Golden Rock

    We visited Golden Rock about 4 hours outside of Yangon in the Mon (Hmong) province late last night and this morning. Golden Rock is a giant bolder on a ledge and the story goes that it is held in place by a hair of Buddha's head that was passed down to the former leader of the Hmong people. Regardless of the providence, it is considered to be one of the most Buddhist spiritual sites in the country. Many travel long distances to visit it once in a lifetime. It's a long way to the top of the mountaintop with the last few miles being in an open truck winding up switchback after switchback. There must have been 1,000 people up at the top in a weird mixture of intense spirituality and a fair-like family outing with families that set out blankets and food. Golden Rock is called that because believers gild the rock in gold leaf, Men can go to the rock and add their piece of gold leaf to one side of it and the rest is done by Buddhist monks every three years. It's a strange combination of kitsch and holiness. Anyway, it was worth visiting and our last outing for this trip. We are back in Yangon (Rangoon) now and had our goodbye dinner at the hotel. some are off early tomorrow morning and I'll stay on an extra day to walk around before leaving. Thanks for coming on the adventure with me...

Dave