5/20-21-22 香港 昆明 曼德勒
五月底香港有个展览会，早就定好了要去。所以一直在研究顺道到哪里去玩儿一把。去年俺们溜达了约旦，以色列和埃及，研究了不少关于穆斯林基督教和犹太教的东西，今年自然就该延伸到佛教了。一开始打算去印度，研究来研究去发现五月是印度最热的时候，再加上俺婆姨看了网上的印度游记表示印度那样的条件是否适合带个五岁的孩纸，其实是她自己被吓着了。所以都快要出发了，俺们临时改道儿去了缅甸。从做功课到办签证总共花了不到四天的时间。去完缅甸的结果是俺得到了单刀赴会去印度的许可证，那婆娘说印度她暂时不考虑了！虽然缅甸貌似比印度条件好不少很多方面也受到了俺婆娘的严厉批评。呵呵。。。
初步计划是仰光yangon，蒲甘bagan，和那波利ngapoli海滩。结果一打听，五月底气候不好雨季即将开始，海边气候无常。所以就放弃了海滩，加了个曼德勒。香港到缅甸的机票貌似没有直达航班，而且价格都不便宜，基本都是500刀拉朝上。当然，除了马航，可现在坐马航的确心理有些不踏实。最后定的是东航，280刀拉一位往返，缺点是要在昆明歇一晚。又可是咱们仨就能省600刀拉，就这么地了。
五月20号晚到香港，在机场附近的酒店囚了一晚，第二天不紧不慢的去了昆明。又在昆明机场囚了一晚。五月22号中午的航班昆明直飞曼德勒。本来俺们想省事儿把行程交给旅行社去办，结果问了几家得到的报价超出了俺们的承受能力，报价从7天三人1500刀拉（包括所有酒店，交通，导游，司机和车，从头到尾）到每天80刀拉司机和车。根据俺从旅游网站上打听来的消息俺们到了地方现找司机会便宜不少。所以除了预订了头四天的酒店其他的就靠运气了。不过现在缅甸也是旅游淡季俺们的胜算还是有的。
签证是俺们出发前两天在缅甸的官方电子签证网站搞妥的，不到24小时全部搞定。下午一点半左右俺们安全降落在曼德勒，揣着电子签直接杀出了边检。首先是要搞点缅甸钱花花，用提款卡在机器上捣鼓了半天发现缅甸的银行都喜欢收手续费。得，还是用刀拉现款换吧！貌似行情是一刀拉=1173缅甸币kyats。先换了一百刀，十几万缅币到手了。揣着一把花花绿绿的票子俺们就来找出租车了。这地方一看就是有黑社会把持 - 大家都是统一收费标准！从机场进城：4000块一个人/拼车，一万二一辆小车，或一万八一辆面包车。生意显然是不咋地，好几个人围着俺们兜售，不过都不原意打折。有个小伙子会说几句中文，俺们就照顾了他的生意。结果他只是个拉皮条的，把俺们卖给了一个既不会中文，英文也说不了几句的司机，好在车子还不错，丰田皇冠。
这边街上满街都是日本的二手车，为嘛是日本二手车呢？因为仪表盘收音机，导航都是日文的。从轿车，小巴到大巴都是这样地。韩国和中国车也时有所见，但是不是主流。俺们定的酒店式bagan king hotel，网评不错，挺新的酒店，内饰也很民族风。不过貌似价格要贵一些，59刀拉一晚。俺们今天的观光任务就是百年柚木桥ubein bridge，所以俺们不赶时间。去酒店的路上跟那个司机商量好了呆会儿两万跑一趟柚木桥去看日落。
机场去酒店的路上，这些孩子们都很友好。靠左边那个牙齿红红的，这是他们喜欢嚼槟榔的结果。很多人的嘴和牙都这样，男女都有，说是提神儿！满街到处都是买那个的，槟榔块包在片绿叶里，还伴有不少辅料，结果就是嚼出一嘴红牙，嚼剩下的东西吐出来也是一滩红，随处可见，实在是有碍观瞻。俺们在曼德勒用过的两个司机都有此爱好，那个牙口看着的确渗人！
司机车里挂的茉莉花和吉祥船
街上的壮汉穿着筒裙婀娜多姿地招摇过市
满街的摩托看着有几分越南特色了
百度百科：百年柚木大桥 柚木是缅甸最珍贵的宝藏。聪明智慧的缅甸人将其广泛地用在房屋建筑或雕刻上。位于曼德勒市区南方约11公里处的百年柚木大桥(UBeinBridge，建于1851年)，更能让人亲睹柚木的不朽。长达1.2公里的柚木大桥由1086根实心柚木建造而成，以“之”字形跨越陶塔曼湖(Taungthaman)，这样的设计可以减缓雨季时大水对桥的强力冲击。一百多年悠悠地过去了，湖两岸的百姓仍然靠着这座桥生息。
这就是那百年柚木桥了。貌似只是竖桩是整根儿柚木的，不知横板儿是不是。有名儿的桂河大桥离这儿也不远，后来坐车路过，貌似现在是个新桥，也许不是电影里的那个。
游船
工人们在做维护修复工作
桥下是这样，到了雨季就到处都是水了
桥面是这样式儿的
还没搞清楚这些和尚的道道，这些小和尚也是周末出来放风的吗？
木头上都编了号
到处是流浪狗，也许人家不是，只是喜欢到处跑而已
这些是所谓的婆罗门牛，脖子上有个大鼓包儿，都挺瘦的
这就走到了桥的另一头
当地人都喜欢在脸上涂这种东西，据说是防晒保护皮肤
戴军帽修房顶的帅哥
垃圾分类入箱
今天是星期天，貌似本地人也喜欢到这儿来遛弯儿，没看见什么外国游客
风很大，俺的两个队员必须要手牵手，以防被吹走了，呵呵。。。
在亭子里休息一下，抓拍过路的各色人等
远处的佛塔
中间这个小岛是看日落的好地方，今天云彩比较厚，怕是看不上了。
在桥下拍桥上的人群
走地鸡
走累了，歇一会，喝一口。缅甸牌啤酒，5度酒精度，非淡爽型的，味道还行。
至此看日落的希望已经全部落空。日头已经藏到云彩里了。
打道回府吧！要不是风够大，这天儿够热地！天气预报说是三十多度。
这是俺们喝酒的地方。如果有落日，这是个不错的地方。很惬意的一天，此地没有啥惊喜，但是是个看热闹的好去处，尤其适合老外们来看本地人！
现在全世界人民都喜欢玩手机，自拍时必不可少地！
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.
。照片很精彩！