Page 231 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

AROUND BAGAN BAGAN AND AROUND 229
Popa, although strictly speaking the mountain itself is the adjacent 1518m-high massif 5
with its summit 4km to the east).
Taung Kalat (and Mount Popa) are famous throughout Myanmar as the home of
the nat spirits (see p.386), attracting thousands of pilgrims who come and pay their
respects to (and perhaps request a cheeky favour of) the resident nats. Things are
particularly busy during the full-moon festival seasons of Nayon (May/June) and
Nadaw (Nov/Dec).
According to tradition, you shouldn’t wear red, black or green when visiting the
mountain, nor should you bring meat, especially pork – a rule that’s possibly in
deference to the Muslim sensibilities of Byatta (see box, p.230), one of the nats said
to reside on the mountain.
Entrance to the shrines is free. It takes around twenty minutes to climb to the
summit of the rock, and for most people an hour or two is sufficient to explore
the site.

Nat Temple
Before heading up the steps, be sure to visit the quirky Nat Temple, directly opposite
the main stairway. Slightly kooky near life-size mannequins of assorted nats can be
found here, standing along the back wall of the shrine inside a glassed-in corridor,
many with banknotes stuffed into their hands. More or less at the centre of the gallery
stands Mai Wunna (see box, p.230), the “Queen Mother of Popa”, flanked by her sons
Min Gyi and Min Lay. A few figures down to the right is the eye-catching Min Kyawzwa,
the “Drunken Nat”, mounted on a horse and festooned with rum bottles and packets
of cheroots in honour of his misspent life drinking, cockfighting and hunting. Further
along is an image of the elephant-headed Ganesh, one of several Hindu gods inducted
into the Burmese nat pantheon (where he is known as Maha Peinne).
To the summit
From the temple, head between the pair of large white elephants opposite and up the
main steps. There are 777 steps up to the top, covered all the way. The lower third of
the stairway is lined with numerous shops, beyond which is a footwear stall where
you’ll have to leave your shoes. The climb is punctuated by the incessant requests for
“donations” for cleaning by locals who keep the stairs clear of monkey poo and other
rubbish, while the monkeys themselves are very much in evidence, and fond of
snatching food from the unwary.
Further nat shrines dot the steps on the way up. The most interesting is the one just
above the footwear stall, signed “Nat Nan”, featuring a parade of nats with helpful
English signs. Figures here include (from left to right) Myin Phyu Shin (aka Aung
Zawmagyi, “Lord of the White Horse”), a messenger said to have been executed for
delivering an important royal communiqué too slowly, along with a family group
showing Byatta (see box, p.230) and two images of his wife and sons.
The summit of the rock (737m) is covered in a dense cluster of Buddha and nat
shrines, often crammed together shoulder to shoulder in the same shrine.
Mount Popa
• The quickest way to access Mount Popa is along the road past the Popa Mountain Resort. Any of the Bagan tour operators
(see p.223) should be able to arrange trips up the mountain, and guides are also usually available for hire through the Popa Mountain
Resort
Rising immediately to the east of Taung Kalat, the thickly forested slopes of the Mount
Popa massif (1518m) comprise the eroded remains of a massive, extinct stratovolcano,
topped with an enormous caldera some 1.6km wide and 850m deep. Often described
as Myanmar’s Mount Olympus, the massif is still considered the spiritual home of the
country’s four Mahagiri nats, and the nat shrine about halfway up the mountain
remains a popular place of pilgrimage.