This almost seems like a which-came-first question, the monkey or the temple? So many temples I have visited have been deemed "monkey temples." The first few monkeys are always really cute, up until the point they turn demonic: grabbing at your clothes, trying to open your bag, and stealing directly from your hand. Monkeys overrun the climb up to the temple at the top of Mount Popa. I'm proud to say that this did not phase me at all— trekking to Everest Base Camp has put me in great shape for any steep climb up.

Visiting Mount Popa was just a short day trip from Bagan, costing 9,000 kyat. I was weirdly/understandably very excited for the hike up. Exercise! Speeding past everyone else with time to spare, I snapped a bunch of photos of these cheeky monkeys.

Unfortunately the view from the top of Mt. Popa is lackluster. Maybe I've been spoiled by other stunning views I have seen, but the temple at the top unimpressed me. Surely this is a first world problem of a traveler.

What I did love most about this day trip was our pit stop at the oil, alcohol, and sweet making "factory." A man was being rotated around by a cow that was pressing down peanuts into oil. Two women were reducing down huge vats of sugar which created this mouth-watering aroma. My group of tourists was noticeably excited about being able to sample all the different sweets they were making. I'm generally hesitant about Asian sweets, but Burmese caramel desserts are bomb. Went for the culture, stayed for the sweets.

Was Mt. Popa worth it? Probably not, it's much nicer to just look at from a distance. At this point I had done all that was possible to do in the Bagan region, and I was now off to the much revered Inle Lake to celebrate Christmas.