Mt Zwegabin Monastery Hike

Mt Zwegabin Hike Details

• Hike Distance: The total distance of the hike is 7km
• Hike Duration: This depends a lot on your speed and how much gear you are carrying. I would say most people can get up and down in about three hours.
• Hike Difficulty: This trail is quite well maintained with a path and stairs but the difficulty does come with the vertical kilometer of incline throughout the ascent.
• Hike Incline: 1300 meters.

How to get to Mt Zwegabin

The first thing you will need to do is organize your transport to Mt Zwegabin. It is possible to have a taxi or tour take you there but I suggest renting a motorcycle or moped. I was staying at Soe Brother’s guesthouse and downstairs is a very friendly, English speaking man who runs ‘Gud Luck Motorcycle’. He gave us a moped and two helmets for 6000 kyat for 24 hours, approximately 5 USD. The taxi will take you there for about 4000 kyat, but probably not at three in the morning.s

I decided it would be a good idea to wake up at three in the morning so if there was a sunrise we would be at the top to witness the magic. I was visiting in September so it was an early start for no sun but you can’t win them all.

From Hpa An. you will want to drive for about thirty minutes to the Lumbini Garden entrance. From the road, you will see a big red and golden arch on your left-hand side. Turn down this road and drive past the rows of Buddha statues. Keep driving until you hit a dead end with temples and buildings surrounding you. The trail begins here through another small arch.

There is another entrance on road 85. It’s known to be a steeper and quicker journey to the top.

How long is the trek to Mt Zwegabin

The trek is very steep and mostly stairs. It can get quite grueling on the quads. Therefore it really depends on your physical shape as to how long this trek takes. For an in shape, young athletic type of a person it could be done in just over an hour. For the average human being who dislikes stairs budget about two hours.

Hiking to Mount Zwegabin Monastery

The hike does not ease you in at all. At four in the morning, we found ourselves on a natural stair climber, in what felt like 100% humidity. Make sure you bring a torch or at least a phone light as the trail has drop-offs at times and you could be in big trouble without light.

At the top of the mountain are a huge golden Stupa and a monastery. Monks live and practice here so be respectful at the top, remove your shoes and leave a small donation if you like.

Hot tip: don’t open any food at the top as you will soon enter a full-blown battle with the local monkeys. I’ve been across Asia and these monkeys were the craziest I’ve encountered. I carried my water bottle as a weapon (of self-defense of course) as I tried to walk around the monastery. One large monkey, in particular, hated me and kept charging, snarling, and scaring the shit out of me. They all retreated to the forest after 9 am.

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We arrived at the top of Mt Zwegabin at 6 am but we were inside of a cloud and couldn’t see any of the views. We patiently waited as bit by bit the cloud blew off. It never entirely cleared but our patience was rewarded as there were many moments we had a great view. We deserved it as we ended up spending five hours at the top enjoying the view when we had it. In the summer months, the weather may be clearer.

If you head down the back of the Monastery there is a toilet block. It may not sound like the best spot but we chilled up here with a huge dropoff below us, dangling our legs over the edge and watching the fog roll by. It’s my favorite spot in the monastery and much cooler than next to the big stupa.

 Stay safe and happy hiking.

Each town I have stopped at has been something different. There are just so many different things to do in Myanmar. This week I’ve been in Hpa An, a developing town amidst limestone mountains and a huge river. It is kind of like Vang Vieng in Laos, without the parties and drinking. During the day there are hikes, caves, lagoons and hot springs to explore and during the night there is…. well nothing.

Constant power outage, a lack of tourism infrastructure, and a unique set of cultural, religious, and traditional norms mean that Hpa An has hardly any night activity at all. Last night at 7 pm, I walked the streets looking for a place to eat and the whole town had shut down because of a power outage. I ate ramen noodles from the one grocery store operating off a generator. I’m having a great time here and I don’t travel for the parties but this is a unique place for sure.

The highlights of this week have been getting out on two hikes. After all this travel I’ve realized that hiking is definitely my favorite activity no matter the country. So maybe I should do more of that as I continue to travel around Myanmar.

Hpan Pu mountain was an epic little trek across the river from Hpa An. I wrote a full blog post about it here. Here are the photos from our short journey crossing the river and hiking up to the stupa at the summit.

The second hike we did was a little bit more intense. At 3:10 in the morning we woke up and jumped on our moped heading toward Mt. Zwegabin, the tallest peak in the region. It’s a pretty grueling hike up countless stairs for about 1.5 hours in the ridiculous jungle humidity.

At the top, there’s a monastery where we sat and waited for the clouds to burn off so we could enjoy the view. Five hours we waited patiently before we could finally see the epic cliffs around the monastery. During these five hours of hiking in Myanmar, I had many crazy standoffs with some huge monkeys. Tip: Don’t eat cookies while monkeys are around unless you are ready to brawl.

Tomorrow we will head to Yangon, where once again I will try and get my camera fixed. After a couple of nights, I’m off to Sri Lanka to work with the tourism board on an adventure travel campaign for 12 days with some old friends!

Hope you all had a good week!

HPAN PU MOUNTAIN HIKE IN HPA AN

Hpan Pu Mountain Hike Details

• Hike Distance: The total distance of the hike is 2.5km
• Hike Duration: The hike up and down can be done in just over an hour.
• Hike Difficulty: This trail is in okay condition but there are a few areas you need sure-footing. The short duration of the hike should make it possible for most people.
• Hike Incline: 100 meters.

How to get to Hpan Pu Mountain

There are two ways to get to Hpan Pu Mountain and you may want to consider which mode of transport suits your needs better.

The most common way to get to Hpan Pu Mountain from Hpa An town is to walk to Shwe Yin Myaw Pagoda. (I’ve added a map below so you can find the Pagoda.) This is only 10-15 minutes walk depending on where your guest house is. Once you arrive at the pagoda walk down to the bank of the river and you will find some wooden boats docked rather informally and a few wooden shacks set up.

When I arrived not much was going on and I waited for a boatman to approach me. He offered to take me across for 500 Kyat, which is 50 cents. This is the amount I had heard previously so try not to pay more than this for the short voyage across the lake. We shared the boat with a few locals and 6 chickens who were tied up to a pole. The issue with taking the boat across is that you need to take the boat back and our boatman didn’t want to bring us back after sunset.

We risked it and luckily there was a boat to bring us back but this is not necessarily something you can count on. We would’ve liked to stay longer at the summit but didn’t want to risk getting caught without a ride back.

Once you cross the river you will walk through a small village. There are several signs pointing towards the hike and the locals know why you are there and will point you in the right direction if you look lost.

The other option you have to reach Hpan Pu Mountain is to drive a motorbike across the bridge. You can rent one in Hpa An for 6000 Kyat, which is about $5 USD. It is a 20km drive from Hpa An town, which might seem like a long drive. However, there are many caves and attractions near Hpan Pu Mountain so you might consider spending the day at this side of the river.

Having your own motorbike means you can drive all the way up to the foot of the hike and you can return at whatever time suits you, even after the sun has fully set and the last boat has cruised back across the river. If you are into your sunsets and don’t want to be rushed this is the option for you.

Hpan Pu Mountain Hike Map

Hiking Mt. Hpan Pu

I use the term hiking loosely because it is a short ascent but I think it still qualifies as a hike. I stopped a lot for photos but if you went straight up at a steady pace it shouldn’t take you more than 25 minutes. It is quite steep and gets humid in the dense foliage so be prepared for a sweat fest and bring a lot of water.

The hike was quite interesting with a mix of stairs, rock and dirt steps, and bamboo ladders guiding us to the top. There were a couple of viewpoints along the way, which we happily rested at in the hot, humid weather. Probably the coolest part of the hike was a bamboo watchtower that is in the middle of the hike. I have no idea what the purpose is for the watchtower but we hung out here for a while, taking in the river and the town below before continuing the ascent.

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At the summit of Hpa An Mountain, a golden pagoda marks the top. From here you have panoramic views. We looked back out over Hpa An town on one side and over the farming fields towards the mountains on the other. This is a bang for your buck hike. With only 25 minutes of hiking, you have some pretty epic views and manage to get a sense of the life around the region as you watch people working below and boats cruising past.

I jumped on a plane and flew to Bangkok for the night. It would be my last day solo for a while as I met my sister at the airport. Our plan is to travel through Myanmar for the next three weeks.

The next morning we landed in Mandalay and had our first experience in Myanmar. So far our time here has been incredibly quiet. I never check but I assume it is the low season. Only 300,000 tourists visit a year but compared to Southeast Asia, Myanmar is like a quiet country town. Sometimes I don’t know which way to drive on the road because there are no other cars or bikes in sight to copy.

We had a couple of days to explore Mandalay and headed to the Ubein Bridge and then later made the 1700-step trek up to Mandalay Hill. It’s pretty amazing to come from a city in Australia with 1 million people and then to arrive in a city with 6 times that amount. What makes it even more incredible is that Mandalay doesn’t even look like a city from the hill it is completely engulfed by jungle except for one tiny portion.

These kids were shooting pellets at a can near the river and were demonstrating their accuracy for me as I snapped a few shots. Some pretty heavy artillery for kids but they were just mucking about.

After a few days of adventuring in Mandalay and watching my sister attempt to order vegan food in another language, we decided to head to Bagan. It’s the most popular tourist destination in Myanmar and has been compared to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

A 10-hour boat ride, which was surprisingly comfortable, led us down the Irrawaddy River towards Bagan. In a first for Asia, we arrived three hours earlier than we were told. India take note.

Bagan is famous for its temples and pagodas. During the 11th century to the 15th century over 10,000 pagodas, stupas and temples were built on the plains of Bagan. Today 2,000 still remain and are scattered throughout Bagan.

Sitting atop the Pagodas looking out over the plains has been on my bucket list for a while. Unfortunately, I came in the off-season for hot-air ballooning. However, the essence remains the same. We feel very much like tomb raiders exploring the vast plains of Bagan on our trusty but relatively pathetic E-bike.

Our Myanmar adventures will continue in Bagan before we head to the idyllic Inle Lake region on a 10-hour bus neither of us is looking forward to.

Hope you all had a good week.