An Italian-Burmese Friendship Sign

"Visitors have noticed a great change to the 2500 year old Shwedagon Pagoda. Entirely from his own volition, Italian Speaking Tour Guide Ko Min Min Myat Thin has donated a helpful sign that now greets visitors at all four entrances to the great pagoda. In addition to the bilingual English and Burmese being written and translated by the Italian Speaking Tour Guide Ko Min Min Myat Thin, he also arranged for the particular photos, design, and the entire stand that allows the appartus to free-stand as it does easily, with little work needed from other pagoda caretakers.

The helpful sign begins by pointing out four of the things that foreign visitors (or any other visitor) should not do upon entering the pagoda, particularly pertaining to their style of dress. The upper most left square advises that one should not wear any kinds of socks, stockings, foot coverings, foot socks or other foot accoutrements. Going clockwise, the next picture, just to the right, clearly shows a lower garment that unacceptably goes only until the mid-thigh region, and one may not wear any mini-skirt, skirt, shorts, pants, or towels that only go this far. Next we come to the lower right, which helpfully displays a blouse that is too revealing, too short, out of style, and disproportionate to the wearer's actual body size frame. Finally, the final square, now moving to the lower left, shows two pairs of white and black sneakers, possibly cross-trainers or heavy walking shoes; although in this case one must keep in mind that any and all footwear of any kind are not allowed, and this also includes socks, stockings, foot coverings, foot socks or other foot accoutrements. 

The sign is also helpful in that it has English as well as Burmese language to remind the visitor. The upper most square reads "No Socks", then there is "No Short Pants," followed by "No Spaghetti Blouse," and finally "No Shoes."

As most visitors who come have some basic understanding in the English language, further translations into other languages (such as Hindi, Farsi, Urdu, Arabic, etc.) were not deemed needed.

Finally, the Italian Speaking Tour Guide Ko Min Min Myat Thin kindly included his own name as the donor of these signs. It reads: "Donated by Ko Min Min Myat Thin [first line]; Italian Speaking Tour Guide [second line]." It is likely that the Tour Guide Ko Min Min Myat works primarily with Italian-speaking tourists from various parts of Italy, who come to Myanmar centrally on vacation."

-- the following post was contributed by Ko Kyaw Kyaw

This is the sign in question that was produced by the Italian Speaking Tour Guide Ko Min Min Myat Thin. The helpful sign begins by pointing out four of the things that foreign visitors (or any other visitor) should not do upon entering the pagoda, particularly pertaining to their style of dress. As most visitors who come have some basic understanding in the English language, further translations into other languages (such as Hindi, Farsi, Urdu, Arabic, etc.) were not deemed needed.