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208MANDALAY & AROUND MANDALAYTHE $10 COMBO TICKET & HOW TO DODGE ITRather than paying individual entry fees, most of Mandalay area’s key sites are paid forcollectively by buying a $10 combo ticket at any of the sites involved. Looking somethinglike an undernourished credit card, the ticket has a scratch-and-reveal PIN number thatis supposedly entered into a computer to be linked with your name and purchase date.According to text on the ticket, it is valid a week from first use, though certain entrybooths insist that this is a mistake and claim that it is only really valid for four (eventhree) days. But as there’s no date written on the ticket anyway, and as few of the sites’computers are actually on line, you’re unlikely to be challenged.While the $10 fee isn’t unreasonable for the large range of attractions covered, manyvisitors feel uncomfortable that the fee goes to the government (Archaeology department;see p 21 ). If you go to Mandalay Palace, Atumashi Kyaungdawgyi, Shwenandaw Kyaung orkey sites at out-of-town Inwa, you won’t have a shot of visiting without paying. But trickerycan get you at least a peep into several others while substitution can show you equivalentfree gems. Random discoveries and lesser-known sights are often more interesting thanthe commercialised tourist ‘must sees’ anyway. Consider the following tactics:» The south entrance (not west) of Kuthodaw Paya (p 210 ) has ticket checkers, who sitat a table and chat away until they leave work at 5pm. If avoiding them seems too 007for you, the similarly designed adjoining Sandamuni Paya (p 210 ) is free and featuresplenty more slab-in-stupa monuments.» The teak Shwenandaw Kyaung (p 203 ) can be spied with your zoom from outside theunobtrusive fence, but you won’t get in without a ticket. South of the centre, however,the equally impressive ‘teak monastery’ Shwe In Bin (p 209 ) is ticket-free.» According to attendants on Mandalay Hill, the combo ticket is no longer requiredthere, but should you find otherwise, Yankin Paya (p 231 ), 3 miles east, makes a finealternative for sunset viewing and sees far fewer foreigners.Shwekyimyint PayaBUDDHIST TEMPLE(Map p 206 ; 24th St, 82/83) Founded in 1167by Prince Minshinzaw, exiled son of KingAlaungsithu, Shwekyimyint considerablypredates Mandalay itself. It’s famous for anoriginal Buddha image consecrated by theprince and for other images collected bylater Myanmar kings that were relocatedhere after the British occupied MandalayPalace. However, these images are shown tothe public only on important religious occasions.Shwekyimyint is tucked away behindthe strikingly modern Kyauk Mosque.Cultural Museum & LibraryMUSEUM(Map p 206 ; 80th St, 24/25; admission $5; h10am-4pm Tue-Sat) This dowdy, poorly lit threeroomcollection displays archaeologicalfinds, Buddhas and a bullock cart. It’s ludicrouslyover-priced.GREATER MANDALAYMahamuni Paya and the Stone Carvers' Areaare conveniently visited as part of a day tripto Amarapura, Inwa or Sagaing. There’s awhole series of monasteries in the area westof 85th street, between 35th and 41st Sts.Also very pleasant for random exploration isthe area somewhat further north, which iscovered in our cycling tour, p 211 .oMahamuni PayaBUDDHIST TEMPLEmh;muni.ur;"(Map p 202 ) The star attraction of this massivecomplex is its highly venerated 13ft-highseated Buddha image, one of Myanmar’smost famous. Many locals believe that it is2000 years old. Over the centuries so muchvotary gold leaf has been applied by the(male) faithful that the figure is now entirelycovered in a knobbly 6in-thick layer of puregold. Entirely, that is, apart from his radiantlygleaming face, which is lovingly polisheddaily at 4am. The statue is a relativenewcomer to Mandalay. It was seized fromMrauk U (p 287 ) by the Burmese army ofKing Bodawpaya, who dragged it back herein 1784. The epic story of this feat is retold ina series of 1950s paintings in a picture galleryacross the pagoda’s inner courtyard tothe northeast. Bodawpaya also nabbed a collectionof Hindu-Buddhist Khmer bronzefigures, which were originally pilfered centuriesearlier from Angkor Wat, and reachedMrauk U by a series of other historical thefts.