(3-4).聖地之天外奇蹟-吉諦瑜大金石 @ My Very Own World

(三)、緬甸篇-菩薩捻花微笑的國度
Myanmar - A Country to where,Buddhisattva holds a flower to smile at.

之

(3-4).聖地之天外奇蹟-吉諦瑜大金石。
The Miracle out of Nowhere at A Sacred Site
-The Golden Rock in Kyaikhtiyo.

在娘瑞鎮上的Full Moon Express巴士站買了單程票，

雖然要往第一大城仰光去，但想順便先去參觀一下緬甸的知名"大金石"景點，

來之前查網路，上面滿滿是處在懸崖邊，一顆貼滿金箔的大石頭，要掉不掉的樣子，

還沒去前，我也捉摸不定實情到底是怎樣的。
It's time to leave.I swiftly bought a bus ticket at the Full Moon Express on the street,

an one-way ticket heading to the largest city,Yangon.
However,I'd like to pay a visit to the well-known tourist site ,

the Kyaikhtiyo Golden Rock,on the way to Yangon.
I had already checked the information on internet before I came.

All I got was a bunch of images showing a large rock coated with a layer over a layer of gold foils,

sitting by an edge of a cliff,and seemed to fall anytime.
Truth was I still didn't have a clear picture of what it would be like in reality.

著實好好"拷問"了飯店的人，終於搞定成行，訂傍晚七點左右的巴士先到Kin Pun，

路途遙遠，巴士又需出走一大段山路，到達時間約早上7點左右，

現在回想起來，確實時間有些忘了，想去的人，可以在買巴士票時，再在站上再問一次時間，

我在巴士上待了一晚，睡得好嗎?才沒有，緬甸的路況不是很好，我睡覺習慣又不好，顛著顛著怎麼可能睡?

I did a good job of torturing my hotel's staff about the route's information to Kyaikhtiyo.

I made it and got it all set after purchasing my bus ticket to Kin Pun.
It's a long road,and our bus needed to go through a long distance to get out of the mountainous area.

Thus,my arrival time was about 7 A.M. in the morning.

I forgot the exact time now when recalling.
However,you can ask the time at the bus station,when buying your ticket.
I spent a night on board of the bus,and didn't sleep well.Because the road quality in Myanmar wasn't good,

it's a bumping jumping all the way,plus my sleeping habit wasn't nice.

There was no way that I could sleep on the way to Kin Pun.

到了Kin Pun的巴士大站後，問一下轉乘上山的車站在哪，

大家都是要去聖山上去看大金石，問人或跟著走即可，

我將行李直接寄放在巴士站上，又順手買了去下一站仰光的車票，就去找車搭了。

After the arrival,

I asked around where the truck station was.I needed to take a seat on a truck to the top of the pagoda,

where the Golden Rock was.
Every body was going to visit the Golden Rock,

so I was kind of following the direction of everyone's.
I left my luggage at the bus station,and bought a ticket to Yangon at the same time.
Then,I was good to go.

上山的卡車超多，而且幾乎都客滿，現場人員會儘量把每輛車都塞滿，

車有人會一一收錢，車子一滿就出發了，

會先到半山上的纜車站，想搭纜車的人可以下車換搭，

我有點懶，就直接坐到上面了。
The traffic was heavy,a lot of trucks heading to the Kyaikhtiyo hill.

At the truck station,the employees of those trucks would fill each car full before leaving the station.
The first stop was at the cable car station built in the middle of the way to the hill top.
People who didn't want to keep on cramming with others might change to cable car here,

but I was so lazy that I didn't even want to move a muscle.

So,I stayed on board until the final stop up there.

山路有幾段很陡，差點就屎出來，太刺激了，

司機們大概都駕輕就熟，我的天啊!

我還坐在最邊邊的位子呢!

可是這一段路我怎麼很懷念?
Some parts of the road were quite steep,made me thrilled

that I might have peed a little,haha.
However,I thought all truck drivers were used to driving on the road condition.

I am kind of missing the process of getting up hill when recall,

and my seat was the closest to the edge of the truck.

過了快1個小時，終於到了，長長的道路，兩旁都是商家、小販，超熱鬧的，

走著走著，忽然被叫住，旁邊是檢查哨，要我進去買票，當地人不用，

我還以為這陣子曬了很黑已經可以混進去說，真是的~

檢查站有最後班車時刻表(下山的最後一班卡車是6:00P.M.)，

可以自己注意一下時間，真的混過頭，那你只好住上面的飯店一晚了，哈哈。
It took less than an hour to get there.

A long road still was ahead,both sides of the road were full of vendors and stores.

It's very boisterous.I kept on walking until I was halted by someone.

I had reached to the check point.

I was asked to buy an admission ticket.All foreigners need to buy one,but spare the locals.

I had thought I looked like one of them now for getting too much suntan.

It should be easy for me to mingle into.But nope ! haha.
There was a sign stating the truck schedule for the last truck to get downhill at the check point station.

So,if you miss it,then you need to sleep over a night at the hotels on the top of the hill.

路上有些年老者，雇了人抬轎去參拜，我看著好驚奇，

沒辦法我是在都市長大的，這種每次遇到都有些不可置信，

我想我如果老了，大概也不會到處跑了，我到時還是就認命算了。
Some visitors were so old that they couldn't even walk on their feet.

They lied on a sedan chair and hired people to carry them to worship at the temples.
I was amazed to see this,for it's not a scene seen in an urban for me.
I couldn't help but think if some day I get very old and can't walk on my own,

I don't think I would like to go everywhere,either.
Well~,I might just accept the cruel reality on my heart.

長長的道路也終於讓我走到了山門，寬廣的階梯，觀光客又是一堆人拍照，

我也拍著拍著走到上層後，又被叫住，說我的褲子不可以進去，

要花錢租換他們的沙龍，我不會懷疑是詐騙的，

因為她們身穿軍服，還有辦公桌在旁邊呢，租就租，人都已經來了咩!
After having walked the long road,I,at last got to the first gate of the holy site in Kyaikhtiyo.
A seris of wide stairs attracted a pile of tourists taking pictures.
I also took some photos along the way to the top of the stairs,

and then I was halted again by some soldiers or police women.
They asked me to rent a salon because I was wearing a pair of beach pants,

that wasn't long enough to show the respect to the Buddhas inside.
I wouldn't doubt a little or see this as a scam,

no,because they were all wearing soldier's suits.Besides,

the office desks were put aside.
No problem at all,for I had already been here.

I must follow the suit as the locals did to finish my tour.

由於在山頂上，視野一下子寬廣起來，

沒想到要走到大金石那邊還有段路，原來整個園區很大嘛，

山頂上也不只有大金石，還有其他寺廟、景區餐廳、賣手工藝品、還有賣金箔紙，

參拜者可以買來去貼上(緬甸男尊女卑，宗教上對女性的限制也是很多，

大金石當然不例外，女性不可以靠近，如果你是女性，我看金箔就不用買來貼了吧!)，

山頂上居高可望遠，整著山谷都盡入眼底，

在緬甸進入寺廟是一定要赤腳的，中間還有個大廣場，無遮無避的，大熱天還真是為難我了，

花了這麼多時間和精神才到，不看個過癮怎麼行，

大金石被圍起來，如果人多只怕還要排隊，

這麼尊貴的大金石，旁邊還有軍人守衛，

相傳上頭的寶塔有珍藏佛祖頭髮，佛家法力將大金石釘住不墜，

這樣最好了，我從旁邊樓梯去下邊往上拍照，

大金石可不要忽然給我掉下來，我可不想在這裡GG。

The view seemed to be ripped open wide when being on top of the mountain.

However,there was still a long way to go before reaching the Golden Rock.

It turned out the whole park was large.There were other pagodas,restaurants,gifts shop,

and the public booth selling gold foils,except the golden rock.

Visitors could go to buy gold foils at the designated booth to glue on the Golden Rock.
(Women's social position in Myanmar are generally considered lower than men's.

It particularly is in religion,that women need to follow more rules than men do.

The Park of the Golden Rock is no exception.Women can't come to touch the sacred rock directly.

Thus,I think it is in vain for women to buy the gold foils to pay their respect to the sacred object here.)

The panoramic view was fine.

The whole valley could be seen without difficulty.
The rule of taking off shoes before entering any pagoda was still strict.

Thus,I was bare on foot moving around in the park.
But there's a large square in the middle,

without any blanket or canopy to ward off the strong sunlight,making me feel harsh.

I'd spent so much time in transportation already,just to see the Golden Rock.

Sure it was for me to do it decent.
The Rock was protected with railings.People needed to get in line to touch it.

Besides all that,there were police guarding it.

It is said the pagoda built on top of the Golden Rock storing strands of Buddha's hair,

which giving some supernatural power to hold the rock from falling off.
Well,it would be better this way,for I was considered to take photos from its bottom layer.

I would take the stairs from the sideway.

I didn't want the rock to fall down while I was taking pictures down under .

This wasn't an ideal place to die for me,haha.

盡管我還想多待些時間，但是這類景區大概也只需不到2小時就可以了，

除非你是真的要上去唸佛，做個課程什麼的，

我想搭下午的車離開，所以在Kin Pun是不用住一晚，

由Kin Pun 到仰光還要4小時多，我晚上在仰光好好休息就好了，

終究首都是大都市，可以提供比較優的環境。
Even though I'd long for staying a little bit longer,however,

a tourist site like this would take approximately less than 2 hours,

unless you go up for joining in a Buddhist lesson or reciting a Buddhist mantra.
My plan was to take a bus and leave for Yangon in the afternoon,

so that I didn't need to spend a night in Kin Pun.
It'd take another 4 hours from Kin Pun to Yangon.
In that case,I would like to stay in Yangon sooner ,

for bigger city like Yangon offering better condition at hotels.

那麼值得來嗎？
我的答案．．．是的，確定的。
大金石雖然一景單薄，但是整個景區並不小。
不管是自然形成或是佛家法力造成，大金石底部因為信徒多年敬獻金箔，

早就與下方巨石黏成一體，也是山上居民生活作息的一部分，
山下和山上的居民，同心協力為朝聖者提供了良好的服務，

奇蹟是來自當地人們虔誠的心，信心、愛心、和崇敬的心造成這天外奇蹟。
Does it worth to come?
My answer is "definitely".
Even though the Golden Rock is just a single spot,it's not that small if count in the whole park.
I don't care how it was formed,by the power of Buddha or from the serendipity of nature.
For now,the bottom of the rock has been tightly glued on the base rock,

by gold foils donated by worshippers for decades.

It is not simply an icon of a sacred site,but also a part of the daily living of residents on the top of the mountain.
The residents on both up and downhill have been providing an excellent service to coming worshippers and visitors,

with their deligence and hard work,and which is such a loving that felt on my mind.
To me,the miracle comes from people's heart,

with love,faith,respect,and piety.
It's not from the cold rock standing on the rim of the cliff.

回到山下約是中午時分，真是太熱了，

沒想到這裡附近有間肯德基! 竟然還有冷氣!

佛祖顯靈惹~，當然是順便吃個午餐，吹個冷氣，等時間到再走囉，

就這樣，我與大金石的邂逅就這麼匆匆來，匆匆地去，

整個行程坐車時間還多過參訪時間。
It's about the time right after at noon when the trunk got down to the station downhill.It's even hotter than in the morning.
I suddenly spotted a KFC from the corner of my eyes.I couldn't believe it.It's even air-conditioned.
Oh my~,it must be a miracle granted by my Buddha.
There's no need to hesitate even a bit.I went in to have my lunch,and took my time as I pleased in there.
It's about the whole process of visiting the Golden Rock.
The transportation time was far longer than the time I'd spent in visiting the rock.

回到巴士拿了行李，被告知上車在不同地方，因為車票不是他們家的，

還好有多留一些時間，邊找邊問，終於順利上車出發了，

仰光是我這次在緬甸的最後一個地點，也是緬甸最大的都市，

我好整以暇，準備好好看看了。
I went back to the bus station to collect my luggages,and was told to find my bus to Yangon at different spot.

Because my bus ticket was issued from other bus company,not theirs.
Luckily I still had time left to allow me slowly find the right bus in town.
I'd found it in the front square,and then checked in and got on board.

Yangon is the largest city in Myanmar,and also my last destination in Myanmar.
I was good to go and ready to take a real look at it.