關於 countdowntotravel ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

遊覽萊茵湖當天，Thu Ra本身只負責帶我們由酒店到河邊上船位置，然後他便可以休息了，誰知他寧願不休息也要一盡地主之誼陪我們遊歷，緬甸人就是這麼好客熱情。
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我們一早起床便開始我們的萊茵河之旅，泛舟湖上，涼意漸起，所以我們都加穿外套了。第一個景點就是照片中「漁夫捕魚」的位置，漁夫示範傳統捕魚的方法，向他們付過小費後便參觀湖上的高腳屋。高腳屋內有着林林總總的手作坊，蓮藕絲紡織、銀器、雪茄、打鐵⋯⋯
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我們到訪雪茄店時，Thu Ra隨意拿起一支雪茄問店員可否給他，店員說沒問題。Thu Ra說緬甸人認為只要無傷大雅，只要能力許可都可以給予幫忙，哈哈，有趣。
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For the boat trip at Inle Lake, Thu Ra was only responsible for taking us from the hotel to the tour company. Instead of taking a day off, he chose to go with us and join the tour. Well. People here are really friendly and nice.
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We started our boat trip in the early morning and it was so cool that we put in our jackets. The first checkpoint was to shoot the fisherman who demonstrates traditional fishing methods. After tipping them, we visited the stilt houses on the lake which were many handicraft workshops, including using lotus for silk weaving, silverware, cigars, ironing...
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When we visited the cigar shop, Thu Ra picked up a cigar randomly and asked the shop owner if he could take it as gift. The shop owner simply said OK. During this trip to Myanmar, we could see that people here got used to give and take concept. If they have extra give, they are always willing to give to those who are in need. This is really a very cute culture.

緬甸的佛教徒相信所有男性都需要削髮進入寺廟學習一次，並以此為榮。因此，很多父母（包括我們的司機）都在為自己的兒子入寺而籌備。入寺前有很多儀式，包括環繞村莊行走、邀請所有人來吃飯等，需要花很多錢，所以他們需要花上很長的時間去籌備，有些資金不足的家庭，可能要花上數年才可以把兒子送到寺廟學習佛學。Thu Ra說富裕的家庭，亦可能會租一隻象來代步環繞村莊。
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到達曼德勒看千名僧人進場領飯已經變成大家遊覽緬甸的其中一個行程。觀看千名僧人領飯的地方其實是一所大型修道院，古時的僧人會日出化緣，然後回來用膳。到了今天，整個修道院雖然變成拍照的遊客，但仍會看到不少當地人會給予僧人食物。因為，當地人相這樣會給他們帶來功德。
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In Myanmar's Buddhism mind, all men need to shave their hair and enter into the monastery to learn Buddhism at least once and they are proud of being there. Thereby, many parents (including our driver) would prepare this tradition for their son. Before entering the monastery, the family would have go through a series of ceremonies, including walking around the village, inviting people to their home to have meal, etc. This would require a lot of money and, hence, all parents needs to save for years so that their child could go to the monastery. While poorer families may take several years to save the money, wealthy families may rent an elephant/horse for their son to walk around the village.
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In Mandalay, it is common for vistors to come to see the speculator scene which thousands of monks gathered and came out to have their meal. This is actually from the tradition that monk would go out in the early morning to ask for people's donation of food and come back to enjoy and share the meal. Nowadays, although the monk would just come out from the monastary and it is crowded with tourists taking photo, you could still see faithful Buddhists donating food to the monks with the faith that it would create merit to nourish their souls.

白象佛塔 - 欣畢梅佛塔興建於1816年，當時的緬甸國王為了紀念他逝去的妻子而興建，佛塔的名稱也是以他妻子之名來命名。佛教的須彌山代表宇宙的中心，欣畢梅佛塔是依據須彌山來設計而成。1836年的大地震使該座佛塔受到嚴重破壞，而後來透過復修重建而成現成的佛塔。
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這座佛塔跟其他緬甸佛塔的外形和顏色有點不一樣，奶白色的外形，擁有七個半圓的平台，「波浪拱形」正是多個到訪欣畢梅佛塔人士的「打卡位」。要注意在緬甸到訪任何一個佛寺，都必須脫鞋，因為緬甸人認為鞋是一種污濁的東西。「入鄉隨俗，入廟除鞋」😀起初，我們十分不習慣，每次離開寺廟時都會把腳徹底清潔，但每天實在有十分多的寺廟，最後，我們只是簡單清理一下，穿上拖鞋算了😂😂
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佛塔裏面有很多精於拍攝的小朋友，他們還不時提點我們要如何拍攝，所以不用害怕打卡失敗。
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The White Elephant Pagoda-Hinbi Mae Pagoda was built in 1816. It was built by the Burmese king to commemorate his dead wife. The name of the pagoda was also named after his wife. The Buddhist Mount Sumeru represents the center of the universe, and the Xinbimei Pagoda is designed based on Mount Sumeru. The Simbi Mae Pagoda was severely damaged in the 1836 earthquake, and was compeltely restored later.
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The shape and color of this pagoda is a bit different from other Burmese pagodas. It has a creamy white shape and has seven semicircular platforms. The "wave arch" is also the "check-in place" for photo shooting. When visiting any Buddhist temple in Myanmar, you must take off your shoes, because Myanmar people think that shoes are dirty. 😀 At first, we felt very uncomforable and insisted to clean our feet thoroughly every time we left a temple. But then, there are too many temples and we gave up very quickly. In the end, we just cleaned our foot casually and wore slippers.
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There are many children in the pagoda who are expret in taking photo. They kept telling us how to take a better photo. So, you should be able to take some good photo!!