Mingalabar is a Burmese greeting which simply means hello or good day.  We spent 10 days backpacking Myanmar and this was the very first Burmese word I learned to pronounce correctly. Thanks to my Burmese friend Htoo, who was very keen to teach me his language.  This auspicious basic word would always come in handy whenever we walked into a new place where I would always try my best to correctly greet the people with a happy “Mingalabar!” and they would joyfully greet me back or sometimes giggle and smile if I mispronounce it.