Mount Zwegabin

Mt Zwegabin is, for residents of the state of Kayin, of a special significance. At the top  at the height of 2300ft there is a temple with a relic – a hair of the Buddha.

In addition, the Burmese people in their majority are animists and they believe that spirits and holy souls live on the mountain.

We got persuaded and decided to climb up to the summit, with the  aim , in our case, of visiting  the temple itself and enjoy  beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.

Bravely we started the climb walking past the 1150 ( ! ) identical Buddha statues set around in neat rows.

After that, there were only stairs. Those that are a symbol of physical difficulties and those that were built there for many pilgrims.

Two hours sharply upward at approximately 30 C. Not only wasn’t it easy for us, the locals also did frequent stops, and many of them were left far behind us.

Quite a large plateau at the top allows you to watch around full circle. We were watching the views, and we were looked at by many playful monkeys.

Those animals are common companions  of most monasteries that are located on hills.

The descent proved to be equally difficult. Although,  on the other side of the mountain,  concrete stairs lead up and down, there are so many that they are not  worth counting,  and descend is the almost on a vertical wall!.

The muscles will be sore tomorrow!

Then there was a cave, one of those also used for places of worship – the Saddan cave. Huge as a football field contains several pagodas , dozens of Buddha statues and beautiful reliefs of clay, stuck on the walls of the cave.

We are tired now, but satisfied with our physical condition and the beauty of the Buddhist temples .