2016/5 緬甸七日游 day 2：曼德勒 千人和尚廟開飯 世界最大的書 皇宮 佛廟 佛廟 佛廟

頭頂神功

馬哈穆尼大金佛。佛界的說法是總共有五座釋加摩尼像是他還在人間時立的，兩座在印度，兩座在天堂，還有一個就是這個馬哈穆尼大金佛，可想而知此佛在信眾中的地位了。馬哈木尼佛塔（Mahamuni Pagoda）亦稱大金佛，寺內的釋迦牟尼佛像高約4公尺，全身貼滿了金箔，供虔誠的善男信女以及世界各地遊客前來朝拜。但女士只能在外廳景仰，不能親近佛身。俺以前真的不知道佛教也這麼輕視女性。

穿筒裙的大老爺們們兒在小屋子裡拜，有的還貼金葉子，沒搞明白那是啥玩藝兒。

娘子軍們在外面拜，換俺的話早就不拜這個了，切！

紅牌牌上明文寫著萊迪斯不許進！

金塔

門上雕的小人挺好玩兒的

途中這個紅衣和尚尾隨俺有一會兒了，一開始打招呼握握手啥的，後來看俺木有反映便示意要俺給錢，難道緬甸也有俺們安徽的九華山和尚了？呵呵。。。這廝長得有幾分貌似達賴喇嘛。

這個，這個，俺真的木有搞清楚狀況。難不成是小和尚帶著女朋友和未來的丈母娘游佛廟？這仨人一直在一起，小和尚很殷勤地給娘倆拍照留念。少林寺來的？

貌似佛教理念還是深入人心的，瞧這一家三口。

洗佛。這塊有好些個小佛像按星期的日子排列，如果你生日是個周一你就去洗標著周一的那個佛。大概是這麼個意思。

這些盛裝的孩子們是他們出家或見習出家的日子，以示慶祝。可是，這麼小的孩子應該是打醬油的吧！

不止這些人是什麼關係，浯泱浯泱一大群，都去一個寺院出家？

大金佛原本在靠海邊的一個省，此圖展示運送過程

這就看完了馬哈穆尼廟。看一個還算有意思。不過進廟裡要脫鞋脫襪，本地人要不就根本不穿鞋，要不就一雙拖鞋打天下。這，這，這讓俺們有些難以隨俗。。。

下一站去馬哈崗大勇僧院看僧徒們排隊吃午飯的壯觀場面。只是現在還早，所以先去參觀手工織絲廠。

然後就是商店，俺們一般不買東西，今天趕上她娘倆心情好，要買緬甸筒裙，買了兩條花了28刀拉，肯定是貴了！緬甸人臉上喜歡圖這個黃不刺啦的東西，據說是為了防晒護膚。俺勸婆娘也去塗一個，她死活不幹。 

馬哈剛大勇僧院(MahagandhayonMonastery)：這是一家僅僅建立了50多年，卻擁有全國最多的僧人，年齡從12歲的小沙彌到65歲的大住持。僧院內的每日餐食均由信徒供奉。僧人們早飯靠出去化緣，他們經常早四點就起，午飯在此聚餐，大約十一點的樣子，沒有晚飯。不過俺在僧院里看見了幾個體格像是天天吃晚飯的，呵呵。。。 其實這個習慣挺好，減肥的同學們可以效仿。

這是給遊人的說明。估計是避免有人騙錢。

著幾隻狗本來懶洋洋地躺著，結果俺離著20米蹲下來拍照它們頓時跳將起來向俺沖了過來，嚇死俺了！

準備飯菜了

僧人居住區

僧人們陸陸續續開始來排隊了，這傢伙排了第一

通透敞亮的餐廳

 飯菜端了過來，待會兒僧人們就排隊從此經過領飯。根據飯菜的味道，聞著像是全素食。

這小哥幾個偷懶，坐一會兒再去排隊。緬甸這種僧院里的僧人有些是最後要當和尚的。大多數則是像服兵役一樣，過些年就還俗回家該幹啥幹啥去了。女孩子去當尼姑也是這麼個形式。還有些穿白衣服的則是學徒，預備僧人？

學徒

這個隊一排起來顯得很莊嚴肅穆。俺個人不太理解這種生活方式，也許俺還沒開竅吧！不過這麼小的孩子們就出家又是為啥呢？磨練身心？孩子們自己願意嗎？

這就是剛才看見的那個孩子排第一 

這孩子噘著嘴想啥呢？俺還不太明白為啥都要捧著這麼大的個黑瓦灌兒，很小的孩子也是拿這個。

這個像是天天吃晚飯的和尚開始敲鐵表示飯點兒到了

隊伍開始挪動了，很多僧人，不過應該沒有上千個。估計這也是個旅遊項目。現在是淡季所以排隊不是那麼積極，壯觀。

領飯的地方，貌似還有外面的信徒在此幫忙發飯。還看見遊客，看舉止應該是信佛的，往僧人們的飯缽子上放錢。

領到飯了坐下開吃

大勇僧院出來俺們就來到了因瓦古城，要做擺渡船才能過去。 這位小哥擺弄著這麼大的個機器，手藝嫻熟。

這就是桂河橋了。貌似很新，大概不是電影里的那個。

百度百科：因瓦古城曾是緬甸近四個世紀的首都，著名的因瓦王朝的古都。因為遭到二戰破壞，古城的大批建築被嚴重的破壞，但這些零散的廢墟遺址隱藏在鬱鬱蔥蔥的樹木間、農田裡，讓人不得不感嘆時間的力量。

古城盡頭有一座古老的寺廟，據說是因瓦最老的，整個寺廟由柚木建成，非常堅固。與緬甸為數眾多的廟宇不同，這座寺廟顯得特別古樸和自然，廟裡有一個學堂，幸運的話可以看到有當地人的孩子在這裡讀書，體會一下因瓦的生活氣息。

一般到了這裡都要靠馬車帶領區各廟巡視。貌似也是統一價，5000k一位，俺們帶這個孩子所以打了個折兒，一萬二緬幣，約10刀拉。

 這些地方孩子的情趣不是很高，不過坐馬車她覺著很帶勁兒！

有幾分貌似吳哥窟風格了。這邊的這些廟也要脫鞋脫襪，真服了他們了。一言一閉之，世廟就得脫鞋脫襪。

看廟人兼畫家？ 

鄉間小路，十分原生態

一個廟，一個廟，又一個廟，脫鞋脫襪，脫鞋脫襪，又脫鞋脫襪

這種牛車很是排場，他們耕田也這樣，很科學。問題是，兩頭牛有一頭偷懶咋辦？

馬哈昂美寺是一座類似於吳哥窟的寺廟，只是要小得多。這是一座顏色鮮明的建築，儘管歷經風雨，但依然可以看出那艷麗的黃色和雄偉的氣魄。

脫鞋脫襪，知道啦！還怕俺穿跨欄兒背心兒不成！？

出了馬哈昂美寺看見三蹦子改的小車拉了一車美女過來

都是赤腳大仙 

孤獨的僧人

這個小哥在修「艦載」馬達

 擺渡回了另外一邊驅車去看曼德勒皇宮

筒裙男扒車的英姿

 百度百科：曼德勒皇宮

美女自拍

遠眺曼德勒山 

又一個僧院

佛廟，到此俺已經不願意脫鞋襪了，派俺婆娘代表俺們倆上去。

百度百科：世界書本編輯

買也不知是啥的小女孩兒

三隻小貓咪

裡外都有插銷的廁所。俺在裡面的時候禁不住要想別人從外面插上了咋整？！

百度百科：曼德勒山位於曼德勒市區北部，舊稱羅剎女山，是緬甸著名的佛教勝地。曼德勒山不高，只有二百三十六米，但卻是整個曼德勒市最高的地方。從山上眺望，曼德勒全城和伊洛瓦底江景色盡收眼底。曼德勒是觀看日落必到勝地，還有一大群熱情小喇嘛和你聊天。

光腳上山。那還是電梯比較方便吧？

may 23 -

due to the high temperature, forecasted at 30+c/86+f, we told the driver that we wanted to start early in the day. so at 7am we set out to see the mahamuni temple. the good thing about heading out early is that you get to see local people starting off for the day, people going places, eating breakfast on the street stands, selling flowers, monks lining up to collect alms with a large bowl...

mahanuni temple was already busy with crowds at this time. you have to remove your shoes and socks to get in, lots of walking on your bare tender feet on hard stone surfaces, mostly smooth though, thank goodness. it took a little bit of getting used to because the floor isnt' very clean, especially with folks chewing betel nuts and spit freely almost everywhere. my gush, seems everybody loves to chew that stuff over there, the end result is you get to see a lot of gorgeous red tinted teeth and tongues!

mahamuni Buddha statue was gilded with gold, or maybe it is made of solid gold, very impressive either ways. ladies were not allowed to get into the statue chamber, never knew Buddhism was against women before. so my 5 yearold daughter wasn't very happy. the whole ground is very interesting, we spent quiet some time wondering around.

next we stopped by at a silk weaving mill, where we got to see the primitive machines (like I saw at my grandma's place when i was a kid in rural china decades ago) and workers handling them. then, of course, the shop. my wife and little girl each bought a skirt. I remembered that they paid 28usd for the two skirts, we knew we over paid. but we almost never buy anything other than food and drinks while traveling, so it wasn't worth fighting hard. we skipped stone carving place.

next stop was the thousand monks having lunch together place. it was monastery with more than a thousand monks. at around 11:00am monks, old and young lining up to collect food and entering dining halls. the whole progress was very unique, with onlookers from around the world, tourists and pilgrims.

next we went to inwa ancient city. to get there we took a short boat ride across the river. you either have to have a motor bike or hire a horse cart to get around. to walk in such a heat won't be pleasant. the horse cart goes for 5000k pp, we negotiated it down to 12000k for the three of us, half price for the little one, lol!

inwa city was interesting with some ruins and temples, if we are short on time I don't think we would miss it. the horse cart ride turned out to be a highlight for the little one.

next stop was the mandalay palace. not very impressive in my mind. we basically walked through it, and our driver picked up at the other end. we headed over to Shwenandaw Kyaung temple next. the temple has a style of its own, by now i was getting tired of taking off my shoes, so i didn't bother to get in. my wife did. note: bring a good pair of walking slippers with you when you visit Myanmar!

Kuthodaw Pagoda & the World's Largest Book is also very interesting! each stone slab carved with scripts on it is housed in its own small pagoda, there are loads of them arranged in rows. very impressive. totally worth a stop.

after the largest books temple we headed straight up to the hill, where we got a great panoramic view of the city. worth a stop. we didn't cover mingun temple because it would cost extra 20000k and was out of ways. by the end of the day we felt that we saw more temples than we could handle.

stopped by at the bus station to buy the bus ticket for tomorrow going to bagan. we were told it would cost 125,000k for a private car for the trip and thought it was too expensive. however, our driver took us to an agent where he managed to sell a 4000k ticket to us for 9000k as we found out from other passengers the next morning. they said we didn't have to buy a ticket for the little one if she didn't want a seat.

when we were taken back to our hotel i gave the drive a 10000k tip for his long day work. he was a bit surprised and i insisted. i guess he felt a bit guilty at that moment for the bus ticket ripping-off on us. it proved to me again that, for certain people, any religious believes will take the 2nd place when the money is in the way, all the same world over!