe sa lampe torche sur le visage en pleine nuit alors que je dors ... (?!) 😯 L'intention était adorable, mais la méthode plus digne de la Stasi que d'un moine bouddhiste !
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    • Day 21

      Bagan: Palm Sugar & Peanut Oil (Cont)

      March 10, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

      We were treated to ginger and palm sugar candy and a tray of tea leaf salad containing a variety of treats such as peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, soya beans, toasted garlic and fried chick peas and a lovely tamarin sauce. Absolutely delicious!Read more

    • Day 117

      Ein Tag mit zwei Gesichter

      February 2, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      5.00 Uhr: Wir quälen uns aus dem Bett. Mit so geschwollenen Augen wird das heute aber nix mit dem Sonnenaufgangsselfie😅🤷‍♀️😱
      Bei 15 Grad düsen wir, angepellt mit langen Sachen und Daunenjacke, mit dem E-Bike zu einem View Tower. Zahlen etwas Eintritt und haben dafür einen wunderbaren Blick auf den Sonnenaufgang, mit Ballonflugsicht über Bagan.🌄🛕 Woooow..schon scheen. 🤗 Danach sind wir allerdings so platt, dass wir den Check Out bis 12.00 voll ausnutzen und uns nochmal auf's Ohr hauen.😴😬

      15.00 Uhr: Ein kleiner Ausflug zum Mount Popa..erst war die Fahrt ganz lustig und wir unterhielten uns angeregt mit zwei anderen Mitfahren, später herrschte Ruhe im Auto.

      Warum?... ich habe mich noch nie so schlecht gefühlt. 😔 Ein seltsames Gefühl steigt in mir hoch. Am Straßenrand stehen gleichmäßig verteilt Menschen..arme Menschen.. alte Menschen, sie sehen unser Auto, halten ihre Hand ausgestreckt zu uns, manche rufen auch etwas...bestimmt an die 100 insgesamt.

      Sicher sind sie zu alt und schwach, um auf den Feldern zu arbeiten, so versuchen sie vielleicht etwas Geld geschenkt zu bekommen... später sehe ich ein anderes einheimisches Auto, es fährt etwas langsamer..sie werfen ein paar Geldscheine raus.. eine bettelnde Frau rennt schreiend, quer über die Straße hinter dem Auto her.😔

      Und wir....? Unser Fahrer fährt nun noch schneller.. und wir rasen an allen vorbei..ich mit dem Wissen, gerade noch vorher am Geldautomat gewesen zu sein..😞 Mir wird nochmals bewusst: Wir können wirklich froh sein, für das was wir haben und der zu sein, der wir sind !!

      Ankunft am Berg:
      Als wir den Berg sehen, ein erstes Wow. Beeindruckend der Tempel da oben. Wir kommen näher und sind etwas enttäuscht als wir am Eingang stehen. Man wird erschlagen von Souvenier Ständen (zum Glück keine aufdringlichen Verkäufer), dann überall Affen🐒, die Burmesen füttern die Affen hier mit eine Art 'Zuckertüte'. Überall liegt der Müll..sie kehren ab und zu die Stufen, aber direkt rechts und links runter 🤷‍♀️😟 Alles wirkt dreckig und vernachlässigt. Wir laufen weiter die Stufen hoch. Jetzt auch noch Schuhe ausziehen, HIER?! 😩 Igit, ich hab mich schon lange nicht mehr so geekelt. Wir laufen quasi über schmierige Stufen wo immer wieder Müll und Affenscheiße liegt.😖

      Nicht mal die Aussicht macht das wieder gut. Es trübt das Bild etwas. Später schauen wir uns lieber von unten den Berg an, wo uns nach und nach auch die Affen🐒 immer näher kamen..als sich dann auch noch ein Rudel Hunde nährte suchten wir das Weite und waren froh wieder zu fahren.🐕🐕🐕

      Weil wir das Busfahren so mögen, haben wir mal wieder einen Nachtbus für unsere Weiterreise gebucht. Holla die Waldfee..🤩 also DAS nenne ich mal ein Luxusbus. Man fühlt sich ja fast wie in einem Flugzeug. Es gibt eine richtige Durchsage, es werden Getränke und Snacks verteilt, jeder Sitz ist total breit und hat einen kleinen Fernseher 😱. Kontrastreicher könnte das Reisen wohl nicht sein.🤷‍♀️😁🤩🚍
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    • Day 11

      Mount Popa

      September 20, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

      Enroute the shared taxi stopped at a random tree house so we could see a cow grinding peanut oil and home distilled palm sugar alcohol bubbling over open fires; it did have a good view point. Unfortunately, there was also a weird procession of lone beggars who camp out on the road every 20m as you near the temple. The mountain is famous for its 777 steps, the monkeys and the cleaners asking for donations to clear up after them. The views at the top are amazing, you can see for miles and get a full 360 view as you walk around the underwhelming pagodas and temples, not counting the interesting Nat temples.Read more

    • Day 5

      Popa

      May 25, 2018 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      We managed a bit more of a leisurely start this morning, only 0730, and had time for a bit of breakfast before we were collected by our car to take us on the roughly 50km drive to Popa.
      For those who have never heard of Popa, and I hadn’t before we started looking at coming here, it is a monastery in the mountains that sits at the top of a volcanic plug, it has pretty much vertical sides all the way round and there is a staircase that winds round the outside to get to the top. A small village has grown up around the base of it, no doubt initially to look after the needs of the monks but now probably as much for the tourists as the monks. Visually it is quite spectacular. It’s also a welcome few degrees cooler than Bagan.
      There are a couple of different entrances you can use to start your ascent, our driver directed us towards one that was flanked by a couple of painted stone elephants but was still less obvious than the main one, which most people use and where the majority of the lower down monkeys hang out. There are quite a lot of monkeys and they are quite bold, running up to people and grabbing stuff, one tried to grab my bottle of water but soon realised that was a mistake. Now with there being quite a lot of monkeys there is quite a lot of monkey poo, much of which seemed to be on the steps and the flat bits between the steps. But there are guys whose job it is to clean up so apart from the smell it wasn’t too bad. That is until after just a short way when it was time for the socks and shoes to come off and go in a locker (to prevent the monkeys stealing them) and for us to continue in bare feet. If I were to say that Tanya was not happy at having to walk in / around the monkey poo that would be an understatement, but we pushed on.
      Now about those steps, I was sure that I’d read one of the quotes that there were about 260, give or take a few, depending on which route you took and I had told Tanya as much. Well it was quickly apparent to me that there were quite a few more than that, 812 to be precise - I counted them on the way down. I don’t think Tanya would have made the ascent if she’d known that, I think I would have been dispatched to take photos and she would have retired to the nearest coffee shop or bar. But I didn’t tell her and she made it, I think she was quite glad she did.
      Needless to say we didn’t race to the top and every time we stopped we seemed to get approached by local people asking us to have a photo taken with them. It’s happened at other locations while we’ve been in Myanmar, we don’t mind but it does seem a bit strange that you might end up posing for someone else’s holiday photos. It’s mainly ladies that have asked us so I did suggest to Tanya that perhaps it was my photo they really wanted but they asked her as well because they didn’t want her to feel left out, I can’t put what she said in reply as persons under the age of 18 might be reading but I could perhaps summarise it as, “don’t be silly!!!”.
      The view from the top was well worth the climb and the descent was a whole lot easier than the ascent, then it was back in the car for the journey back to the hotel. We got back around 1230 giving Tanya plenty of time to scrub the monkey poo off of her feet and have a couple of beers before we went for a bit of late lunch.
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    • Day 21

      Bagan: Mt Popa

      March 10, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

      Mount Popa is a volcano of 1500 metre high. The famous monastery is actually located at a smaller hill just beside Mount Popa. This smaller hill is called Taung Kalat. However, people usually refer it as Mount Popa Monastery.

      We made our way to the summit through the 800 steep stairways. It was tiring but a truly rewarding climb. At the top we were treated to beautiful aerial views. From the monastery, we can see the great Mount Popa. Along the way there are landings with spirit Nat shrines. We were a novelty to many of the children who rarely see white people. They asked us if they can take pictures with us and some wanted to touch my hair. The children are loving and kind.
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    • Day 50

      Mount Popa

      September 6, 2017 in Myanmar

      Ostello Bello made it very easy for its guests to see the sights around Bagan. One of the regular activities they organize are excursions to Mount Popa, a religious site about 1 hour 20 minutes outside of Bagan. On the day I arrived, I signed up for the afternoon trip. When departure time came, we were transported there in one car and one minivan. We had been pre-warned that there was a religious festival at Mt Popa that day and that it would be crowded. That didn’t faze me. In fact, I was excited at the prospect of seeing the festival in motion.

      On the road to Mt Popa, we witnessed some disturbing sights: hundreds of people lined up along the road begging for handouts. We could not figure out if this was related to the festival or if it was an everyday occurrence. I suspect and hope it is the former. Anyway, we saw vehicles ahead of us toss cash and goods out of their cars and motorcycles without even slowing down, and there was a mad scramble to retrieve those items, with some people running into oncoming traffic to get the goods. As far as we could tell, those vehicles were occupied by locals and not tourists. It is a miracle we didn't see anyone get hit. Our minivan driver did not know enough English to tell us what was happening. From my western-biased perspective, if this was about making merit, it is a seriously screwed up way of doing it.

      As we approached Mt Popa, it was clear that the place was going to be one big cluster. There were vehicles all over, and people and motorcycles were trying to squeeze past the cars in the jam. The driver of the car stopped and told everyone to make their way on foot. He told us to stay together and come back together, and gave no further instructions on where and when to meet. Gee, what could possibly go wrong? Fortunately, he did give one guy his phone number.

      Alighting from the vehicles, we walked to the base of Mt Popa on foot through the rain. We walked between the cars and roadside stalls, and squeezed past people and motorcycles. I wish I were eloquent enough to describe the atmosphere. It was a big mess. I was bewildered most of the time, but in the best possible way.

      Before long, we reached the first of many staircases that make up the 700+ steps to the top of Mt Popa. We had to remove our shoes and socks and cover our knees. The floor was wet and muddy, and there were monkeys all over. I dread to think about what I was stepping on with my bare feet. There were, of course, throngs of people climbing up and climbing down, so it was slow going. Along the way up, there were various shrines. At the top, there were more shrines and lots of golden stupas. I loved that we got to see Mt Popa as a living place of worship.

      It shouldn't come as any surprise that our group didn't stay intact during this trek. It was impossible to stay together. At the base of the steps, we gathered and waited for everyone to come down. We waited and waited, and finally all but two of us were down. We called the driver then and he came to get us. He was of course unhappy that two were missing (I actually heard him cuss "Oh My Buddha", which I found hilarious). After he and the minivan driver got us back safely to the two vehicles, he sent the minivan driver back to find the last two. Finally, after about an hour of waiting, we set off back to Ostello Bello.

      https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sacred-mt-popa

      https://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Mandalay-…
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