MYANMAR~Golden Rock - Mon State ~

...Wow!! a spectacular and amazing view...an image that has become iconic for Myanmar...it looks as if the rock is just about to fall off the edge of the mountain and I love the legend that goes along with it too... unfortunately women are not allowed to touch the rock so cannot cross the bridge...but to see it from a distance must also be overwhelming...and the postcard is coming with a super long great stamp...
Big Thanks Jobbo!!【ツ】

The Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda, also called the Golden Rock is one of Burma’s most sacred Buddhist sites. A massive boulder on the edge of a cliff.  This 7,3m high  pagoda is built on top of it, only held  by a single strand of Buddha’s hair.

The rock that appears to be gold is actually a granite boulder that is covered with gold leaf applied to the rock by Buddhist devotees. They also leave paper money on sticks between the rock and its platform, which is used to maintain the site. Although the money is left like this to stop it blowing away, it does look like an attempt to help the rock keep on its perch, too.

The main legend associated with the rock and the pagoda is that the Buddha, on one of his visits, gave a single strand of his hair to the local hermit, Taik Tha. The hermit, when age was about to overcome him, gave the strand to the King who wished the hair to be enshrined. Yet a hair can blow away with the wind, so the King located a boulder at the bottom of the sea and transported it to Kyaiktiyo (this name literally means pagoda on a hermit’s head).


Stamp:

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar
 (Issued 16-06-2011)