The sacred Golden Rock of Myanmar
Myanmar is well-known for hundreds of sacred temples. When it comes to Myanmar tours, you may be confused about where to go among countless beautiful landscapes here. One of the most famous tourist attractions in Myanmar is Kyaiktiyo Pagoda – home to the extraordinarily-precarious Golden Rock of Myanmar. Now, let’s explore this extraordinary Golden Rock of Myanmar with GoAsiaDayTrip Team.
200km from Yangon is Kyaiktiyo Pagoda or Golden Rock – the third famous religious site in Myanmar. Built in 574 BC, it’s considered as one of the most important wonders of this golden country, and also one of the most ideal destinations for tourist travelling to Myanmar.
The journey from Kyaiktiyo station to the Golden Rock of Myanmar requires a special vehicle – trucks. From ordinary people, tourists, to respected munks of great virtue, all have to sit on the top of a truck or even have to hang on to truck sides to overcome 700m high and reach the mountain top.
After travelling 700m on trucks, visitors can walk for the rest of the journey. Or instead, you can book a special service here: the human palanquin. This service is popular because rest of the journey is not too far but it’s so sloping that even strong visitors can be worn out. There are many people gave up in the midway because of exhaustion. For anyone who reaches the top of the Golden Rock of Myanmar, it’s such a great achievement and they’ll see with their own eyes an awesome tourist attraction gifted by the nature.
The sacred stone of Golden Rock has laid precariously on another rock for over 2000 years. The rock stands right at the edge of the mountain. Golden Rock of Myanmar is famous for being incredibly precarious with a contact point of only 78 cm2. At a glance, you may feel that it can fall at any time with a push. According to custom, only men are allowed to touch the Golden Rock, women have to stop outside the fence to pray from distance. Also, on the top, there is a 7.3 m pray tower. All the rock and the tower are cover in gold, that’s why it’s called the Golden Rock of Myanmar.
Legends go that the Buddha, on one journey to the earth, gave a hair of his to a hermit named Teikthadharma Thiriraza. This hermit then took a good care of the Buddha’s hair. Before passing away, he gave it to his adopted son Tissa – King of Myanmar (XI century) and told him to keep it in a stone that looks like head of a hermit.”
Obeying his father’s words, King Tissa, along with the help of gods, found the Golden Rock of Myanmar on the top of Mount Kyaiktiyo. Then a pagoda was built on the top to worship the relic of Buddha. The King also made a small hole on the stone so that he can put the relic in. It’s believed that thanks to the hair of Buddha, the rock can stay still on such a precarious place for hundreds of years, breaking all principles of gravity. Whether you believe in legends or not, this is still an unexplainable phenomenon and the Golden Rock of Myanmar is still a mystery of nature.
From November to March, the Golden Rock of Myanmar is packed with Buddhists from all over the world. Especially, on December 31 every year, there is a festival with 9.000 lamps in the pagoda to welcome the new year and to show gratitude towards Buddha.
11 km away from the Golden Rock of Myanmar is Kinpun. In the center of the village, there are lots of shops, restaurants and hotels. Although there are many hotels on the top of Kyaiktiyo, visitors still prefer to stay in the camp site of Kinpun because of good food and cheerful atmosphere.
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