Giant centipedes for sale near Kyaikhtiyo pagoda.

HE’S wearing brown robes. A stringy, grey and black beard dangles from his chin, almost touching the lid of his alms bowl, and on his head sits a brown leather cap.

“It’s a hermit,” my companion says, probably in the hope that I’ll stop staring.
Seemingly oblivious to my gaze, the hermit inches ever-so-slowly up the sealed road leading to Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda.

“He’s meditating, counting his footsteps,” my friend adds in a whisper, as if he’s scared of breaking the hermit’s concentration.

The silence is soon broken by a group of young children. It’s a Sunday morning but, with exams approaching, they’re off for some extra tuition at their school, not far from Golden Rock.

Giant centipedes for sale near Kyaikhtiyo pagoda.

I’m impressed by their dedication but, as the path leaves the road and enters a covered walkway, they are distracted by the toys and snacks in the shops that line the footpath and their pace slows to a dawdle. Further along, a group of men are busy fixing the footpath.

We leave them all in our wake and finally make it to Mountain Top Hotel, beside the checkpoint where foreigners pay the Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda entrance fee (US$6; $2 for camera permit. Be warned: only dollars are accepted).

The location couldn’t be better; Mountain Top is just a five minute walk to the edge of the pagoda platform and directly across from a bustling teashop that stays open well into the night.

Manager Hasitha Manthriratne says Mountain Top’s close proximity to the pagoda – one of Myanmar’s holiest sites – makes the 27-room hotel a popular choice for local and Asian pilgrims.

“They want to visit the platform maybe three times during their stay,” Mr Manthriratne says, “and will often visit early in the morning, so it makes sense for them to stay near the pagoda. We have many pilgrims from Thailand, in particular, and they often come in big groups and book out 15 or 20 rooms.”
Mountain Top is one of three hotel options at Mt Kyaikhto, along with Golden Rock Hotel and Kyaikhtiyo Hotel.

Golden Rock Hotel – owned by the same company as Mountain Top – is a 45-minute walk down the mountain, not far from Yathetaung bus terminal. Most rooms offer splendid views of Kyaikhtiyo, the golden boulder that apparently rests on a hair of the Buddha, which prevents it from tumbling down the cliffside or squashing unlucky pilgrims on the platform below.

The vista and the lush garden setting make Golden Rock a favourite of Western tourists, says manager Shiran Ekanayake.

“Westerners will often only visit the platform once, for the sunset, so they don’t mind staying a bit further away from the rock,” Mr Ekanayake says.

When he realises I’m from Australia, he smiles. “You have a very good cricket team,” he says, with one eye on the lobby television – Mahela Jayawardene has just resigned the captaincy of the Sri Lankan national cricket team and Mr Ekanayake is patiently waiting for news of his replacement.

Despite its proximity to Yangon (4.5 hours), Bago (2 hours) and Mawlamyine (4 hours), Kyaikhtiyo remains incredibly isolated, Until 15 years ago it had been seen by just a handful of foreigners but improvements in transport, particularly the road from Kinpun village to Yathetaung bus terminal, have sparked a significant increase in international tourists.

Kyaikhtiyo is a convenient and pleasant weekend away from Yangon and most visitors stay for just one night. But if you can afford to spend a few extra days, there are plenty of sights around the mountain to keep you occupied.

A short 30-minute walk from the pagoda platform is Kyeepazat, also known as Crow Rock.

A small cave beneath the rock is billed as the birthplace of King Tissa, the son of a zawgyi and a naga princess and founder of Kyaikhtiyo, and his sister, Shwe Nan Kyin. About 10 visitors at a time can crawl inside the cave, where a trustee explains the story of the 11th century monarch.

The two siblings were raised by a hermit, Taik Tha, who possessed a hair of the Buddha. When Tissa became king, the hermit gave the hair to his adopted son, who – with the help of Thagyamin, the king of the nats – raised the Kyaikhtiyo boulder from the depths of the ocean and used the hair to place it on the edge of the cliff face.

From there, the story takes an unfortunate turn: The king married his sister and, because this is not acceptable in Myanmar culture, they both met a grisly end – Shwe Nan Kyin was mauled by a tiger and Tissa fell off a cliff. A statue of Shwe Nan Kyin can be seen close to the entrance to Kyaikhtiyo.

“The cave actually extends to the Sittaung River. This is a false wall that was put in 20 years ago,” the trustee says, tapping a section behind a Buddha image. “In March we will take out the wall to make the cave wider so more people can fit inside, but we won’t allow people to go all the way to the Sittaung River.”

Outside the cave, visitors try to have their wishes fulfilled by throwing K1, and 25 and 50 pya coins onto the ledge that forms the “mouth” of Kyeepazat. The coins that don’t quite make it invariably tumble down onto the heads of waiting pilgrims, so it’s a good idea not to sit too close to the coin-throwers.

The walk to Kyeepazat takes you past many small stalls – the most interesting of these sell traditional medicine. A smorgasbord of gigantic centipedes, scorpions, and roots and herbs sits next to less savoury medicines, such as shrivelled goat heads and limbs. One store even sells bear paws and huge elephant molars, both the bounty of Bago Yoma hunters, according to the store owner, who waved away my attempts to take photos.

Another less-visited site is Kyaukhtatgyi Pagoda, a 4km walk along the ridgeline from Kyaikhtiyo.

It’s a difficult trek – the path scales three small hills – that takes you past several smaller pagodas, with aggressive trustees intent on fleecing as much money from you as possible.

At Kyauksiyo Pagoda, a trustee points along the ridgeline to the Golden Rock – just in case we’d forgotten where we are – and promptly asks for $2.

As we approach Kyaikhtiyo Galay Zedi, the booming Iron Cross music coming from the PA and wafting into the valley below is hurriedly replaced by a trustee imploring us to donate money for the upkeep of “little Kyaikhtiyo”.

Kyaukhtatgyi, a 20-metre high boulder topped by a stupa, is also something of a tourist trap but the entertainment makes it worthwhile. Trustees sell bells to pilgrims – buy enough and you get the privilege of seeing them attached to the stupa (we had to buy five, at K1000 each).

Now comes the fun part: To reach the stupa so the bells can be attached, two bamboo poles have been rigged up. A man straddles the first pole to the summit and, after hanging the bells, he then slides back down to terra firma at an impressive speed via the other pole.

If pagoda gimmicks aren’t your style, there are other walking options, such as Mobaw waterfall or Weikzar Mountain.

If you go

Golden Rock Hotel and Mountain Top Hotel – standard rooms start at $35, deluxe rooms from $45, both including breakfast. Bookings can be made at the Yangon office (Tel: 502-479, 536-553) Kyaiktiyo Hotel – $48 for a double room, including breakfast (cheaper for locals). (Tel: 245-285, 701-251) There are many bus companies that operate direct Yangon-Kyaikhtiyo bus services, including Sein Win (235 Pansodan Street, Kyauktada township. Tel: 249-871). Tickets are K12,000 return and buses depart Yangon daily at about 9pm and arrive in Kinpun about 2am. The return buses leave Kinpun each day at about noon and arrive in Yangon before 6pm, with a stop at Mhaet Shin Daw Pagoda in Thaton and Bago’s Shwemawdaw Pagoda. Hiring a car for the weekend is another option. Vega Travel (Central Hotel, Bogyoke Aung San Road. Tel: 383-655) offer one night-two day car hire packages. Four-seater sedans are $180 and six-seat Hi Ace vans are $220, which includes a driver, fuel and tolls. All cars are air-conditioned. Both buses and rental cars will deposit you in Kinpun, which has several guesthouses and a plethora of teashops. Kinpun is well known for its local jams and visitors should make sure they pay a visit to the shrine of Kyaiktiyo Bo Bo Gyi, the mountain’s guardian nat spirit. From Kinpun, shuttle buses (K1500, 25 minutes) ferry travellers to Yathetaung bus station, about 2 kilometres (1.25 miles) from Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda.