One of my favorite places in Burma is the Golden Rock. Literally translated, the name of this location means ‘Pagoda on a Hermit's head’. It’s situated about 3 hours outside of Rangoon, up in the mountains on this very precarious ledge. It looks as though at any moment this rock is going to tumble down into the valley. This is a one of the most important places of pilgrimage in Burma, only second to the Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon. Hundreds of thousands of tourists and pilgrims come here from all over the Buddhist world. The reason this rock is gold is because pilgrims come from all over Burma and place gold leaf all over this rock. They have been doing this for hundreds of years.
Kyaiktiyo, Burma, 1994
