Mount Popa, Myanmar: It's Very High

It's like something out of Harry Potter: a gold spired monastery clinging to the top of Mount Popa, a craggy finger of rock towering 700 metres above the surrounding Myingyan Plain.

Ever since I'd seen a panoramic photo of Mount Popa in a magazine, I knew I had to go and visit it during my visit to Myanmar. It seems almost unreal, the gold of the monastery spire at the top of Mount Popa nearly blinding as it catches the intense mid morning sunlight. And the rock itself on which it perches looks frankly supernatural, thin and narrow and surrounded by flat plain all around it 700 metres below. It's like the temple got suddenly elevated skywards, straight up and half a mile above the ground.

Mount Popa and the town below
Here's a closeup of the temple on top of Mount Popa which is a bit clearer (both of these pics look a lot better in the enlarged versions - click for bigness). Mount Popa itself is apparently an extinct volcano that last erupted over 300 years ago. Unsurprisingly, its dramatic appearance has led Mount Popa to be a revered holy site for centuries, and it's considered to be the home of the most powerful "nats", or spirits, that dominate Burmese mythology and religion.

Mount Popa closeup
The climb to the top of Mount Popa is not to be undertaken lightly. I saw a middle aged French couple almost have twin coronaries two thirds of the way up. There's a lot of stairs, some of which are steep, but it's an entertaining climb. On the lower reaches are plenty of hawkers touting their wares, which thin out the higher you get. At the main entrance there's a collection of outdoor tea shops providing refreshment for Burmese pilgrims coming up or going down. And wherever you are on the climb up or down, there are always the monkeys, which bounce around you, swing from the walkway's roof rafters, and fight over the cornets of peanuts which visitors like to buy and hand out to these slightly tatty looking furry agents of mischief. you probably want to avoid getting bitten by one of them...

Monkey on the steps
Once at the top, there's a labyrinthine of different shrines in the temple to explore.

Courtyard, Mount Popa