5/24
昨天司機帶著俺們去車站買了今天去蒲甘的大巴票。俺們如約一早六點就在酒店大堂等車來接了。俺婆姨在網上打聽來的從曼德勒去蒲甘有豪華大巴帶上網，9000塊一張票，不到二百公里要跑近五小時。自己包車能快一小時到，但是價格是125000塊，性價比太差！酒店餐廳的人挺好，昨晚在樓上喝酒服務員聽說俺們一早要走趕不上早飯主動說給俺們包餐盒，好孩子！
拿了餐盒上了車，來的是一輛小巴，挺憋屈的，原本以為這車只是送俺們去車站，結果酒店服務員說就是這車開蒲甘。俺婆娘的感覺頓時就崩潰了，說好的豪華大巴帶上網呢？！等又上了幾個人一打聽，人家的車票才4000塊，合著昨天那個該天殺的司機騙了俺們！難怪俺昨天給他小費是他說不用，不過俺還是給他了一萬塊。聽著夠霸氣吧！呵呵。。。其實司機工作也挺賣力，挺辛苦地。但是這騙人有些要不得。可見神馬宗教信仰在鈔票面前都是浮雲！別跟俺理論這事兒，俺見得多了！
得，就當是體驗生活吧！小孩子本來不用買票的，當然不買票也沒座位。為了舒適俺也給她買了一張票，所以又多折進去5000塊！這個一點也不豪華的中巴到處接了一圈人，終於坐滿了，基本都是本地人，還好萬幸沒趕上帶活雞活鴨的大嬸兒們。大約七點多從曼德勒出發，沿路走走停停，路況時好時壞，反正速度是沒有。早上上車還有個小插曲，上車時服務生幫俺們把東西搬上車，俺要拿一千塊小費給他忽然發現俺的五百刀拉現金不見了，早上明明記得放褲兜里了，嚇得俺小臉兒都綠了！一通亂翻無果。等開出去有一小時了，俺無意中在另外一個口袋裡摸到了類似紙幣一樣的物品 - 合著那五百刀拉放在平常不放錢的口袋裡！經驗主義要不得！呸，呸！！！為神馬要帶現金呢？因為貌似緬甸的提款機喜歡收手續費。所以去這種國家還是刀拉現鈔最管用，還得是嘎嘎新的票子。
至此，今天的壞消息就結束了。一路上平淡無奇，看看緬甸的農村鄉鎮，不到五小時就到達了蒲甘新城的車站。說好的送酒店也沒了，因為俺們的酒店在老城。下車後跟一個會英文的同學關於計程車去酒店的事宜扯皮了半天，合著人家是做旅遊的，多新鮮哪，要不誰有工夫跟你扯！最後達成的協議是半天旅遊兩萬二，免費送酒店。事後一了解，人家還真是挺誠實的，沒有亂要價，包車一天算四萬五。
到了酒店放下東西，稍事休息，司機下午一點準時來接俺們了。司機是個小年輕，穿著筒裙很窈窕的樣紙，呵呵。。。胳膊上刺了個龍略微有些不協調。。。基本一句英語都不會。但是！俺們要去的廟名字他一聽就明白，這就是本事！跑跑顛顛了一下午，看了幾個事先選好的大廟，最後到了著名的「許三多」shwe san daw廟登高遠望，欣賞到了聞名遐邇的千廟群奇觀，名不虛傳，不虛此行！可惜的是說好的美膩的不得了的落日又木有兌現。又當了半天的赤腳大仙 - 所有的廟、塔一律要求脫鞋脫襪脫鞋脫襪脫鞋脫襪！小寶在連著三天的熱浪襲擊下挺不住了，有些熱傷風，忽冷忽熱的，搞得俺們有些揪心。好在她的精神貌似還不錯，不是生大病的樣子。
回到酒店吃晚飯，沒心思到本地餐廳覓食兒了。席間還有拉繩木偶表演，孩子看的很帶勁。美好的一天又過去了！
百度百科：蒲甘王國
小寶赤腳溜達，大門口就得脫鞋脫襪
百度百科：終於找到了脫鞋脫襪的原因！
民俗風情
主廟在維修中。。。
信眾捐款一覽表，按月計進度。如果沒看走眼的話有的月達好幾十萬美元。
這是主廟的照片
這是佛獸討食兒嗎？呵呵。。。
第二站 阿南達廟
阿南達寺
這小夥子看上俺婆娘了，讓他拿5000頭牛來換，他說木有，瞎耽誤工夫！
第三站 大病牛廟
他冰瑜塔
第四站 「市委故意」廟 shwe gu yi 建於1131年
俺們包的小車
廟裡面還有學生上課
廟頂
很多廟現在已經不讓往上爬了，這個廟有個二樓，初窺千廟群的霓端。遠處的馬哈布迪廟。
遠處的廟和塔
光腳走在這樣的地面真的很酸爽！
塗鴉
夢寐以求的景色來了！
第四站 馬哈布迪廟 mahabodi 1215年建，仿印度的同名廟 裡面有佛祖修行的故事
「第四周 佛祖在菩提樹北邊的珠寶路上來回踱步」
第四周
第二周
第七周
第五站 「大媽養眼」廟 dhammayan gyi temple，建於1163年
百度百科：達瑪雅吉佛塔是蒲甘地區最大的佛塔，公元1170年那拉都王所建。塔底座為正方形邊長294英尺，高160英尺。塔內有通道直通塔頂。該塔不僅是蒲甘最大的佛塔，而且也是建築藝術最好的佛塔。整個塔體全部由大塊紅磚砌成，磚與磚之間沒有水泥相連卻結合十分緊密，不僅看不見縫隙，甚至連針都插不進去，令人嘆為觀止。原來阿南達塔、達比紐佛塔和塔達瑪雅吉佛塔這三座塔分別為父子兩個國王所建。父親仁慈愛民，阿南達和達比紐佛塔是他所建，爾後，他的次子弒父殺兄，篡奪了王位，據說由於對自己的罪惡贖罪，下令建成了這座最大的塔。不過，他的這一行為更像是好大喜功滿足自己的權力欲的表現，在新國王的命令下，這座最大的佛塔，動用了無數人力財力，只一個月就建成。這個皇帝最後也落了個被人所害的下場，而在他死後，他的這座塔也無人維護，成為了蝙蝠巢。
瘦狗
榨甘蔗汁的工具
第六站 「許三多」shwe san daw temple 看千廟群最佳地點，不過要光腳上塔，好些個陡峭的台階
瑞山都塔
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may 24 -
we were told yesterday to be ready for pickup at the lobby at 6am. our breakfast boxes were waiting for us at the reception when we came to the lobby to check out, very nice! we found out that we were scammed when we boarded the mini bus and was told that this was the bus taking us to bagan, for we clearly told our tour driver from yesterday that we wanted to buy tickets for the big bus with wifi (jj express?) and we now had to settle with a rundown mini bus at an inflated price for 5 hours. after we consulted with another passenger about the price he paid it became clear that the driver from yesterday wasn't an honest person. the sad thing is that as a traveler there is plenty of chances to run into this kind of scumsbags!
on the other hand, the bad news stopped from here! the bus left manday at a little after 7am. roads from mandalay to bagan are a mix of rough ones and well paved ones. less than 5 hours later we landed in bagan bus station in the new town. of course, we were told that our hotel, thande hotel, was in the old bagan, and was not covered by their free drop off. the bus attendant found a guy who could speak English to lay the whole thing out for us. the guy turned out to be a tour operator - what a surprise! we agreed that he would send a car taking us to our hotel for free and doing a half day tour for 22000k. I have to admit that he didn't overcharge me too much because I was later offered 45000k for a whole day tour by some touts. I am sure if you possess great negotiation skills you could have done much better.
thande hotel was located in the old bagan by the river, a very nice hotel with a swimming pool and several restaurants and bars. our driver came to pick us up again at 1pm as scheduled. he didn't speak much English but was able to recognize all the names of temples we wanted to see. for the amount of time involved 22000k isn't too much to pay from 1pm to almost 6pm back to hotel. he was polite and cooperative, pleasant to be with. we ended up giving him a 3000k tip.
the tour of temples involved shoes and socks off everywhere. by now we were a bit fatigued to see all these temples. the highlight finally came at Shwesandaw Pagoda, where we got to climb up to appreciate the scenery of thousands of pagodas, stupas, and temples. but also at this temple we were stopped by some authority looking people and asked to buy tickets for the old bagan, which was 25000k per ticket. again, we were suspicious about these people's authority because they didn't seem to bother all foreign visitors. and the tickets were never checked again in the next two days.
the sunset didn't materialize due to heavy low clouds. but shwesandaw pagoda is right place for it!
