Learning Respect on the Road

It’s a sad day for travelers when a country closes off one of its national treasures because visitors were being disrespectful.

On a visit to Myanmar a couple of years ago, by far one of the highlights of the trip to Bagan was watching the sunset from atop a pagoda. Everywhere I looked, I saw beauty in a landscape awash with sparkling golden stupas. I had a hard time describing it; the images were so amazing, so peaceful, so otherworldly and so far from my everyday experience.

While I feel lucky to have been able to have this magical experience – one of many within the country – it is an experience that visitors to the country will no longer be able to have. After March 1, visitors will be prohibited from taking part in this ritual.

It truly saddens me that this experience is cut off to visitors in Myanmar, as it had such a profound effect on me. However, what saddens me the most is the reason why officials have made the decision to ban the experience. It wasn’t because visitors were damaging these treasured monuments. It was because we were disrespecting them. We weren’t following the rules: We were dressing in a manner unbecoming of the traditions of the country – we were sleeping on and defacing these sacred monuments.

In a statement put forth by the Burma Ministry of Culture, officials noted that "[Visitors] often behave badly, in a way that is culturally disgraceful such as wearing inappropriate clothing, dancing and sleeping [on the monuments]."

“For a foreign tourist, such an experience could be an unforgettable moment in their life,” Naung Naung Han of Myanmar Travel Association, which represents private tour operators, told the AFP.

Not only will this prevent visitors from a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it’s hurting business as well.

"Tourism is a way to display our cultural heritage and this news of a ban in the way heritage is shown will affect the tourism business," Phyoe Wai Yar Zar, head of the Myanmar Tourism Marketing industry group, told AFP.

As visitors to foreign places, we the visitor need to be more culturally sensitive in the future to avoid having such a privilege – as this experience truly was – taken away. If we can’t appreciate the traditions of others – and adhere to them in a respectful manner – maybe we don’t deserve to visit at all. The world isn’t so small that we can’t follow the rules in a foreign land.