5/20-21-22 香港 昆明 曼德勒
五月底香港有個展覽會,早就定好了要去。所以一直在研究順道到哪裡去玩兒一把。去年俺們溜達了約旦,以色列和埃及,研究了不少關於穆斯林基督教和猶太教的東西,今年自然就該延伸到佛教了。一開始打算去印度,研究來研究去發現五月是印度最熱的時候,再加上俺婆姨看了網上的印度遊記表示印度那樣的條件是否適合帶個五歲的孩紙,其實是她自己被嚇著了。所以都快要出發了,俺們臨時改道兒去了緬甸。從做功課到辦簽證總共花了不到四天的時間。去完緬甸的結果是俺得到了單刀赴會去印度的許可證,那婆娘說印度她暫時不考慮了!雖然緬甸貌似比印度條件好不少很多方面也受到了俺婆娘的嚴厲批評。呵呵。。。
初步計劃是仰光yangon,蒲甘bagan,和那波利ngapoli海灘。結果一打聽,五月底氣候不好雨季即將開始,海邊氣候無常。所以就放棄了海灘,加了個曼德勒。香港到緬甸的機票貌似沒有直達航班,而且價格都不便宜,基本都是500刀拉朝上。當然,除了馬航,可現在坐馬航的確心理有些不踏實。最後定的是東航,280刀拉一位往返,缺點是要在昆明歇一晚。又可是咱們仨就能省600刀拉,就這麼地了。
五月20號晚到香港,在機場附近的酒店囚了一晚,第二天不緊不慢的去了昆明。又在昆明機場囚了一晚。五月22號中午的航班昆明直飛曼德勒。本來俺們想省事兒把行程交給旅行社去辦,結果問了幾家得到的報價超出了俺們的承受能力,報價從7天三人1500刀拉(包括所有酒店,交通,導遊,司機和車,從頭到尾)到每天80刀拉司機和車。根據俺從旅遊網站上打聽來的消息俺們到了地方現找司機會便宜不少。所以除了預訂了頭四天的酒店其他的就靠運氣了。不過現在緬甸也是旅遊淡季俺們的勝算還是有的。
簽證是俺們出發前兩天在緬甸的官方電子簽證網站搞妥的,不到24小時全部搞定。下午一點半左右俺們安全降落在曼德勒,揣著電子簽直接殺出了邊檢。首先是要搞點緬甸錢花花,用提款卡在機器上搗鼓了半天發現緬甸的銀行都喜歡收手續費。得,還是用刀拉現款換吧!貌似行情是一刀拉=1173緬甸幣kyats。先換了一百刀,十幾萬緬幣到手了。揣著一把花花綠綠的票子俺們就來找出租車了。這地方一看就是有黑社會把持 - 大家都是統一收費標準!從機場進城:4000塊一個人/拼車,一萬二一輛小車,或一萬八一輛麵包車。生意顯然是不咋地,好幾個人圍著俺們兜售,不過都不原意打折。有個小夥子會說幾句中文,俺們就照顧了他的生意。結果他只是個拉皮條的,把俺們賣給了一個既不會中文,英文也說不了幾句的司機,好在車子還不錯,豐田皇冠。
這邊街上滿街都是日本的二手車,為嘛是日本二手車呢?因為儀錶盤收音機,導航都是日文的。從轎車,小巴到大巴都是這樣地。韓國和中國車也時有所見,但是不是主流。俺們定的酒店式bagan king hotel,網評不錯,挺新的酒店,內飾也很民族風。不過貌似價格要貴一些,59刀拉一晚。俺們今天的觀光任務就是百年柚木橋ubein bridge,所以俺們不趕時間。去酒店的路上跟那個司機商量好了呆會兒兩萬跑一趟柚木橋去看日落。
機場去酒店的路上,這些孩子們都很友好。靠左邊那個牙齒紅紅的,這是他們喜歡嚼檳榔的結果。很多人的嘴和牙都這樣,男女都有,說是提神兒!滿街到處都是買那個的,檳榔塊包在片綠葉里,還伴有不少輔料,結果就是嚼出一嘴紅牙,嚼剩下的東西吐出來也是一灘紅,隨處可見,實在是有礙觀瞻。俺們在曼德勒用過的兩個司機都有此愛好,那個牙口看著的確滲人!
司機車裡掛的茉莉花和吉祥船
街上的壯漢穿著筒裙婀娜多姿地招搖過市
滿街的摩托看著有幾分越南特色了
百度百科:百年柚木大橋 柚木是緬甸最珍貴的寶藏。聰明智慧的緬甸人將其廣泛地用在房屋建築或雕刻上。位於曼德勒市區南方約11公里處的百年柚木大橋(UBeinBridge,建於1851年),更能讓人親睹柚木的不朽。長達1.2公里的柚木大橋由1086根實心柚木建造而成,以「之」字形跨越陶塔曼湖(Taungthaman),這樣的設計可以減緩雨季時大水對橋的強力衝擊。一百多年悠悠地過去了,湖兩岸的百姓仍然靠著這座橋生息。
這就是那百年柚木橋了。貌似只是豎樁是整根兒柚木的,不知橫板兒是不是。有名兒的桂河大橋離這兒也不遠,後來坐車路過,貌似現在是個新橋,也許不是電影里的那個。
遊船
工人們在做維護修復工作
橋下是這樣,到了雨季就到處都是水了
橋面是這樣式兒的
還沒搞清楚這些和尚的道道,這些小和尚也是周末出來放風的嗎?
木頭上都編了號
到處是流浪狗,也許人家不是,只是喜歡到處跑而已
這些是所謂的婆羅門牛,脖子上有個大鼓包兒,都挺瘦的
這就走到了橋的另一頭
當地人都喜歡在臉上塗這種東西,據說是防晒保護皮膚
戴軍帽修房頂的帥哥
垃圾分類入箱
今天是星期天,貌似本地人也喜歡到這兒來遛彎兒,沒看見什麼外國遊客
風很大,俺的兩個隊員必須要手牽手,以防被吹走了,呵呵。。。
在亭子里休息一下,抓拍過路的各色人等
遠處的佛塔
中間這個小島是看日落的好地方,今天雲彩比較厚,怕是看不上了。
在橋下拍橋上的人群
走地雞
走累了,歇一會,喝一口。緬甸牌啤酒,5度酒精度,非淡爽型的,味道還行。
至此看日落的希望已經全部落空。日頭已經藏到雲彩里了。
打道回府吧!要不是風夠大,這天兒夠熱地!天氣預報說是三十多度。
這是俺們喝酒的地方。如果有落日,這是個不錯的地方。很愜意的一天,此地沒有啥驚喜,但是是個看熱鬧的好去處,尤其適合老外們來看本地人!
現在全世界人民都喜歡玩手機,自拍時必不可少地!
we started our research for a trip to india a few months ago as an add-on to our end of may trip to china. as we found out that the end of may was probably the hottest month in india and our 5 yearold daughter didn't handle high heat and humidity too well we switched our destination to Myanmar at the last minute - right before we took off for hong kong.
here's a brief diary of our trip. hope this would help other travelers.
may 20 - 21 -22
we arrive in hong kong late afternoon on may 20. there didn't seem to be a direct flight from hkg to yangon or mandalay the next day. fights with a stopover somewhere ran pretty much 500+usd roundtrip. however, china eastern had a fare with an overnight stopover in Kunming to mandalay and coming back from yangon for 280usd, the savings for the three of us is 600usd. so we took it.
after a non-eventful night at a Kunming airport hotel we boarded our flight to mandalay due to arrive around 1.30pm on may 22. with info I obtained from this forum we decided not to go with a tour operator, which ran anywhere from 1500usd for 7 days with a private van, a guide, hotel rooms and domestic flights to 80usd a day with just a driver and a car in all three cities.
it was a breeze for us to pass through the immigration with our e-visas. tried to get some kyats from atm's with my cash card, the fee local bank wanted to charge made the transaction unfavorable. the going rate at the airport money exchange seemed to be 1usd = 1173k. mint usd paper notes work much better than worn out ones.
from airport to the city center was pretty easy and straight foward, 4000k pp, or 12000k per car or 18000k per van. we stayed at the bagan king hotel. we also did a hotel to ubien bridge roundtrip with the same driver from the airport for 20000k. based on the email quotes from our hotel I later discovered (sent to a different email address that I failed to check. my bad!) I probably paid a tiny bit too much, oh well!
the driver didn't seem to be in a hurry, he was just waiting for us at the spot where he dropped us off. if we did get to see the sunset at the bridge it would be at least 5 hours. we then booked him for the full day tour next day for 50000k (the quote from our hotel was 45000k).
ubien bridge was primitive and simple. the setting was unique. it was also like a local favorite for we didn't see many foreigners, but we did see loads of local people, young and old, girls and boys and monks, which made it more interesting for people watching. the famous sunset did not proceed too well because the sun hid into the low hanging clouds long before it set into the horizon.
we walked the full length with almost gusty wind, stopped in the middle point and had a few mandalay lagers. a pleasant afternoon. nothing very exciting. on our way back we stopped by a couple of local restaurants wife said with good reviews and were not impressed, ended up going back to have dinner at our hotel, prices are almost comparable to that at home. not many choices for local food. our first day went pretty smooth.
泥馬: 前些天,去了Denver,Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Grand Teton National Park, Yellow Stone National Park, Jackson Hole, Salt Lake City
泥馬: 緬甸的柚木和紅木是個沉重的話題,砍伐太嚴重了,硬木生長期卻又十分漫長。造橋還是用鋼鐵造橋合適,這個古老的柚木橋應該保護起來不再通行,邊上應該再新造一座
BANGZI: 都是很棒的地方。crazy horse 和 devils tower 俺木有去過,等啥時候補課去。
泥馬: Crazy Horse距離Mount Rushmore 不遠,大概20分鐘車程,屬於同一地質地區,所以可以在大山花崗岩上雕刻巨型雕像。Crazy Horse是印第安人的英雄,大概的意思是在