Pictures of a traveler drying her clothes outside the international airport in Yangon have gone viral in Myanmar, with Facebook users deriding her behavior as “so trashy”.
The images posted to expat group Yangon Connection yesterday showed the unidentified woman casually reading her Kindle as the laundry items dried.
Some local users of the social network blasted her as disrespectful of the socially conservative culture in Myanmar – the clothing on show included underwear.
“Good lord, what kind of lowlife would think it’s proper behavior to do it in public?!” wrote one, before descending into a xenophobic rant.
Other comments on the images, which have been shared widely, ranged from “so trashy” to “Euro Trash… Kick them out”.
Not everyone agreed, however, with some suggesting, um, shockingly, that she probably didn’t mean to offend and just didn’t want to load her suitcase full of wet clothing.
Yangon is in the middle of rainy season right now and drying clothing in the humidity is a painstaking task.
“Maybe her clothes might get wet because of the rain,” wrote Htun Zaw Lwin. “Rainy season! And she needs to dry while waiting for her flight. If you want respect, you should respect yourself first.”
“What she did was not cool but hey…,” said Sao S MangRai. “Being backpacker, she has to be resourceful.”
Trashy or resourceful, it would be good to tone down the public shaming on Myanmar social media.
In the words of one Facebook user: “Oh here we go again. Over some hung clothes, people start to battle each other out. -_-“
