29 Jul 2014

Of course, as I have witnessed the sunset, I also have to chase for Bagan’s sunrise. Remember Ruby? Well, I hired her again for me to reach a temple with the amazing view of the Kingdom’s sunrise on time. Atop the temple, I met 3 other Filipinos who just arrived in Bagan not even an hour ago.

Sunrise

From where we were standing, it felt like we were in a cover of a National Geography. It was beautiful. Another “Thank you God” moment for me.

I bid my new friends goodbye. I headed back to my accommodation to have breakfast and prepare for another destination a little more than hour away from Nyaung U, Mt. Popa, a temple on top of a hill.

I asked my hotel reception to help me find a shared taxi to go there so I can get there for a more affordable price of just 10,000kyats. If alone, its either I have to pay 25K to 50K kyats for my own cab or 1kKyats to go by public bus, which was a little inconvenient for me at that time because I had to get back on time for my bus ride back to Yangon that afternoon. So, shared taxi was the best option.

There were 5 of us sharing the van; 2 handsome Koreans, (I was really hoping they’re not romantically involved with each other), myself and a German couple.Climbing to the temple atop Mt. Popa, was dreadful because firstly, it was really high (777 steps?); secondly, there were a lot of monkeys and monkey shit and by the way, we were barefooted; and lastly, they said there were spirits (nats) there.

Mt. Popa

Being inspired by the 2 Korean Cuties, I managed to reach the top without much hesitations. We spent an hour on top and descended. On the sides of the stairs, vendors were scattered selling souvenier items, hence, I tried to ask them for fridge magnets which unfortunately, nobody knew what a fridge magnet (despite my description) was at that time. Frustrated, I just gave up.

We drove back to Nyaung-U after that. I just decided to hang out at the hotel’s reception area while waiting for my free pick-up service to go to the bus terminal arranged by JJ Bus. While waiting, people just started chatting with me, the Golden Myanmar hotel Boys, professor from China and his student. I couldn’t believe that my ability to carry on with a conversation with strangers has greatly improved (i think). I managed to just keep on talking for 4-5hrs there.

Then my pick-up arrived 30minutes earlier than expected. In the vehicle, I again, managed to have great conversations with a local couple and an American guy. We were all taking JJ Bus going back to Yangon.