My journey to the Golden Rock which I had been wanting to visit ever since my first visit to this wonderful country in 1986 would take nearly 10 hours and 1000s of km.
I started the day with a wonderful breakfast in the garden court yard of my hotel and was then taken by the two lovely managers to the airport.

Once I arrived in Yangon airport the trusted pre-paid taxi stand provided me the means to get to the bus terminal where I had to catch the bus to the ‘base camp’ town of the Golden Rock. I have only had positive experiences as a single female traveller wearing local, traditional clothes. People commented favourably on my attempt at respecting the local culture and fitting in. At the bus stand I had lunch at one of the many food stalls. I said a few prayers to the goodness of health and food hygiene and tucked into this tasty meal!

The bus filled quickly and soon an elderly lady was moved to sit next to me. I was the only foreigner on the bus and they must have thought that this arrangement would be best. Well it certainly was. The dear lady was kindness personified – trying to translate in her quite limited English a political satire theatre show they played on the DVD player, feeding me some local sweet snack, and taking care of me at the bus stop when we had a wee break.
Verbal and non-verbal communication allowed me to experience a sense of connection that was quite unique.