Kyaiktiyo A woman has just started a cooking fire in the Kyaiktiyo "base camp" near the beginning of a trail that leads to the top of a mountain where the famous Boulder Stupa sits on the equally famous "Gold Rock". This is one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in Myanmar. The 13 km trail takes you through a pleasant landscape. Alternatively, you could catch one of the trucks that carry passengers most of the way up along a different route, but this is a less meritorious way to reach the top for the many pilgrims that come here. Pilgrims attach new goldleaves to the boulder every day during the pilgrimage season which commences at the end of the rainy season in late October, tapers off as the temperature rises, and ends when both the road and the trail become impassable at the onset of the rainy season. Sunset and sunrise are supposed to be the most magical times at the goldleafed rock...   Next stop: Bago. Burma:  Yangon  Bagan  Mandalay  Pyin U Lwin  Hsipaw/Lashio  Kalaw  Pindaya  Inle Lake  Around Inle  Kyaiktiyo  Bago  Mawlamyine