Kyaikto and Kyaiktiyo
Trip Start
May 12, 2009
1
5
18
Trip End
Aug 10, 2009
This was a lovely, if hot walk we did for a day. We got up early (as was becoming the norm) and had breakfast in a restaurant beside the road.Eggs and sweet toast, with jam and sweet tea. Sugar sugar sugar. It was a hot morning even before we left for the 11km hike uphill through hillside villages, if you could call them that. It was beautiful. The route to the top took us through settlements of native peoples and green vegetation. We spotted the great Golden Boulder (only once) from a distance and reached the level where the clouds meet the land, which gave a surreal appearance to everything . The boulder was no let down, though the US$6 entreance fee, plus an additional US$2 per camera grated on our nerves. I hid my camera, not wanting to give the government a penny more than necessary, and Edgar took photos to make up for it. Not having walked far enough (Agata's boundless energy as 'the young one' spurning us on) we decided to venture to a waterfall but got led astray by a friendly monk who brought us to a sacred cave, another few hill top pagodas and villages on the way, but not the waterfall. In this country of oppressed people, they are enthusiastic for information about our contries. The standard greeting is 'which country you come from?' and off begins the geography / anything else you can think of lesson. 'I'm Irish. My country is Ireland. No, not Holland, IREland. Island, near UK / England / Britain. Roy Keane, Man U??? Yes! Now you have it, Ireland :) 4 million people, sort of 2 countries. Nice. Not hot like here, colder. 0 degrees in winter. Summer now, about 20 degrees.7,000+ miles away (what a VAGUE guess). Long long way by air. It's in Europe.' Etc. Etc. Etc.We walked back down the hill by the road and shook our heads at the people offering us truck rides back: the less you spend, the less the government get, even if it's private businesses - of course, tax exists here too, even if U2, Facebook and McDonald's don't. The Thai toursits we encountered didn't seem to have the same attitudes to spending as little money as possible and were getting chairlifted up the hill by 4 panting Burmese men each. The route home wasn't as interesting as the hill track up, but all the same, it was pleasant enough. We reached 'home' after dark and needless to say, despite the heat that night (no air-con!) we slept well. Until about 5am when the local music blaring out through a loud speaker woke us up , as usual. After all, 4am is the regular wake up time and a new day beckoned new adventures!
