Rocking Gold

When one thinks about traveling to visit a rock, you might not be very inspired to go, but when that rock is defying gravity by one strand of the Buddha's hair underneath you might be a bit more intrigued. Then when you find out it's covered in gold leaves and a tiny pagoda sits on top of it all you might just book a ticket. Well that's exactly what we did. 

Being one of the top buddhist pilgrimage sites in Burma you get to meet many wonderful and talkative monks while placing your own slice of gold leaf on the rock. (Ladies not allowed). When Cassie and I finally walked away from this site we were actually pretty impressed. That rock really is sitting there pretty precariously. It really shines like no rock I've ever seen before and I understand why Monks make the long journey to see this lovely site. 

On the tracks

On our last day in Yangon we set out on the local train which circles the ever expanding city. After reading a few reviews online, we knew our final goal of circling the city might not come to fruitition; trains are known to only go a few stops before stopping and or backtracking and never making it all the way around Yangon. Well, never worrying about where we might end up, we set out for the train to see what was outside the city center. We were quite hopeful when we passed stop after stop still traveling north, but like all good things that come to an end, so did our ride. As the train squeaked to it's final stop and most passengers exited the rickety train, we sat hopeful and waited for our return ride home.

What we got in the meantime was an excited group of kids in the train next to us laughing and smiling at the weird foreigners stuck on a train in the middle of no where. The photographic bunch filled our hour with laughter and welcoming smiles. Then like a trusty old car, the engine started and we we're heading south back to the city waving goodbye to all the Burmese kids we just met.

Colonial Rangoon

Taking our first steps into the Yangon International airport had us ripe with excitement. Only a few weeks earlier we had quickly told our friend Cit-ta's mom we were considering going to Burma. Not really knowing anything about Burma we had no clue what would lay ahead. To be honest we probably wouldn't even have come out here if she didn't get the ball rolling. Before we knew it she was on the phone calling the embassy to see their hours and what paperwork we needed to apply. Two hours later we had our letter of intent written and printed ready to be dropped off.

So here we are, a month later in downtown Yangon, a city of over 4 milion with one of the greatest concentration of British colonial buildings in the region. What catches your attention at first is the wide boulevards, then the lack of the usual Asian traffic: where are the motorbikes? The story goes; A top govermental official collided with a motorbiker then banned all motorbikes from Yangon. I guess that's what happens when you have a corrupt military running your goverment.

The few days we spent in the city had us wondering the random avenues looking at the beautiful but dilapidated archicture, shopping from street front book vendors, visiting inner city temples and soaking up all the lovely smiles and inquisitive looks from locals. Within a few hours of arriving we knew this country was going to be special. Although, we still had no real clue what lied ahead.