13 October
It was around 7 pm on 7th October in Yangon. Phoe Kyaw and Wai Wai set out their tour to Mount Kyaikhtiyo from down-town. It was their first-ever trip. Instead of exciting about the trip, the couple tried to release from work stresses as the tour was not on the Thadingyut holiday which falls from 11th to 15th October.
It took the couple about two hours to Aung Mingalar Bus Terminal. They arrived at the bus station around 9 pm and bought the tickets of 9:30 pm.
The bus to Mount Kayikhtiyo was about to leave in a few minutes. From the bus, Phoe Kyaw looked outside the bus and saw many people going here and there under brightly shinning lampposts in the compound. On the way to Mount Kyaikhtiyo, nothing could be seen outside the bus except lampposts.
It was exactly 1 am on 8 October when the bus operator announced that the bus has arrived in Kinpon Camp and all the passengers to surely check the things they carried before they left the bus.
Surrounded by darkness, a guest house was dimly lit at the place where the bus stopped. Some boys were pursuing passengers to rent rooms in the guesthouse, saying that the transport to Mount Kyaikhtiyo run only in the daytime.
Without knowing where to go in the darkness, new comers to the place, mostly rented the rooms. The rooms of the guest house are priced from K 10,000 to 40,000 a night. The rooms priced K 10,000 are so-called room with no bed stands and no furniture. They only provided two pillows, two blankets and a mat to sleep on the floor. Most passengers rented K 20,000 rooms which are neatly equipped with air conditioning, bed stand, mattresses and television except private toilet and bed room.
It was around 7 am on 8th October when the couple checked out the guest-house. It took them about ten minutes on foot to the Kinpon Camp station to climb up to Mount Kyaikhtiyo. They had breakfast near the station and Wai Wai said, “let’s us ride cable car.” Phoe Kyaw nodded.
The cable car ticket box is under the same roof with the cars which go to Mount Kyaikhtiyo. Two salesgirls smiled at them and explained about their cable cars routes and ticket fares. One of the salesgirls said, “A cable car can be ridden individually or with other passengers at the wishes of the riders.”
The cable car route starts only from Rathe Taung (Mount Hermit) which is one of the mountain between Kinpon Camp and the mountain where the Kyaihtiyo Pagoda (the Golden Rock) is located. Cable car fare is K 5,000 per one for a one-way trip and K 7,000 for a round trip. The tickets for a round trip are valid for two days.
The seats of the cars are very tight. Each car departs from the Kinpon Camp station when all 42 seats are full. The bus fare to the top of the mountain was K 3,000 for one-way trip, and the fare to Rathe Taung where cable car line starts was K 2,000. The cable car station at the foot of Rathe Taung is beautifully decorated with flowers and other things including house models to take photos.
Riding cable car, passengers can enjoy the aerial views of the greenish mountains, and the view of bluish sky and the golden Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda.
The sun was brightly shinning when the couple set foot on Mount Kyaikhtiyo. Near the car and cable car stations on the mountain, bearer men and women were asking travelers to hire them for carrying baggage. There were also chairs carried by bearers. The aged or sickly tourists mostly rode the chairs.
On the way to the pagoda, guest house agents are advertising for rooms, asking almost every passengers to rent. Following one passenger to another, flowers and ready-made meal (soon) sellers are selling their goods.
Around the pagoda, there are buildings where Buddha images are enshrined and the buildings where people can view and bow to the pagoda. Some pilgrims are offering meals, water, light and incent sticks in the building where Buddha images are enshrined. The couple sat at a building near the Golden Rock and bowed to the pagoda.
The waterfall which is not far from the pagoda is also popular. The couple arranged to go there, but, no car transported there on that day as it was in off-season. Therefore, they had lunch on the mountain and went down back to Rathe Taung, riding cable car.
It took about half an hour them to climb up Mount Hermit. On the mountain, the couple took meditation for 20 minutes, and said they felt that the top of Mount Hermit way very peaceful and quiet.
It was around 4 pm when they arrived back at Kin-pon Camp. There was no regular bus running to Yangon from the Kinpon Camp later 1 pm. There are only a last bus in Kyaikhto Town for Yangon that leaves at 4:30 pm which is about 30 minutes’ drive away from the Kinpon Camp.
When the car from Rathe Taung arrived at Kinpon Camp, a bus ticket agent was selling tickets for Yangon with K 4,000. The bus had no air conditioning. But the couple bought tickets for Yangon as they didn’t want to go Kyaikhto. On the bus, it was hot, but the things being seen through the bus windows were very beautiful.
The bus after driving about 3 hours arrived at Saw Bwar Gyi Gone in Yangon around 7 pm which was around the same hour of the previous day when Phoe Kyaw and Wai Wai began their tour to Mount Kyaikhtiyo. The round trip only took them about 24 hours.
By K Author
