Thursday, May 28, 2015

WHY TOURISTS KEEP GOING NUDE AT HISTORIC MONUMENTS?


Seemingly Tourists stripping down to their skivvies at ancient landmarks.
Tourists around the world have been doing stripping down in sacred spots like Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu and capturing their bare butts, breasts, and beyond to share on Instagram.
But authorities aren’t taking the “naked tourism” business lightly, folks caught in the act are getting fined, deported, and even banned from visiting the countries.
In response to a rash of cheeky antics at Angkor Wat, the ancient holy archaeological complex in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, officials will translate the Visitor Code of Conduct into multiple languages and post it at the entrance to the temples starting in July.
They are hoping to curb incidents like the one that occurred earlier this month, when three tourists were arrested for taking photos of their bare bottoms in front of the temples.
In February, two American sisters were found guilty of breaking the code at the site’s Preah Khan temple. Lindsey and Leslie Adams, of Prescott, Ariz., “lowered their pants to their knees and took pictures of their buttocks,” a local police official stated.
The women each received a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of 1 million riel (about $245); they were also deported and banned from entering Cambodia for four years.
That followed an incident in January 2015, when three Frenchmen bared all in front of one of the Buddhist temples. They, too, received suspended sentences, fines, deportation and a four-year ban and their camera equipment was confiscated.
An Italian and an Argentinian men were literally “caught with their pants down,” as a third person, a Dutch woman, snapped photos.
  • Sentences for the trio have yet to be handed down, but it’s likely they’ll receive the same treatment as others who have been convicted of violating the code, which states: “Any act of looting, breaking or damaging Angkor, or exposing sex organs and nudity in public area is a crime punishable by law.”
  • Signs at Machu Picchu also warn tourists to respect the UNESCO World Heritage Site; explaining that removing clothes is a “crime against culture.”
  • The warnings were posted following a string of nude escapades. Most notable was a video of a couple streaking through the sacred Incan site.
Police in Peru detained the New Zealander and Australian in 2013, but it inspired a wave of similar behavior.
In 2014, several groups of tourists; Americans, Australians, and Canadians used iPhones and a camcorder to document themselves in the buff at the site.
Amichay Rab, an Israeli accountant, posed nude on one of the ancient rocks and posted the shot (along with others he took throughout Central and South America) on his blog, My Naked Trip.
Paul Marshall, whose Facebook page and Twitter account Naked at Monuments documents his and others’quests to strip down and take photographs at historic sites.


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