头顶神功
马哈穆尼大金佛。佛界的说法是总共有五座释加摩尼像是他还在人间时立的，两座在印度，两座在天堂，还有一个就是这个马哈穆尼大金佛，可想而知此佛在信众中的地位了。马哈木尼佛塔（Mahamuni Pagoda）亦称大金佛，寺内的释迦牟尼佛像高约4公尺，全身贴满了金箔，供虔诚的善男信女以及世界各地游客前来朝拜。但女士只能在外厅景仰，不能亲近佛身。俺以前真的不知道佛教也这么轻视女性。
穿筒裙的大老爷们们儿在小屋子里拜，有的还贴金叶子，没搞明白那是啥玩艺儿。
娘子军们在外面拜，换俺的话早就不拜这个了，切！
红牌牌上明文写着莱迪斯不许进！
金塔
门上雕的小人挺好玩儿的
途中这个红衣和尚尾随俺有一会儿了，一开始打招呼握握手啥的，后来看俺木有反映便示意要俺给钱，难道缅甸也有俺们安徽的九华山和尚了？呵呵。。。这厮长得有几分貌似达赖喇嘛。
这个，这个，俺真的木有搞清楚状况。难不成是小和尚带着女朋友和未来的丈母娘游佛庙？这仨人一直在一起，小和尚很殷勤地给娘俩拍照留念。少林寺来的？
貌似佛教理念还是深入人心的，瞧这一家三口。
洗佛。这块有好些个小佛像按星期的日子排列，如果你生日是个周一你就去洗标着周一的那个佛。大概是这么个意思。
这些盛装的孩子们是他们出家或见习出家的日子，以示庆祝。可是，这么小的孩子应该是打酱油的吧！
不止这些人是什么关系，浯泱浯泱一大群，都去一个寺院出家？
大金佛原本在靠海边的一个省，此图展示运送过程
这就看完了马哈穆尼庙。看一个还算有意思。不过进庙里要脱鞋脱袜，本地人要不就根本不穿鞋，要不就一双拖鞋打天下。这，这，这让俺们有些难以随俗。。。
下一站去马哈岗大勇僧院看僧徒们排队吃午饭的壮观场面。只是现在还早，所以先去参观手工织丝厂。
然后就是商店，俺们一般不买东西，今天赶上她娘俩心情好，要买缅甸筒裙，买了两条花了28刀拉，肯定是贵了！缅甸人脸上喜欢图这个黄不刺啦的东西，据说是为了防晒护肤。俺劝婆娘也去涂一个，她死活不干。
马哈刚大勇僧院(MahagandhayonMonastery)：这是一家仅仅建立了50多年，却拥有全国最多的僧人，年龄从12岁的小沙弥到65岁的大住持。僧院内的每日餐食均由信徒供奉。僧人们早饭靠出去化缘，他们经常早四点就起，午饭在此聚餐，大约十一点的样子，没有晚饭。不过俺在僧院里看见了几个体格像是天天吃晚饭的，呵呵。。。 其实这个习惯挺好，减肥的同学们可以效仿。
这是给游人的说明。估计是避免有人骗钱。
着几只狗本来懒洋洋地躺着，结果俺离着20米蹲下来拍照它们顿时跳将起来向俺冲了过来，吓死俺了！
准备饭菜了
僧人居住区
僧人们陆陆续续开始来排队了，这家伙排了第一
通透敞亮的餐厅
饭菜端了过来，待会儿僧人们就排队从此经过领饭。根据饭菜的味道，闻着像是全素食。
这小哥几个偷懒，坐一会儿再去排队。缅甸这种僧院里的僧人有些是最后要当和尚的。大多数则是像服兵役一样，过些年就还俗回家该干啥干啥去了。女孩子去当尼姑也是这么个形式。还有些穿白衣服的则是学徒，预备僧人？
学徒
这个队一排起来显得很庄严肃穆。俺个人不太理解这种生活方式，也许俺还没开窍吧！不过这么小的孩子们就出家又是为啥呢？磨练身心？孩子们自己愿意吗？
这就是刚才看见的那个孩子排第一
这孩子噘着嘴想啥呢？俺还不太明白为啥都要捧着这么大的个黑瓦灌儿，很小的孩子也是拿这个。
这个像是天天吃晚饭的和尚开始敲铁表示饭点儿到了
队伍开始挪动了，很多僧人，不过应该没有上千个。估计这也是个旅游项目。现在是淡季所以排队不是那么积极，壮观。
领饭的地方，貌似还有外面的信徒在此帮忙发饭。还看见游客，看举止应该是信佛的，往僧人们的饭钵子上放钱。
领到饭了坐下开吃
大勇僧院出来俺们就来到了因瓦古城，要做摆渡船才能过去。 这位小哥摆弄着这么大的个机器，手艺娴熟。
这就是桂河桥了。貌似很新，大概不是电影里的那个。
百度百科：因瓦古城曾是缅甸近四个世纪的首都，著名的因瓦王朝的古都。因为遭到二战破坏，古城的大批建筑被严重的破坏，但这些零散的废墟遗址隐藏在郁郁葱葱的树木间、农田里，让人不得不感叹时间的力量。
古城尽头有一座古老的寺庙，据说是因瓦最老的，整个寺庙由柚木建成，非常坚固。与缅甸为数众多的庙宇不同，这座寺庙显得特别古朴和自然，庙里有一个学堂，幸运的话可以看到有当地人的孩子在这里读书，体会一下因瓦的生活气息。
一般到了这里都要靠马车带领区各庙巡视。貌似也是统一价，5000k一位，俺们带这个孩子所以打了个折儿，一万二缅币，约10刀拉。
这些地方孩子的情趣不是很高，不过坐马车她觉着很带劲儿！
有几分貌似吴哥窟风格了。这边的这些庙也要脱鞋脱袜，真服了他们了。一言一闭之，世庙就得脱鞋脱袜。
看庙人兼画家？
乡间小路，十分原生态
一个庙，一个庙，又一个庙，脱鞋脱袜，脱鞋脱袜，又脱鞋脱袜
这种牛车很是排场，他们耕田也这样，很科学。问题是，两头牛有一头偷懒咋办？
马哈昂美寺是一座类似于吴哥窟的寺庙，只是要小得多。这是一座颜色鲜明的建筑，尽管历经风雨，但依然可以看出那艳丽的黄色和雄伟的气魄。
脱鞋脱袜，知道啦！还怕俺穿跨栏儿背心儿不成！？
出了马哈昂美寺看见三蹦子改的小车拉了一车美女过来
都是赤脚大仙
孤独的僧人
这个小哥在修“舰载”马达
摆渡回了另外一边驱车去看曼德勒皇宫
筒裙男扒车的英姿
百度百科：曼德勒皇宫
美女自拍
远眺曼德勒山
又一个僧院
佛庙，到此俺已经不愿意脱鞋袜了，派俺婆娘代表俺们俩上去。
百度百科：世界书本编辑
买也不知是啥的小女孩儿
三只小猫咪
里外都有插销的厕所。俺在里面的时候禁不住要想别人从外面插上了咋整？！
百度百科：曼德勒山位于曼德勒市区北部，旧称罗刹女山，是缅甸著名的佛教胜地。曼德勒山不高，只有二百三十六米，但却是整个曼德勒市最高的地方。从山上眺望，曼德勒全城和伊洛瓦底江景色尽收眼底。曼德勒是观看日落必到胜地，还有一大群热情小喇嘛和你聊天。
光脚上山。那还是电梯比较方便吧？
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!
。我青睐艺术呀 
，只要吃和住都干净就成的。。。
