You are not allowed to climb it, but that would be difficult anyway because of the shape. You can see it most of the time – as long as it is not scaffolded with metal plates and cloths to refresh the gold, as was the case during our visit. I’m not allowed to touch it twice because: Only Buddhist pilgrims are allowed to do that, which is understandable on the one hand. Why should a believer in Christ glue gold plates to a rock? On the other hand, this doesn’t feel right at all, because: The stone may only be touched by male pilgrims.
But still: go there! The Golden Rock in Myanmar’s Mon State is one of those places that sticks in your mind and heart once you see a picture of it: the huge granite boulder that seems weightlessly balanced on a rocky outcrop, according to legend held by a hair of the Buddha, and in the background, far below, vast land. Photos of the rock taken at sunset look like an AI designed a dream image of Asian spirituality.
So we board the pilgrim bus in the town of Kyaikhtiyo in proper style, which is a converted truck – with tightly packed rows of seats on the loading area. Then, after a winding ascent: a plateau with thousands of barefoot pilgrims picnicking in the shade of the trees, a laugh, a lightness like it was in 2016 after the democratic new start in the country. Laughter has stopped today, people are suffering from the repression of the military rulers. Bagan, the Shwedagon Stupa, the Golden Rock: must wait for better times. But then, Golden Rock, you are ours!