Mount Popa, the pagoda on the volcano • Myanmar (EN)

In the center of Burma (or Myanmar to use the current name) rises a volcano that has not erupted for ten thousand years. This volcano has a height of about 1500 meters. On one of its old chimneys, named Taung Kalat, which rises to 737 meters and which also bears the name of Mount Popa

Mount Popa

At the top of the Taung Kalat fireplace the devotees have erected a Buddhist temple.

The Buddhist religion is extremely widespread in Myanmar. A local color of Buddhism is characterized by the existence of Nats. The Nats are spirits in Burma. Of these spirits, there are 37 who are considered Grand Nats, and all reside at the top of this extinct volcano.

It is to venerate these spirits that great pilgrimages take place to Mount Popa.

Legend has it that during the reign of King Anawrahta in the 11th century, the Nats converted to Buddhism. This put an end to the sacrifices of thousands of animals during the ceremonies in their honor, Buddha being for the respect of life.

Since then, regional superstitions have forbidden to go up to Mount Popa with black or red clothes, and especially to bring meat there.

The monastery of Mount Popa

To reach the top of Mount Popa and get to the monastery, you have to climb a long staircase of 777 steps.

Many monkeys inhabit the flanks of the volcano, and among them the macaques are the least shy. So little shy that they don't mind robbing unwary tourists. Beware of bags ... especially if they contain candy!

about the place, Popa Mount:

In central Myanmar, some fifty kilometers from Mandalay, rises the crater of an extinct volcano, Mount Popa. It is an important pilgrimage center in the country and a magnificent little pagoda sits at its top. Summit that is deserved because you have to climb about 700 steps trying to escape the grumbling and sympathetically aggressive little monkeys.

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