In Myanmar in the middle of June, the climate was hot, Zhang Wei and Liu Nan took five people off the plane, and a heat wave came to their faces, and the hot and humid air made Zhang Wei and Liu Nan very uncomfortable, especially Liu Nan, who walked off the gangway of the plane, and was sweating all over, a little sticky, which made Liu Nan very uncomfortable.

It is not the first time that Liu Nan has come to Myanmar, everything has been arranged in advance, and someone will pick him up when he leaves the airport.

Got into the car with air conditioning, Liu Nan suddenly felt comfortable, and said: "Oh, cool, it's lively, you can tell me, if there is no air conditioning in this weather, what can I do." ”

Zhang Wei is not so sensitive to the hot and humid climate of Myanmar, and said: "Brother Nan, I think you have to strengthen your exercise, you look at your sweat." ”

"Pull it down, if I can lose this body fat, I won't be me. Liu Nan leaned on the seat, took out a tissue to wipe his sweat, and then arrived: "Xiao Lu, you take a car to stay at the airport, and when you get Mr. Xu, go directly to the hotel to meet us, I have to go to the hotel to take a shower first." ”

Zhang Wei asked, "Don't you wait for Brother Xu?"

"Wait for him? He won't be there until three o'clock in the afternoon, wait for a yarn, let's go first." ”

Liu Nan's assistant in the co-pilot said yes and got out of the car, and a bodyguard got into the car and asked the driver to drive to the hotel in Burmese.

Zhang Wei is visiting Myanmar for the first time, and it is also the first time to visit Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar. Sitting in the car and looking out the window, you can often see large and small pagodas, most of the buildings are not high, the city as a whole looks very much like some counties in China, but the area of Mandalay is larger than the county seat in China.

Cars driving on the road in Mandalay, you can often see a group of monks walking barefoot on the side of the street silently, Zhang Wei was amazed to see this scene, and asked Liu Nan beside him: "Brother Nan, what are these monks doing in groups?"

Liu Nan said: "Huayuan, these monks are different from the monks of our country, they must return to the temple before noon to finish eating after fasting, and they can't eat from noon, they can only drink water, and they can't eat again until four o'clock in the morning the next day." Look at them, are they all dry and thin, like the monks of our country, all of them eat fat heads and big ears, and they look like monks. ”

In Myanmar, a country that believes in Theravada Buddhism, more than 80 percent of the people believe in Buddhism, so monks are very respected in this country, and even men in Myanmar must become a monk once after the age of 10 to 14, so as to gain public recognition, recognize that they have become adults, and can not marry until they are laity. That's why you can see stupas, temples and robes of monks in the streets and alleys of Myanmar and even in remote areas.

Seeing that Zhang Wei was interested in this culture, Liu Nan said: "There is the largest temple in Myanmar in Mandalay City, called 'Mahajanayan Monastery', that place is very lively, it is too late today, wait until tomorrow, I will take you to see the 'Thousand Monks Meal' of the monk college, and it looks spectacular." This afternoon will take you to the Uben Bridge, the Old City of Mandalay and the Royal Palace of Mandalay. ”

Hotel rooms are booked a month in advance, and every year when the public market opens, Mandalay's hotel industry will usher in a "feast" of the year. The conditions of most hotels in Myanmar are very average, not to mention the living environment of family hotels, some family hotels do not have air conditioning, and there is no shower for bathing, even if the conditions are very difficult, the key is that the safety is not reliable.

After checking in at one of the best local hotels, Liu Nan hurriedly went to take a bath. Zhang Wei came to his room, looking at the room of this three-star hotel called by Liu Nan, Zhang Wei understood a little bit what Liu Nan meant by the poor conditions before leaving, because the furnishings and items of this room are similar to some express hotels in China, except for the larger room, there is no other advantage.

Although Zhang Wei didn't sweat, he quickly rinsed it, changed into a loose suit and lay on the bed waiting for Liu Nan to call him.

Not long after, there was a knock on the door, and Liu Nan appeared in front of Zhang Wei in a T-shirt and pants, and said, "Let's go, brother will take you to taste Burmese food." ”

Myanmar is a multi-ethnic country, so the taste of the food is also diverse, but in summary, the so-called Burmese food, most of which are fried, and the taste is heavy, mainly sour, spicy, and salty, which may be to make the meal better, because ordinary people in Myanmar are relatively poor, often less vegetables and more rice, and the taste is a little heavier and easier to eat. In Myanmar, there seems to be nothing that cannot be fried and eaten, Burmese people like to hang batter on the ingredients to fry, any artichoke, corn, peanuts, shrimp, meat can be fried and eaten, even bananas are also this way. The stewed dishes are mostly curry-based, and there are some snacks, mostly Chinese, Thai, Indian and Western Europe, and then there are staple foods, such as rice, rice noodles, and bean flour. It is worth mentioning that the taste of rice noodles in Myanmar is still good, although it is mainly sour and spicy, but it is still in line with the taste of Chinese people.

Lunch was not eaten in the hotel, Liu Nan took Zhang Wei to a place similar to a snack street, eating while walking, Liu Nan walked less than a third before he was full, sweating again, he found a small shop, asked for an ice cream to relieve the heat, and Zhang Wei parted ways with Liu Nan here, continued to walk down the snack street, stunned to eat a pair of snacks street, only to fill his stomach, and returned to find Liu Nan. If the food in Myanmar left any impression on Zhang Wei, in addition to being cheap, there is nothing commendable, which may be a common problem of Chinese people, Chinese people in any country, in addition to relatives, the next must be the food of their hometown.

After the two and the two bodyguards in the dark returned to the hotel for a short rest, Liu Nan took Zhang Wei to several famous scenic spots in Mandalay to visit, and at three o'clock in the afternoon, Xu Haidong's phone called, asking where the two were, and after putting down their luggage at the hotel, they gathered with the two and visited the Wuben Bridge together.

Walking on the world's longest teak bridge, watching the sunset turn the sea into a golden red, the bridge, the boats and the Burmese singing will make you feel like you're in the middle of a painting. Walking down the 1,200-meter-long bridge, it seems that there is a kind of magic power, which makes you feel a kind of tranquility and distance unconsciously.

The sky was getting dark, the three of them took the car back to the hotel, the long journey and half a day of play had made people tired, just eat something, the three of them rested early.

Early the next morning, taking advantage of the coolness, Liu Nan took Zhang Wei and Xu Haidong to the Mandalay City Jewelry Trading Market first, where the jade public market was held.

In March 1964, the first public market was held, also known as the Myanmar Jade Jade and Wool Market, and the Myanmar Jewelry Fair. It is under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Mines of the Central Government of Myanmar, and the organizing committee is a permanent office. In the early 60s of the last century, the Myanmar government nationalized jadeite and other mineral resources, and began to hold an annual jadeite and jade wool fair, the purpose of which was to plug the loss of tax revenues and make jadeite and other scarce resources create more income for the country. At first, this method was of little use to the armed warlords who controlled the jadeite resources throughout Myanmar, who were supposed to smuggle as much as they could, and even if they participated in the public market, they would not trade their best rough stones, but hoped to make some big customers and make secondary transactions privately. However, with the revelation of several private transactions, some merchants were empty of money and robbed by warlords, and international merchants became distrustful of this kind of private transactions, which made public transactions more and more recognized and became the world's largest jewelry fair.

After getting the admission ticket, Xu Haidong said: "Brother Nan, I heard that it costs money to do this thing, how much is it?"

"This is the margin, and it will be refunded when the time comes, and you turn a yarn. ”

"Uh...... Isn't it because I don't understand?" Xu Haidong scratched his head and said, "I heard that you can buy jade rough stones near here, why don't we go and have a look?"

Liu Nan said: "Pull it down, you don't have to go, most of them are fake, and they are all locals who take advantage of the opportunity of the public market to deceive people with shoddy products." It's almost time at this time, and my brother will take you two to Mahaganayan Monastery to see the 'Thousand Monks Meal'. ”

"What does 'Thousand Monks Eat' mean? Eat? It's a little early. Xu Haidong asked suspiciously.

"You'll find out when you go. Liu Nan took the two of them into the car and headed for the Mahajanayan Monastery, the largest monastery in Myanmar.

At nine o'clock, the car passed through many narrow neighborhoods, and when the car drove into a spacious courtyard, there were many buildings and buildings scattered among the green trees, giving people a sense of natural harmony.

Liu Nan took the lead in opening the car door and said, "It's here, get out of the car." ”

After getting out of the car, Zhang Wei looked left and right, feeling a little strange, because this monastery was not the same as he imagined, and the surrounding buildings seemed very new, which was very in line with the style of modern architecture, which was completely different from the quaint, old, and arduous that Zhang Wei thought, so he asked: "Brother Nan, make no mistake, are you sure this is not a school?"

Liu Nan smiled: "You think this place is a bit too modern, right? This is not surprising, this place has only been built for fifty years, and this is originally a college for monks to study." Let's go to the big cafeteria. ”

The three of them walked slowly along the main road, and there were merit monuments standing everywhere along the road, and in the buildings in the distance, some monks could be seen sorting out their internal affairs, and some monks were chatting with tourists. After a short walk, you will arrive at the front of the large dining hall, where many tourists from all over the world have been waiting for a long time to watch the world-famous thousand monks eat.

It didn't take long for a long time for monks and little novices to line up outside the canteen one after another, the monks wearing vermilion monk robes, and the little novices in white robes, some of the little novices looked very cute, only five or six years old, but their faces also had a kind of indifference and calmness, which looked very temperamental. At ten o'clock, the monks took their bowls and water cups, and entered the canteen in order, and there was a "click" sound around them, and the tourists began to take pictures frantically, and the monks and novices had long been accustomed to this, and they did not squint, barefoot, and silently walked into the canteen, and the whole process seemed solemn and with a bit of piety.

The canteen is not allowed to enter, and when the monks began to eat, Liu Nan said: "It's over here, let's go, let's go back to eat." ”