sending out support and best wishes to joan. >> we sure are rooting for her to pull through this. alexandra field, thank you so much. that is it for me. thank you so much for watching. really appreciate you being with us. i'm breeaianna keilar. this is situation room". anthony bourdain, parts unknown" anthony bourdain, parts unknown" starts 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 it happening here, and it's pretty incredible. ♪ ♪ fet the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ in yangon, the capital city of myanmar, it's dark. blackouts are frequent, with the ancient power grid.

what 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, there was 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 had he first grown to despite the apparatus of a colonial state, became more or yellian than 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. >> the most 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 is opening, my crew 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 want only last week a bit strong. >> journalist and publisher u thiha saw. we meet at the seit taing kya tea shop. >> anything could happen in a tea shop. this place mean 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. so given your profession, how have you managed to stay out of prison all of these years? >> no, i was there. >> oh, really? >> two times. >> once they called me and said, u thiha saw, would you come into the office and talk? >> right. >> so i went there, and -- i was there 89 days in the prison. there was this very serious control that came with the first government, scrutiny and registration. >> that doesn't sound good.

>> take a look at everything. they would say take this out or black in out or just take the whole story out. >> magazines that came into the country, they would literally cut out the pieces? >> people under this kind of tight censership, people become more creative. take a look, careful reading, reading something between the lines, messages. >> something you were accused of, sending secret messages? in the back, a call drochb 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 into an old stone oven. in another corner, the heartening slap of fresh bread pressed against the clay wall of etan doorry, and of course, eggs bob and spin in the magical

broth of fish, spice and herb. >> mohinga? this i must have. >> correct me if i'm wrong, if there's a national dish, a fundamental most beloved dish, would it be this? >> yes, you look at the sometimes. these are indian, these are chinese, but mohinga is a local thing. it's popular in the rule areas too, a fish base was rice or noodles. sometimes we put in some crispies like friday beans so these are some coriander leaves. >> yeah. >> these are some limes. >> sprinkle some in here. good textures, particularly in the light of obama's recent visit, these are interesting times. significant changes for the first time in 350 years. >> yes. one thing that's quite significant. you take a look around, all kinds of people, all age groups. a couple years ago, people would be talking about politics,

you were whispering. now, it it's more outspoken. the government is more open. they also are relaxing the rules about censorship. august 20th, we were called into the office, many publishers and editors and the director general of the department did, the bog, 40 years and 20 days of censership is gone. that's it. >> feel good? >> yeah. that's what we've been waiting for for so many years. >> i love the answer. it's a careful yes. >> yes. first people within the country, we have some doubt. okay, is it real? >> the changes and the reforms? but now it's a couple years. people start to believe, 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 and let's stop, i'm optimistic about the changes but

i'm still cautiously optimist kick. >> in yangon, motor bikes 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 point-blank and killed filming a street demonstration. be seen talking to 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. get shampoo and eat. >> 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 became in the minds of many an apol gist for the regime. fairly or not, i believe to others. >> sometimes outsiders act as if it's only when the military junta went away that thing happen especially with the frozen state like snow white dead. >> but her many well-known books on the culinary traditions of

myanmar, make her a compelling advocate for burmese cuisine. >> you're very passionate about the cooking and the cuisine here. >> it's just that i like to eat and 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 that you haven't had. dinner is going to be sort of a tasting thing. >> pig head salad with kaffir lime leaves. long beans salad. with sesame and fish sauce. penny leaf salad, even this salad of indian-style samosa. everything's out there at the same time. >> why he. >> no first course, second course? >> no, no, no. if i'm invited to a friend's house, the table would be covered with dishes. covered. >> it's really about the interaction between a lot of colors, textures and flavors in one dish or. >> different. >> different. wow, i'm in love. that's good. >> yes. it is. >> and of course, there's the

maddeningly 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 general in this part of the world. everything it's anything differently to their own taste. >> anything goes. >> every mouthful, you can make as different as you want. ♪ everybody knows that. well, did you know words really can hurt you? what...? jesse don't go! jesse...no! i'm sorry daisy, but i'm a loner. and a loner gotta be alone. heee yawww! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. jesse?

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♪ credit cards accepted almost nowhere. cash machines, huh-uh. wifi? internet? rare. 3 g, you've got to be kidding. if you need to exchange money here, only crisp, absolutely $100 bills accepted. in myanmar, it's another older world.

oh, and what's up with this? with all the kissing sounds, that smooching, kissing sound that you're hearing 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 style of the province to the west named for the khine people. >> now we're talking. it's one of the things we're told you have to eat here. prawns from the river, then tomato curry. try this. good sauce. that's good.

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 department stores in rangoon. a century ago in kip ling's poem mandalay was beck conning the imaginations of young

englishmen, here could you buy fine egyp country cigarettes, french liquors. 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 current direction, the busy hustle and bustle of yang on's port appears even busy today as workers prepare for the on coming 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 from broke arizona utility grade chef to whatever it is i am today, i'd never been to asia until 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. >> oh, yeah. >> felipe travels constantly. he's been bouncing around asia for decades. like all good travelers, he's relentlessly curious and without fear or prejudice. >> it's fantastic. >> it makes perfect sense over cold brew and chicken necks, in the port, felipe is the one joining me to explore this particular moment in myanmar. >> it is going to be a party. >> yeah.

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 moon 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.

was fly package just a bit earlier this morning. >> i'll tell you it's the backbone of every street fair in the world, isn't it? deep fried food. >> that's right. and also the little butter where they break a quail egg in it. one shot, pretty good. that's it. all right. this is so tasty. much less greasy than i thought it would be. >> anytime you tell me crispy little bird, i'm all over it. >> good head. good beak, too. >> good beak. >> 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. you have to see it to believe 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. >> three guys the other way. >> note the footwear, by the way. it's not just this one, every couple of blocks, bigger and bigger ferry wheels each one with its own troupe of acrobatic spinners. going for a ride is tempting, but -- >> host of cnn implicated in death of four underage carnies. the thing just came off the hinges. the next thing you know it was rolling down the street and sending those 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

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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 car dancing, body painting, car-mounted speakers blasting. but it's also three days of merit accruing, the practice of performing charitable or otherwise good, would in the hopes of jacking up your karma. money trees are paraded around pinned 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 midwest have bone deep old favorite around here, la pet tuk. the salad of fermented leaves, i know, it doesn't sound good, but you would 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, yes. >> yes, yes, fantastic. >> simple, delicious, things not to be taken for granted if you've been in and out of the joint like this guy, zarney, activist, astrologer and three times convict. >> every i've met in this country so far has been to 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 air force and navy, these t these these officials sitting all together. they read off, this is your sentence. only minutes, like that. >> what is life like inside prison? >> nice, nice, very nice. >> i have a hard time believing that. >> we can talk to each other, say manage, use a mirror to look at each other? >> access to books? >> no books, no writing things, no paper, no, nothing at all. a mat and a blanket and a plate 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 the 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. especiallied but theists believe how to live in situations, dictators, you know, and the political passions or even discrimination, everything is happening to us, but the buddhists say okay, that's about the past life. if you go do something, next life will be 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 meat, 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 curfew used to mean close your doors at 11:00.

most shops and restaurants still close early, but not here on 1th street, where you can eat barbecue here late into the night. >> what is this, tofu? >> pork tail. >> the barbecue is awesome. >> these young men show exactly how determined you've got to be to rock, especially in burma. >> i like to say my audience was nirvana, and then 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, yeah. before you record a song, like when you have the lyrics, you

got to submit the lyrics so they're going to censer it. they're going to check it, and even sometimes they will, you know, 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? >> really? new york city >> you want to go to new york city? >> it's my dream. i just need to be strong. so that's why -- why i keep telling my band mates. be strong, have faith. >> come on. >> so old people reach out. making roll and roll is hard enough. truly independent rock and roll is even harder. i'm guessing 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 in the dining car. >> no, we lost the dining car right here. >> even our original sleeping car lost a wheel. so 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 flying coffin. >> mishaps on both burmese planes and trains are not, shall we say, unheard of. >> the widowmaker express. >> that is the choice. that may be the signal to depart at some point. >> yeah. all aboard.

whoa. we're moving. here we go. >> here we go. >> that's it. we are at cruising speed. >> really? this is cruising speed? i could literally outrun this train. >> we could jog ahead and have a nice meal in some recommended restaurant. >> we could catch up with it. >> like the di-jesstive walk. here we go. this is stop number one 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 and sun bloc made from tree bark that mavs many of their faces. it's ubiquitous here is, at 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 this one train? so truly, it's about being in the right car. the one that keeps its wheels. >> derailments or rail splits as they are referred to here a somewhat more besign sounding than rolling off into the rice paddies, which are not uncommon. one can't help wondering what the engineer and conductor are thinking as the train speeds heedlessly on faster and faster.

>> all right. it must be like 40, 50 miles per hour at this point. >> i wonder if anyone has ever flown right out of their seat out the window. >> small people, sure. >> you don't want to be like holding a lap dog. >> or a baby or anything. >> yeah, try pissing in the bathroom and find yourself launched straight up into the ceiling, bringing to a rude conclusion what was already an omni directional experience. >> smooth now. it's very relaxing. >> what kind of beer did you have? i want the same. ♪

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♪

1,000? >> done. >> wow. this is breakfast. >> nearly 19 hours into our ten-hour trip in the night express to bagan lurches and bounces onward over old and poorly maintained track. >> could have flown back to new york for breakfast. >> i had time. >> what's in yours? >> root. >> i've got potatoes in mine. >> how to make food look pretty. look at this, a bouquet of fish. >> indeed. this is it. this is the plain of bagan.

>> out the window, the modern world seems to fade away, then disappear all together, 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 would be one of them. all along the edges, it's waging a desperate war to hang onto 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 coexists with the even older as elsewhere in this part of the world, in many of the buddhist temples here, far older spirit-based beliefs coeconomist with buddhism. and in myanmar, worship of the kts are the worshipped, they're

gods, obvious with human qualities and failings. dance performances pay homage to the individual nats, performers claiming to actually channel them, bringing about one hopes a beneficial spiritual possession. bringing about what hopes a beneficial spiritual session. i'm not just here for the ceremony. i have a list. things to eat in myanmar. and this is one of them. chicken curry. and from roadside joints like this, you're more than likely to catch a very enticing whiff. >> that's delicious. spicy, but not to the point where you want to scream out for mercy. >> slow simmered curry with a side of sour soup made from roselle leaves.

with it you get fried chiles, pickled bean sprouts. you get the idea. spicy sour, salty savory. it's a plethora of flavors. like feeding people. i think about the balances of flavors, colors and textures. best restaurant in the country so far today. ed fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. ♪

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big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

♪ you'd expect this, an ancient city of nearly unparalleled size and beauty to be overrun with tourists, snack bars, tours on tape. but no. >> this is stunning. you'll encounter some western travelers for sure, but they're a hearty bunch. 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 owed to human beings, worshipping. >> slave labor? >> you build this many temples, thousands of them in a relatively short period of time. if someone was working for less than minimum wage, let's put it that way. >> we could fly here. look at that. >> a millennia ago, in a period of just under 250 years over 4,000 structures like this were built here. they say that they began this project after a conversion to buddhism. >> we started a new temple like every 14 days.

>> over 3,000 pa goad des, temples and monasteries remain today. inside almost every one of them a buddha figure. each one different. >> i like how integrated it is. >> actually, funny you should mention that, people used to live here, but the government came along in the '80s, i believe, and relocated them, it was a mass relocation project. any homes, anything that was understood, it was a good -- they relocated the entire population. we're in the first waves of tourists. the flood gates have certainly opened, they're building hotels like crazy around this area like a tourist triangle.

as myanmar begins its shift toward accommodating increasing tourism in a service economy to go with it, there will be adjustments. there will be, of course, a down si side. >> what's that going to mean? >> how will burmese react to all of the good and evil that come with tourism? >> it's going to be mobility, prosperity for some. it will mean a lot of bad things too, prostitution, hustling. >> for the children. >> everybody sell to you. >> we're told that kids are dropping out of school to do this. the double edge sword of the service economy. >> you want one for only $5.

>> what i'm amazed is 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? we can go home. our lives will go on. we don't pay the price for that show. everybody who helped us could very well pay that price. it should be pointed out that a lot of people did not, they were nice to us. said look, i just -- i've already been in jail. i don't -- i really don't want to go back. it's a very real concern, what happens to the people we leave behind. one would think that you can can't -- they've tasted freedom. and -- you know, you can put the toothpaste back in the tube. 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 maybe waking up. to what? time will tell. tokyo's willing cog requiring long hours, little pay and total dedication. and sometimes what's called death by overwork. here the pressure's on, to keep up appearances, to do what's expected. to not l