and in phoenix, the high is pushing 120. something that's happened only three times before. stay cool. thanks for watching. i'm don lemon in new york. "anthony bourdain: parts unknown" begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com chances are you haven't been to this place. chances are this is a place you've never seen. other than maybe blurry cell phone videos, old black-and-white newsreels from world war ii. chances are bad things were happening in the footage you saw. myanmar, after 50 years of nightmare, something unexpected

is happening here, and it's pretty incredible. ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ in yangon, the capital city of myanmar, it's dark. blackouts are frequent, with the ancient power grid.

but sources of light there are in the street cast an eerie yellow/orange hue. for almost 100 years under british rule, this was rangoon. in 1948 after helping the british fight off the japanese, and with a new taste for self-determination, the country gained independence. after a decade of instability, however, the military consolidated power and never let go. elections? they came and went. the results ignored, opposition punished, or silenced entirely. burma, now myanmar, where orwell had once served as a colonial policeman, where he first had grown to despise the apparatus of a security state, became more orwellian than even he could have imagined. a nation where even having an opinion could be dangerous.

>> i am very honored to be here at this university and to be the first president of the united states of america to visit your country. >> morning in yangon, to nearly everyone's surprise, there have been some huge changes in recent months. >> difficult time in any transition is when we think that success is -- >> nobel prizewinning democracy champion, aung san suu kyi, for nearly 15 years under house arrest, was released and is now taking an active role in politics. just as the door's opening, my cree and i are among the first to record what has been unseen for decades by most of the world. meanwhile, this southeast asian country of 80 million people is collectively holding its breath, waiting to see what's next, and will this loosening of government grip last?

of course, morning in yangon has always been about tea. it's black indian-style tea, usually with a thick dollop of sweetened condensed milk. you want it sweet, less sweet, very sweet, strong, less strong? everybody's got a preference. everybody's got a preferred tea shop, where they know presumably how you like yours. >> i said less sweet. >> journalist and publisher thiha saw. we meet at the seit taing kya tea shop. >> this place means a lot of things. not just a place for breakfast and snacks. >> for 50 years of paranoia and

repression, teahouses were also the main forum for guarded and not so guarded discussions of the daily news, where you tried to piece together the real stories behind the ludicrously chopped and censored newspapers. carefully, of course, because informers and secret police were also heavily represented in these hotbeds of sedition and discontent. given your profession, how have you managed to stay out of prison all these years? >> no, i was there. >> really? >> two times. >> two times. >> once they called me and said, u thiwa, would you come into the office and talk? >> right. >> so i went there, and -- i was there no nine days. it was a very serious control that came with the first government. scrutiny and registration debac debacle. >> that doesn't sound good. >> together and we look at everything. take this out, take that out or

black that out, or just take the whole story. >> magazines that would come into the country, they literally cut out the pieces? >> people under this kind of censorship, i think they become more creative. take a look. careful reading. something between the lines. >> something you were accused of, sending secret messages? in the back, a cauldron of salty little fish bubble over hardwood coals. fingers work mountains of sweet bean, one of the fillings for the variety of pastries that are stuffed, shaped and put in with old stone oven. in another corner, the heartening slap of fresh bread pressed against the clay wall of a tan doori, and of course eggs bob and spin in the broth of fish, spice and herb.

mohinga? this i must have. if there's a national dish, would it be this? >> yes, you look at the dish. these are indian, these are chinese, but mohinga is a local thing. in the rural areas, too. it's fish based with rice or noodles, sometimes we put in some crispies, like fried beans, and these are some coriander leaves. >> yeah. >> these are some lime. >> sprinkle some in here. mm, good textures particul. particularly in the light of obama's recent visit, these are interesting times. significant changes for the first time in 50 years. >> yes. there is one thing that is quite significa significant. you take a look around, all kinds of people, all age groups. a couple years ago, people would be talking about politics,

you would tone down and be whispering. the government is more open. they also are relaxing the rules about censorship. august 20th, we were called into the office, many publishers, editors, and the boss, okay, 48 years and 20 days of censorship is gone. that's it. >> feel good? >> yeah, that's what we've been waiting for so many years. >> i love the answer. it's a careful yes. >> yes. people in the country, we have some doubt, is it real? the changes? the reforms? but now it's about a couple of years and now people start believing, okay, maybe it's real. the process is still very young, but it's still possible. when the generals stop and say, okay, enough is enough, let's turn back or let's stop. i'm optimistic about the changes of the reform.

cautiously optimistic. >> in yangon, motorbikes are outlawed. why is a matter of much rumor and speculation, so it's the bus for me. something seems almost out of sync. not too long ago, even filming here officially as an open professional western film crew, would have been unthinkable. in 2007, a japanese journalist was shot pointblank and killed filming a street demonstration. be seen talking to anybody with a camera and there would likely be a knock on your door in the middle of the night. yet so far confronted with our cameras, a few smiles, mostly indifference at worst, shocking considering how recently the government has started to relax its grip. >> we love to eat.

don't forget for 50 years we were under dictatorship, there were not a lot of things to do. cook and share food. >> this is ma thanegi, a famous and very controversial figure in public life. myanmar or burma? >> myanmar, because that's the original name since the 13th century. >> ma thanegi, like u thiha saw, has also spent time in prison. but on emerging after three years, she e becabecame in the f many an apologist for the regime. fairly or no, i leave to others. >> sometimes i act as if, you know, it's only after the military went away, you know, things happened. especially in a frozen state, like snow white. >> but her many well-known books on the culinary traditions of

myanmar make her a come ppellin advocate for burmese cuisine. you're very passionate about the cooking and cuisines. >> just because i like to eat. i eat like a pig. >> this is yangon's feel restaurant. >> i think the best of our food, i'm going to order a lot of salads you haven't had. it's good to be like sort of a tasting thing. >> pig head salad with kaffir lime leaves. salad with sesame and fish sauce. penny leaf salad. penny leaf salad, even this salad of indian-style samosa. no first course or second course? >> no. if i was invited to a friend's house, the table would be covered. >> it's about the interaction between a lot of colors and textures and flavors in one dish or -- >> different. >> different. i'm in love, that's food. >> yes. >> and, of course, there's the madingly delicious condiments

and pickles of which to make each dish your own. >> you make a lot of different combinations with each mouthful. >> this is something confusing in this part of the world, everyone eats differently to their own taste. >> anything goes. >> every mouthful you can make as different as you want. did you know, your eyes can lose vital nutrients as you age? [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health.

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walmart. credit cards accepted almost nowhere. cash machines, huh-uh.

wi-fi internet? rare. if you need to exchange money here, only crisp, absolutely none $100 bills accepted. in myanmar, it's another older world. oh, and what's up with this? with all the kissing sounds, that smooshing, kissing sound you're hering all over the place, my wife would have been in, like, ten fights so far. sorry, who are you smooching at? this is how you summon a waiter in myanmar. i know. i know. try that at hooters, and you would be rightly ejected. it takes some getting used to, for sure. this is a big, noisy seafood house where fish is prepared in the sty of yakine, the coastal province to the west, known for

one of the 35 distinct ethnic groups around here. now we're talking. it's one of those things everybody tells you you have to eat here. frogs from the river, then tomato curry. look at this. good sauce. that's good. that is some good stuff, my friends. we shall know them by the number of their dead. early morning in yangon. among the crush of commuters, shoppers, people trying to make a living, rise up the last remnants of empire. faded, often crumbling, but still there after all these years. these are the offices, businesses and public buildings of the british colonials. this building was once one of the swankest apartment stores

in rangoon. a century ago in kipling's poem, young englishmen, you could buy fine egyptian cigarettes, french liqueurs. the floor tiles were shipped over from manchester. now people live here. a half century of a pariah state has left very few of these buildings in good repair. there are divergent views on whether to preserve them. for many a reminder of colonial subjugation, for others, a vestige of a golden time. ♪ these days in myanmar in the streets, on the docks, it's all about moving forward. in an economy ripe to explode if things continue trending in

their busy direction, yangon's port seems even busier today as the workers prepare for the oncoming holiday. >> hey, chef. how are you doing? >> it figures, doesn't it? >> it does. welcome to myanmar. >> philip lajaunie, owner and proprietor of my old restaurant les halles. it seems only natural that you'd be in burma, myanmar, at the same time as me. back before anything, before i wrote the book that changed my life, this guy sent me to japan and got me hooked on a continent. >> there we go. >> oh, nice. chicken head. yeah. >> that is the perfect mood awakener. >> philip travels constantly. he's been bouncing around asia for decades. like all good travelers, he's relentlessly curious and without

fear or prejudice. >> fantastic. >> it ke philip is the one joining me to explore this particular moment in myanmar. >> the party. >> it is going to be a party. full moon party tonight. >> full moon party. >> what that means, we have no idea. >> we don't know. there's only one way to find out, i suppose. ♪ >> it sounds like a party. >> it gets crazy from now on. it's full man day. a holiday marking the end of the rainy season. and today marks the beginning of three days of break out the crazy. giant speakers compete for attention. everybody cheerfully oblivious to the distortion. cotton candy, trinkets, tube

socks. just like a new york street fair, but with infinitely better food. are these the little birds? >> yeah. these guys are really good. flying just this morning. >> i tell you, it's the backbone of every street fair in the world, isn't it? deep fried food. >> that's it. and also the little butter where they break a quail egg in it. one shot. it's really good. all right. this is so tasty. much greasier than i thought it would be. >> any time they tell me crispy little bird, i'm all over it. >> good beak, too. the baek, crispy and tender. >> oh, and they have rides. check this out. okay. it's a ferris wheel, but the power source, not unusual for these parts, is not electric, it ain't gas. oh, man, are you kidding me?

it's human power. >> yes. every bit of it. >> an absolutely insanely dangerous closely choreographed process of first getting the giant heavily laden wheel in motion and then getting it up to top speed and keeping it there. wow. look at this thing tilting out, too. >> then it goes the other way. >> note to footwear, by the way. it's not just this one, every couple of blocks bigger and bigger ferris wheels, each one with its own troupe of spinners. going for a ride is tempting, but -- host of cnn implicated in death of four underage carnies. next thing i would know it's rolling down the street and

sending kids flying. if i had any idea, i never would have taken the ride, so says bourdain. no, i don't think so. again and again the seats are loaded with smiling families. the team climbs aboard and the circus begins again. good luck. may you return to earth safely with all of your limbs intact. at university of phoenix we kis where it can take you.cation (now arriving: city hospital)

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next day in the full moon festival. whether you're looking out the window at a rural village or at the streets of yangon, what's happening is probably pretty similar, a tableau of dancing, body painting, car speakers blasting. but it's also three days of merit accruing. the practice of performing charitable or otherwise good works in the hopes of jacking up your karma. money trees are paraded around wined with cash donations for months. free banquets and feasts are held, and many moments of spiritual reflection. the majority of people here

practice tera vata buddhism, the oldest most conservative form of the religion which, simply put, asserts that existence is pretty much a continuous cycle of suffering through birth, death and rebirth. noisy. >> very noisy. very noisy, yes. >> the morningstar teahouse where i've come, well, for a couple of reasons. reason one, the must have bone deep old-school favorite around here, la pet tuk, the salad of fermented tea leaves. i know, that does not sound good, but you'd be wrong to think that. take the fermented tea leaves, add cabbage, tomatoes and lots and lots of crunchy bits like toasted peanuts, seasoned with lime and fish sauce. this is absolutely delicious. >> you like it?

>> oh, yeah, it's fantastic. >> yes, yes, fantastic. >> simple, delicious, things not to be taken for granted if you've been out of joint like this guy, zanzi. activist, astrologer, and three times convict. everyone i've met in this country, so far, has been in prison. >> this happens again and again for us in myanmar. >> almost six years? >> nearly six years. all the judgments are made by the kangaroo court and the army, and the three officers sitting all together. they read off, this is your sentence. it happens. only minutes. like that. >> what is life like inside prison? >> nice, nice, very nice. >> i have a hard time believing that. >> very nice. we can talk with each other. you know, say something, use a mirror to look each other. >> access to books? >> no books. no writing things. no paper. no. nothing at all. a tmat and a blanket and a plat and a bowl. >> right. >> only these are the things

that we possess. >> how is the food in prison? >> soup. pea soup. only one meat meal for a week. that's on thursday. you know that in prison, all fish has no body, only the head and the tail. no middle part. >> so there is hope for this country, in your view, yes? >> yes, yes. the buddhists believe how to live in situations. dictators, political passion, or even discrimination. everything is happening to us, but the buddhists say, okay, that's a tough life, you can make something good. >> there's something pretty cool about meeting people who have been for so long unable to speak. now so unguarded about their hopes and their feelings. ♪

sizzling meats, the clink of beer glasses, ringing bicycle bells. this is yangon's 19th street. does yangon rock? can it rock? >> nine years, like a must-go place when you are in yangon. >> meet burmese punk rockers side effect, and lead singer darko. >> you can come here any time, there will be lots of people like here. >> so if you sit here long enough, you'll see every musician in town? >> yeah, you can say that. >> the citywide curfews used to mean close your doors at 11:00. most restaurants close early still, but not here on 19th,

where you can eat barbecue here late into the night. wow. what do we have here? grilled tofu? >> pork tail. >> pork tail. oh. the barbecue is awesome. these young men show exactly how determined you've got to be to rock, especially in burma. >> i'd like to say mine was nirvana, and stuff like that. >> what american bands do you hate? >> um, creed. >> yes! they are, like, the worst band in the history of, like, the world. so what's it like having an indie band in myanmar? is it difficult? >> for sure. for sure. yeah. before you record a song, like when you got the lyrics, you have to submit the lyrics, so

they're going to censor it. they're going to check it and even sometimes, you know, they will suggest you some words to change. >> that must be funny. >> very funny, you know. >> now, is that still the case? >> no, it's not like that any more. they're not going to censor you, but it's going to be kind of risky because you don't know what's going to happen to you if you write and sing something wrong. >> so let me ask this. if all your dreams came true, where would you want to play? >> new york city. >> you want to go to new york city? >> it's my dream. we just need to be strong. that's what i keep telling my band mates. be strong. have faith. >> i hope people reach out to you, because making rock 'n' roll is hard enough. truly independent rock 'n' roll is even harder and i'm guessing that making it here is harder still. so gentlemen, you deserve some

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so you heard the sleeping call of the whale? >> the what? >> the sleeping call of the whale and the dining car right here. >> no, we lost the dining car, i hear. we just have to hope for the best. >> the night express to bagan. 600 kilometers of what will turn out to be kidney-softening travel by rail, but bagan, myanmar's ancient capital, i'm told, is a must see. >> the true old english experience. the engine is a french engine from the '70s. >> we've been told it's a somewhat uncomfortable ten-hour trip. so really the question on this end of the journey is come back on the train or fly in coffin? mishaps on both burmese

planes and trains are not, shall we say, unheard of. the widow maker express. >> that is the choice. that may be the signal to depart at some point. >> yep. all aboard. whoa. we're moving. here we go. >> here we go. that's it. we have reached cruising speed. >> really, this is cruising speed? you could literally outrun this train. >> we could jog ahead and have a nice meal in some recommended restaurant. >> we could catch up with it. >> it's good just to walk. there we go. this is stop number 1 of 75.

♪ >> heading north, the scenery opens up. the space between things gets wider, more pastoral, more beautiful. ♪ looking around at my fellow passengers, it could be hard to distinguish between the 135-plus ethnic groups that make up the burmese population. the very name, burma, refers actually to only one of these groups. what they all seem to have in common, however, is a thanaka, a face paint made from tree bark that masks many of their faces. it's ubiquitous here. first jarring to see, it quickly becomes something you get used

to and take for granted. ♪ yangon's gravitational pull broken, and with darkness falling, the train picks up speed. at times terrifyingly so. >> if this thing is going to derail at some point. they have lost how many wheels yesterday on just one train? so truly it's about being in the right car, the one that keeps its wheel. >> derailments or rail splits as they are referred to here, a somewhat more benign sounding

occurrence, than rolling off the tracks into a rice paddy, are not uncommon. and one can't help wondering what the engineer and conductor are thinking as the train speeds heedlessly on, faster and faster. >> i mean, it must be, what, 40 or 50 miles per hour at this point. >> i wonder if anyone has ever flown out of their seat out the window. >> sure. >> you don't want to be, like, holding a lap dog. >> or a baby or anything. >> try pissing in the bathroom and find yourself launched straight up into the ceiling, bringing to a rude conclusion what was already an omnidirectional experience. smooth now. it's very relaxing. >> what kind of beer did you have? i want the same.

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ocuvite. ok, well, remember last week when you hit vinny in the head with a shovel? [chuckling] i do not recall that. of course not. well, it was too graphic for the kids, so i'm going to have to block you. you know, i got to make this up to you. this is vinny's watch.

♪ 1,000? >> done. now, this is breakfast. >> nearly 19 hours into our 10-hour trip in the night express to bagan lurches and bounces onward over old and poorly maintained tracks. could have flown back to new york for breakfast. i had time. >> what's in yours? >> arrowroot. >> potato. >> how to make good bouqueting, look at this, a bouquet of fish. for this is it. the plain of bagan. >> out the window, the modern world seems to fade away, then

disappear altogether, like the last century never happened, or even the century before that. we're traveling across the largest mainland nation in southeast asia. but it should be pointed out that we are still within the confines of the tourist triangle. areas permissible for travel. whole sectors of this country, much of it, in fact, are off limits. simply put, there is shit going on they do not want you to see. a low-intensity conflict with the ethnic kachin tribe one one of them. a wave of prosecution and deaths in the thu kine state. all along the edges, it's waging a desperate war to hang on to the status quo. needless to say, the status quo is not good.

>> all right. bagan, here we come. ♪ >> a thousand years ago, bagan was the capital for a long line of kings. it's the sort of place where the old co-exists with the even older. as elsewhere in this part of the world, in many of the buddhist temples here, far older, anamist spirit-based beliefs co-exist with more recent buddhism. in myanmar, worship of the nats

are worshipped, they're gods, obvious with human failings. dance performances pay homage to the individual nats, performers claiming to actually channel them, bringing about one hopes a beneficial spiritual possession. but i'm not just here for a nat pue. i have a list. things to eat in myanmar. and this is one of them. chicken curry. and from roadside joints like this nestled among the temple ruins, you're more than likely to catch a very enticing whiff. just delicious. spicy, but not to the point you want to scream out for mercy, but slow simmered curry served with a side of sour soup made from roselle leaves. with it you get fried chilis, pickled bean sprouts.

you get the idea. these relishes, the dippy type of things, really interesting salads. but i'm not really a salad guy. salads here are happening. spicy, sour, salty, it's delicious. a plethora. this is a culture that's thought a lot about their food, clearly like eating, like feeding people. i think a lot about the balances of flavors, colors and textures. best restaurant in the country so far, by the way. "i'm part of an american success story," "that starts with one of the world's most advanced distribution systems," "and one of the most efficient trucking networks," "with safe, experienced drivers." "we work directly with manufacturers," "eliminating costly markups," "and buy directly from local farmers in every region of the country." "when you see our low prices, remember the wheels turning behind the scenes, delivering for millions of americans, everyday. "dedication: that's the real walmart"

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♪ you'd expect this, an ancient city of nearly unparalleled size and beauty, to be overrun with tourists, souvenir shops, snack bars, tours on tape, but tno. >> this is stunning. >> you'll encounter some western travelers at bagan's temple sites for sure, but generally speaking, they're a hardy bunch. even the bus tours here aren't for the faint of heart for the weak of spirit. but for the most part, you're far more likely to bump into a goat than a foreigner. >> this is so beautiful. so much like an ode to human, you know, beliefs and other region and worshipping and --

>> slave labor. >> and slave labor. >> i'm thinking you build this many temples, thousands of them in a relatively short period of time, chances are somebody who's working for less than minimum wage, let's put it that way. >> for sure. oh, we could fly here. look at that. >> a millenia ago in a period of just under 250 years, over 4,000 structures like this were built here. they say that a king began this project after a conversion to thera vatta style buddhism. they started a new temple, like, every 14 days. over 3,000 pagodas, temples and monasteries remain today. inside almost every one of them, a buddha figure.

each one different. >> and i like how integrated it is with the trees. >> actually funny you should mention that. people used to live here, but the government came along in the '8 '80s, i believe. it was a mass relocation project. they relocated the entire population. we're in one of the first mass waves of tourists. european tourists have been coming here in relatively small numbers for a long time, but the flood gates have certainly opened. they're building hotels like crazy around this area, what's called the tourist triangle. >> what is this here? >> this is a scarf. >> as myanmar begins its shift toward accommodating increasing tourism in a service economy to

t go with it, there will be adjustments. there will be, of course, a downside. >> how may you pay? >> what's that going to mean? how will burmese react to all of the good and evils that come with tourism? it's going to mean mobility. it's going to mean prosperity for some. it will mean a lot of bad things, too. it will mean prostitution. it will mean hustling. >> sell it to you. >> i don't need it. we're told kids are dropping out of school to do this. the double-edged sword of the service economy. >> you want to buy one? only $5. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. >> i'm amazed how friendly and

open people are with us. it's easy for me to sit here and say whatever i want about the government, right? me can go home. you know, our lives will go on. we don't pay the price. everybody who helped us could very well pay that price. it should be pointed out that a lot of people did not. a lot of people were very nice for us but said, i've already been in jail, you know, i don't really want to go back. it's a very real concern. what happens to the people we leave behind? you know, one would think that you can't -- they tasted freedom. well, you know, you can put the toothpaste back in the tube. you know? there's no doubt about that. but for the moment, at least, things seem to be moving in the right direction. a country closed off to most for so long. sleeping. a 50-year nightmare for many of

its citizens finally may be waking up. to what? time will tell. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com marijuana, the burning weed with its roots in hell. >> marijuana hasn't always been hated by the u.s. government. in fact, before 1937, it wasn't even considered an illegal drug. after prohibition, the government needed a new evil to go after. so they formed the federal bureau of narcotics. and put marijuana near the top of their hit list. and they've been hating on pot ever since. but in 1996, california became the first state to legalize medical cannabis. and 18 other states soon followed suit. now with more and more states not only decriminalizing but legalizing