man on a small boat

The conical Asian hat, sedge hat, rice hat, paddy hat or coolie hat is a simple style of conical hat originating in East and Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea. It is kept on the head by a cloth (often silk) chin strap; an internal band of the same material keeps the hat itself from resting on the wearer's head. This style of hat is used primarily as protection from the sun and rain. When made of straw or matting, it can be dipped in water and worn as an impromptu evaporative-cooling device.

Because of its distinctive shape, it is often used in the depiction of East Asians. Recently, as part of international one day cricket matches in Australia, the conical hat has been a fashion phenomenon amongst spectators, with many decorated in Australian green and gold livery. Given that spectators are exposed for long periods in direct sunlight, the conical hat is a logical sunsafe device.

In mainland China and Taiwan, it is called dǒulì (斗笠; literally, a one-dǒu bamboo hat, 笠帽, 竹笠). In Japan, the hat is called sugegasa (菅笠^?). In Indonesia, the hat is called caping, and in Korea it is called satgat (삿갓) and mostly worn by farmers and Buddhist monks; in Vietnam, the name is nón lá (leaf hat). Among conical hats, nón lá of Vietnamese has the most original geometric image as it forms a perfect right circular cone which tapers completely smoothly from the base to the apex. Nón lá are notable for their romantic and timelessly crafted adornments. Special conical hats in Vietnam contain colourful hand-stitch depictions or words while the Huế varieties are famous for their nón bài thơ (literally: poem conical hats). These contain random poetic verses and Hán tự which can be revealed when the hat is directed above one's head in the sunlight.

Sittwe (Burmese: စစ်တွေမြို့; MLCTS: cac twe mrui.; Burmese pronunciation: [sɪʔtwè mjo̰]; formerly, Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced site-tway in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The city has 181,000 inhabitants (2006). it is the administrative seat of Sittwe Township and Sittwe District.

Burma ⁱ/ˈbɜrmə/, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar ⁱ/ˌmjɑːnˈmɑr/ (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်, Pyidaunzu Thanmăda Myăma Nainngandaw, pronounced [pjìdà̀uɴzṵ θà̀ɴməda̯ mjəmà nàiɴŋàɴdɔ̀]), is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh and India. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. At 676,578 km² (261,227 sq mi), it is the 40th largest country in the world and the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Burma is also the 24th most populous country in the world with over 58.8 million people.