Mount Popa
Mount Popa of Bagan is one of the special mountains in Myanmar. It is also a must-go place when people come to visit Myanmar. The mount is a crater of an extinct volcano perched by a sacred monastery, in which believed to be home of the most powerful Nats and four of these Buddhist spirits worshiped by the Burmese. From a distant view, the mountain stands distinguishably in the foggy forests with its glistening golden crown (literally golden!).
To reach the top of mountain, tourists can join the 777-step adventure to the top. The special thing when climbing is that tourists must walk on bare feet completely and wear respectable clothing as the mountain is considered a religious relic to locals. Along the climb, tourists can find many curious monkeys occupying the food stalls (intentionally set for them). Because of the curiosity of the monkeys, there is also an additional requirement that tourists must remove hats and bags to avoid unwanted attention from them. Although the climb is long and dusty, visitors will be rewarded by a spectacular twinkling golden view, with golden stupas and statues. The sunnier it gets, the more stunning it is. From the top of the mount, the landscape is marvelous and refreshing with dreamlike foggy forest surrounding and the blue sky connected by beautiful horizontal line. Tips for the adventure are bringing tissue wipes and adequate supply of water as the stairs are dusty and very hot due to the tropical heat. The forest surrounding Popa Mount is the Popa Mountain National park which is home for thousands of animals and plant species. Tourists, especially botanists and bird lovers will immediately fall in love with this place.
Mount Popa
Tourists can take either taxi, bus or even riding bikes to Popa mount from Bagan, Magway or Yagoon. It is important to clearly confirm the details of destination as there are many buses and taxis or any means of transportation with different companies that can misguide or confuse tourists. The best time of the year to visit Mount Popa is the dry season which ranges from November to May. Rains, especially heavy ones, may interrupt your vacation. Furthermore, the rains from June to October will nourish the forests and they become more colorful for the upcoming dry season.
Temple On The Mountain
After trekking on Mount Popa top or exploring Popa Mountain national park, tourists can stop by at Mount Popa resort. One can easily take a cab and travel to this resort for a break. This resort is popular one when it comes to visit Mount Popa. The environment here is so adorable and refreshing. Especially, a lunch and drinks are offered with a spectacular view of the shrine which tourists just visited. However, it is quite expensive for a local restaurant at a non-popular area. Therefore, tourists can either decide to dine here or eat from local food stalls available in the villages at the base of the mountain, or ones at the foot of the shrine, to save money on food when visiting this place.
