Saturday, March 1, 2014

Day 51 - Myanmar (Burma): One of my favorite days in Burma at Mt Zwegabin (even with a drunk tuk tuk driver)

With a locals breakfast of mohinga on the street, Melissa, Cassie
and I adventured to Mt Zwegabin (2372 ft). To get to the start of the hike, we walked past 1150 identical Buddha statues lined in rows. I counted 2172 steps (roughly an hour) up to the pagoda on the top of the mountain.

Along the way, I walked and traded off taking photo shoots with monks and a group of 18-24 Myanmar guys.
I even got my prerequisite country headstand photo accomplished!
We then were accompanied by our new Myanamar friends to the Kaw Ka Thawng swimming hole. Along the way, we strolled by beautiful countryside down a dirt path where kids biked by in laughter and seemed immune to the stifling heat. We found a lifesize maze and walked through it with, surprise, a mini pagoda temple at the end! We saw a monk in a red robe, repainting the red robe of monk statues that lined the road.

Our new friends treated us to one of my favorite noodle dishes by the swimming 'hole.'
We shared a bottle of whiskey, making our Burmese version of a Hot Toddy with Gold Royal Burmese whiskey, hot water and palm sugar.
On our way home, we flagged down a tuk tuk, feeling lucky to find a ride home before sunset.....Until we noticed the driver was flying along the road, veering from side to side, irresponsibly passing cars, and yikes, not keeping his eyes open. He was the first drunk Burmese man I encountered and unluckily, he was driving our tuk tuk. 

So, we demanded him to stop, and after an abrasive scene where he seemed to be demanding Cassie's camera for payment, we ended up hitchhiking with a sober man, who spoke no word of English, kept his eyes open, stayed straight and demanded no payment. 

Who would have thought that hitchhiking was safer than paid transport?!

NEXT STOP: Last full day in Burma on a bus back to Yangon.

No comments:

Post a Comment