Myanmar is witnessing outrage over a 12-minute adult video shot in the country's best-known tourist hotspot. The video, which has now surfaced on the internet has been shot in Bagan, Myanmar's best-known tourist hotspot and UNESCO heritage site of thousands of hallowed Buddhist pagodas. The video was posted on PornHub by users "YeeesYeeesYeees", who describe themselves as a 23-year-old Italian couple with piercings and tattoos.
According to the site, the pair boasts more than 81,000 subscribers and over 35 million video views since they joined 11 months ago. But the couple's naked antics against one of Bagan's ancient pagodas have been less than well-received in Myanmar, with condemnation spreading online.
"Our Bagan pagodas are The Holy Land," wrote Mg Khin Gyi on Facebook with multiple angry emojis.
The video in question had been viewed nearly a quarter of a million times by Thursday evening but had registered twice as many dislikes as likes.
Managing Director of New Fantastic Asia tour company, Tun Tun Naing, questioned what seemed to be "negligent" security at Bagan's sites and called for action.
Mandalay Chairman of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association Myo Yee added his voice to the rising clamour, saying the case was bad news for an industry hit hard by coronavirus woes.
"It's a difficult time for us because not many tourists are coming here," he said.
Bagan is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar.
During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, 4,446 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of 3822 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day. Now Bagan is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites.
The Bagan Archaeological Zone is a main attraction for the country's nascent tourism industry. It is the largest archaeological site in the world.
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