Good morning guys Ryan here and welcome back to the One Shot Adventures channel. Today
we are are in Myanmar checking out the amazing Golden Rock pagoda. Perched on a cliff edge,
one of Myanmar’s most sacred sights casually defies the laws of gravity. Legend says that
the Golden Rock is held in place by a single strand of buddha’s hair. And thousands of
visitors flock here every month just to catch a glimpse of it. But this is a pilgrimage
like no other. Mayhem! The journey up to the mountaintop is a bit of rollercoaster. Definitely
not for the feint of heart. So as a tourist is it even worth it? I thought I was going
to throw up but I did not! We left Yangon in the early morning and took a taxi out to
the bus station. Our time in Myanmar coincided with the Thadingyut celebrations. The buddhist
festival of lights. Where millions of lanterns are lit across the whole country. To us, the
Golden Rock sounded like the most unique place to see it all unfold. We didn’t book any
buses but luckily our taxi driver was really helpful and helped us find the right company.
Buses leave from the early morning until early afternoon, but it’s very difficult to get
your hands on any sort of physical timetable. So you are better off asking somebody at your
hotel to find out the times for you. On the bus journey we saw loads of cars and vans
just piled up with speakers blasting out really loud music. There’s a real carnival vibe
around the whole country. The bus takes just over four hours and it arrives in a village
right at the bottom of the mountain called Kin Pun. Kin Pun is a bustling town full of
market stalls and it’s also where most pilgrims and tourists choose to stay the night. But
we had a different idea. A hazardous mountain road separates the town from the Golden Rock,
so you need to jump onto a special kind of truck to make the trip. But when I say truck,
it’s more like a 45 minute rollercoaster ride. They don’t mess around here, you’re
going to get packed into a truck with up to 50 other people and their luggage. The guy
tried to put us on one of the buses but they weren’t having any of it they were just
like there is no room! So all you can do is try to pack light and hold on tight. I’m
a sardine! As I said before, this is not a trip for the feint of heart.
Twists turns and plenty of bumps later we made it to the summit. That was quite fun actually.
There are loads of accommodation options in Kin Pun at the bottom of the mountain but if you want to see the
Golden Rock at sunset the last bus leaves at 6pm. We wanted to experience both the sunset
and sunrise at the Golden Rock. So rather than booking accommodation in Kin Pun we decided
to stay in a hotel on the mountaintop. It is pretty expensive especially considering
how little you pay for accommodation in Myanmar in general. But you’re paying for the convenience
and the room we got is actually really really nice. So this is how close our hotel is to
the rock. I’m standing on the roof of it now and just over here. That’s the Golden
Rock! Your second option, you can actually camp at the Golden Rock for free. Which seems
like an amazing experience but it does get very cold up here at night so it’s up to
you. So we’re walking up to the rock for the first time now. Hopefully we’ll get
a good sunset. Are you excited? I’m more excited about this, it’s bloody great! No
I’m joking. I’m so excited! The rock is free to visit for Myanmar citizens but tourists
do need to pay a small entrance fee, which works out at about £5 British pounds per person and
the ticket lasts for 2 days. They even give you this very nice orange lanyard. It matches
my hair. The Golden Rock is primarily a pilgrimage, a special religious experience for Buddhists.
So this is not a place that was built with westerners or tourism in mind. No shoes from
this point. It’s also no socks and no leggings of any kind so Emma’s got a little rented
skirt there. It looks good. I actually really like the colour! Being festival time, It was
very very busy here. But you could feel a real sense of excitement in the air. Just
as we approached what we came to see.
So there’s a section just up here that you can walk onto and place some gold leaf onto the rock. You can see some little bits of gold leaf here
that have dropped down. As we walked around the pagoda we saw that preparations had already
begun for the nights festivities. Giving us a little clue about what was going to happen.
So we’ve been here for almost an hour so it’s time for some first impressions. It
is really cool and the way that the rock is sitting on edge is pretty surreal. And walking
around you can see how important this place is for Buddhists. But for someone who is coming
here as a tourist and who doesn’t necessarily have a connection to the spiritual side of
things. I’m not sure how essential this is to put on your itinerary. But we’ve still
got the sunset and the sunrise tomorrow morning to go so we’ll see what that’s like. Just
as the sun was setting you could feel the anticipation build even more. Hundreds of
people were filling up little terracotta pots ready to light up the ground under the rock.
There was no announcement, just a sense that something was about to happen. And then it did.
I’ve got to say that sunset followed by all of the lanterns being lit was absolutely amazing.
It was actually pretty magical being up there when it was all going on. It was completely worth the trip just for this part alone.
But tomorrow we’ve got sunrise so I can’t wait to see what that brings in about 12 hours.
You wouldn’t have guessed that we had woken up at 5am, the complex was just as busy as we left it the night before.
The sunrise was very nice. Probably not as magical as the sunset last night but now I’m
just very glad that the hotel is only a 2 minute walk from the rock. I can finally feel
human again. It’s not that great. Before we decided if the Golden Rock was worth it,
we needed to get back down the mountain in the world’s worst theme park ride. Here
we go. Mayhem! So we’re just waiting for our bus back to Yangon now so it’s time
for some final thoughts. Our time at the Golden Rock was magical and seeing all of the lanterns
and lighting up the smoke filled air was a really special experience. But without the
festivities and just judging it as a monument. I’m not sure if this would be worth the
trip.The rock itself is very beautiful and extremely unique but I think after about an
hour of walking around you’re pretty much done. But as far as the full moon festival
goes, I couldn’t recommend a more unique and special way to immerse yourself in a rich
and special culture. Myanmar at it’s very very best. Thank you so much for watching,
and my comment of the week goes to my my good friends Wayne and April at go travel on the
cheap. Make sure you check out their channel like this video and I’ll see you next time.