The (Monkey) King and I on Mount Popa

Due to a brief illness and unreliable internet access I’ve been unable to update this blog for the past few days, but now those problems are behind me so it’s time to get cracking again.

For my last day in Bagan, I made the two hour trip to the famed and revered Mout Popa. Mount Popa is a bit of a misnomer, because when most people, Burmese and foreigners alike, refer to the mountain, nine times out of ten they are referring to this:

  

Yea. That is the Popa Taungkalat monastery. Unbelievably picturesque and dramatic when viewed from any angle, the monastery sits atop an outcropping of the actual mountain. Anyone can go to the top, but there is no elevator and the view is not for the faint of heart. Although I was beginning to feel quite sick by the time we arrived at the base of the monastery, there was no way I was going to let that impede my experience having come so far to see it. Ultimately, the climb was tiring but not so horrible, and I reached the top without incident, save for some encounters with the monkeys.

 Before I go on, I’ll speak a bit on the monkeys. They are Macaques, and there are a lot of them. Making the climb up the monastery steps, you really get the feeling that you are inside an old Travel Channel documentary (before it turned into Food Network 2). We arrived early in the morning, before most of the European tourists had had their tea or croissants or whatever they do, so it was just us and the locals for the most part. The monkeys are everywhere, jumping around, begging for food, and in some cases grabbing onto you or trying to steal your belongings. It’s really an eclectic environment, but also an authentic experience to be sure.

Once I reached the top, I took a moment just to gather myself and enjoy the view before exploring the summit. There really isn’t much to see at the top, just the usual Buddha statues and collection boxes; the best part is the gorgeous scenery visible in all directions. The monkeys become fewer and farther between the higher you get, and at the top I found only one. He was large and looked old, and I theorized that perhaps only one monkey out of the lot of them gets the honor to sit at the top, and this particular monkey was the king. I had a chat with him about how I had figured this out, and then we posed for a picture together.

Back in Bagan, there were still a couple of things I had yet to examine. I took a closer look at the still-intact portions of the old city walls, and also toured the reconstructed version of the palace. Night was beginning to fall, so Anna and I took a pleasant ride in one of the many horse carts that weave through the monument zone, followed by a self-guided tour of some of the large pagodas that are lit up at night. It was an excellent way to spend my final night in Bagan, and satisfied that I had made the most of my stay I began looking forward to my trip to Mandalay the  next day.