Kyaiktiyo Pagoda

Kyaiktiyo (Kyaikhteeyoe) Pagoda or Golden Rock is the third most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar. Visitors come to see a gold covered rock with a pagoda sitting on top that has been balancing precariously over a cliff since antiquity. According to Buddhist mythology, the Golden Rock itself is precariously perched on a strand of the Buddha's hair.

From the dawn to dusk, the Golden Rock reflects in various shades of gold and at times seems to float among swirls of clouds and fog that may be rolling by. It becomes mesmerizing at sunset when it is lit by the setting sun with electric lights illuminating the smoke and haze as huge crowds of pilgrims and monks arrive to pray and chant.

The lighting of candles, meditations and offerings to the Buddha goes on throughout the night. Men cross over a bridge across an abyss to affix gold leaf onto the face of the Golden Rock, in deep veneration. In contrast, women are not allowed to touch the rock so they are not permitted to cross the bridge.

The huge granite boulder appears to defy gravity, as it perpetually looks like it's on the verge of rolling down the mountain. The rock and the pagoda are at the top of Mt. Kyaiktiyo at an elevation of 1,100 meters (3,600 ft) in Mon State, about 160km from Yangon in Southeastern Myanmar.

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Asia / Burma

Lat: 17° 28' 54.49" N
Long: 97° 5' 53.66" E

Elevation: 3,600 ft

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Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Sony ILCE 7R (aka Alpha 7r), Rokinon 8mm/2.8 II .5 sec, iso 400, f4