The golden boulder

I wanted to see the sunrise at the paya, but trucks don't leave early enough. We briefly considered leaving at 1 am for the four hour trek, but decided to shoot for sunset instead. So at 1 pm we set out on the trail up the mountain, which proved to be interesting. The whole way was lined with little bamboo thatch teashops selling snacks, sodas, water, and souvenirs for the pilgrims. The souvenirs consisted of photos of the paya, Buddha images, and interesting bamboo toys, such as race cars, tanks labeled "U.S. Army," and guns labeled "Rambo" and "love." The guns came in many sizes, from small pistols to huge rocket launchers as big as me.

At first the walk was nice, with everyone saying "hello," but eventually it got annoying. My new pet peeve is cute kids trying to sell you stuff, or flat out asking for money. They would just come up and say "hello dollar?" or "hello money?" The parents weren't much better, trying to get us to buy their water or sit down in there restaurants ("hello please sit down").

A couple of hours in a guy behind a bamboo counter gestured at us and pointed at a side trail with a picture of what looked like the paya on an arch, then tried to extort money from us, which we refused. I was suspicious of the trail, but we followed it to a boulder paya covered with bamboo scaffolding and guys painting it yellow, and featured an old monk smoking a huge cigar. To say I was disappointed was an understatement, but when I showed the monks who were watching us curiously the photo of the paya on the cover of my guidebook they laughed and said it was back the way we came. So we had to follow the trail back to where it branched, costing us an hour.

The trail was strenuous with steep stairs, and it was very hot. This didn't stop the old women puffing on huge cigars as they walked. My stomach was also feeling bad from the terrible greasy food they serve here. I, a bit ahead of Marie, finally made it to the paya at 5:30, and walked right past the building where I was supposed to pay an exorbitant $6 (remember, this is one of the poorest countries in the world) entry fee to the military government. There were quite a few Burmese pilgrims there, and a good number of tourists too, maybe 20 or 30, taking photos. The paya itself was alright, but it wasn't "all that." The walk up was far more interesting.

I hung around until it got dark, then met Marie in a tourist restaurant. She was accosted by guys wanting her to pay the entry fee, so didn't go in. I guess it pays not to have conspicuous long, blonde hair. The restaurant was exorbitantly expensive, charging $1 for Coke (why should I pay this when I can drink Star Cola for ten cents?). Since I was feeling light-headed from lack of food I decided to splurge and order "fish & chips" for $1. It turned out to be so awful I couldn't eat it.

There were no more trucks, so our only option was to walk the 12 km (7 mi) down the mountain in the dark. On the way we met a band of four happy, singing pilgrims who didn't speak English, but looked out for us. Unfortunately, Marie tripped in the dark and twisted her ankle. Luckily she was still able to walk. Due to hunger and exhaustion, the walk seemed to go on forever, but we finally got back around midnight.