Next up, we headed south to Yangon. It is the largest city in the country and the commercial capital. The city is a mix between old and new, but more the former with a telegraph office still in active operation. The main site to see in Yangon is the Shwedagon Pagoda. 
Being one of two of the holiest Buddhist sites in Myanmar, it gets a lot of pilgrims and being the full moon holiday, it was very busy when we visited.
The next morning we got up early and started our 4 hour drive through the country side toward the Golden Rock base camp. When we arrived at the base camp, it was PACKED with pilgrims that were going to see the rock and spend the night. All the trucks were full, but the driver moved some passengers around and our guide paid for another seat so we would be slightly more comfortable. It was miserable as is so I can't imagine what it would have been like without the extra "space." The 45 minute ride to the summit wasn't boring, that's for sure - lots of twists and turns. Others we had met had described the truck ride up to the summit as a roller coaster and it sure did live up to expectations.
We safely made it to the top, but at times I had my doubts... After checking in to our hotel we headed to the Golden Rock. The place was packed full of pilgrims! Some were sleeping others were eating. Our guide explained that they would camp out over night in the open air. This is a pilgrimage that all Burmese Buddhist try to undertake at least one time in their lives - needless to say some have been traveling for a long time to get there.
Since many of the pilgrims were from very small villages they have never seen a white person in the flesh and wanted to take pictures with us, we got stopped a few times but Melissa was especially popular.
After the sunset we headed back to the hotel but the people kept on coming!
Our hotel room provided views of a stunning sunrise from above the clouds!
We got an early start to catch a truck but the trucks were already full and the lines were especially long. Luckily our guide found a tour guide friend who rented the entire truck for his Thai tour group and he let us hop on.
The way down hill was a bit easier as we had more space and knew what to expect, but I was still relieved when we finally made it back down the hill.
Our guide with our new Thai friends.
On the way back to Yangon we stopped a large reclining Buddha. After the long drive back to Yangon, we were ready to head back to Hong Kong. The next morning we caught a 8am flight and arrived in Hong Kong at 7:45pm. The following morning we were on a 10:20 am flight to NYC, finally some time to sleep!
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