he's noot scanot scared to go outside his comfort level.

>> the capital city is dark. black-outs are frequent in the ancient power grid.

what sources of light there are cast an eerie, yellow-orange hue. for over 100 years, this was rangoon. with a new taste for self determination, the country gained independence. after a decade of instability, however, the military con sol dated power and never let go. elections, they came and went. results ignore, opposition punished were silenced entirely. this is where he first grown to despise the apparatus of a security state became more orwellian than even he could imagine.

a nation where even having an opinion can 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 yankon. to nearly everyone's surprise, there have been some huge changes 234 in recent months. nobel prize winning democracy for nearly 15 years under house arrest was released and has now taken 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 nearly a million people are waiting to see what's next.

>> of course, morning has always been about tea. it's black, indian style tea usually with a swift dollop of sweetened, condensed milk. everybody's got a preference. everybody's got a preferred tea shop. but they know, presummablely, how they like yours. >> we meet at the tea shop. for 50 years of paranoia and

repression, tea houses were the main fall of discussions of the daily news. we had tried to piece together the real story between the chopped newspapers. the secret police were levly represented in discontent. >> how have you managed to stay out of prison in all of these year sns two times. >> that was serious control that came with the first together. serious scrutiny.

>> we really cult out the pieces. >> take a look. there is something from the junior alliance. >> something you are accused of. in the back, a caldron of salty little fish. one of the vierts of pastry that is are samted, stuffed and put into an old, stone oven. the sound of fresh bread slapped against the wall of a tandori with fish, spice and herb.

>> correct me if i'm wrong. if there was a national dish, would this be it? >> yes. all of the sudden, they're ruling with some rice. we would sometime put in some crispys. these are the leaves. they're also on the line.

nowadays, it's not so open. august 20th, we were called in to the boss. >> okay. 48 years and 20 days of sunshine gone. >> somebody went worse. >>. >> first, people within the country, we have some downfall. is it real? changes in the reforms. now it's a couple years. maybe it's real.

not too long ago, everyone filming here would have been unthinkable. the 2007 japanese general was shot point-blank and killed. be seen talking to anybody with a camera and there would likely be a knock on your door in the middle of the night. it's so far con fronted with our cameras, a few smiles and mostly indifference, at worst, shocking, considering how recently the government has started to

>> this is a famous and very controversial figure in public life. >> this has been this way since the 19th century. >> mafengi has also spent time in prison, but on emerging after three years, she became in the line there's not been a frozen steak that was so good. >> but her many well-known books on the culinary traditions make her a compelling advocate for

burmese cuisine. >> this is yangon's feel restaurant. >> sometimes, i order a lot of salad. it's good to be tasting things. >> there's pig head salad, long bean salad with sesame and leaf sauce. even this s aurks lad and indian style simosa. >> everything is out there at the same time? >> yes. >> no first course, second course. >> course. >> no, no, no, no. if i were at a friend's house, the table would be covered with dishes. >> and it's really about the interaction of colors 234 one dish or different. >> different. >> yes. >> wow, that's good. i'm in love. >> and then, of course, there's the maddening deliciously

condiments and pickles. >> this is something very confusing in general in this part of the world. everybody eats everything differently, very much to their taste. >> anything goes. every month, you can make it as different as you want. bla

blank. >> one of only 135 distinctive ethnic groups arnds here. >> prawns from the river. tomato curry. look at this. good sauce. oh, that's good. that is some good things, my friends. >> among the crush of commuters, shoppers, people trying to make

a living, rise up the last remnants of empire. fading, often crutchbling, but still there after all of these years. these are the offices, businesses and public buildings of the british colonials. this building a century ago, mandalay was beckoning the overheating imaginations of gentleman of young englishmen. the floor tiles were shipped over from manchester. now, people live here. a half serge ri has left very few of these buildings in good repair. and there are divergent views on

them. for others, a ves tang of a golden time. >> these days in the streets on the docks, it's all about moving forward. in an economy ready to explode, the busy hustle and bustle of the on going support appears busier today asworkers prepare for the on going holiday. >> hey, chef. how are things going? >> welcome to myanmar. >> the proprietor of my old restaurant. >> it seems only natural that you'd be here at the the same time as me. >> back before i wrote the book that changed my life to whatever i am today, i'd never been to

asia until this guy sent me to japan and got me hooked on a continent. >> oh, there we go. oh, nice. chicken head. that is the perfect mood awakener. it makes perfect sense that overcold brew of chicken necks, philippe is the one joining me at this particular moment. >> it is going to be a party. full moon party tonight.

>> 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. cotton candy, trinkets, tube socks, just like a new york street fair but with infill nantly better food.

power source, not unusual for these parts, is not electric, it ain't gas. oh, man, are you kidding me?

>> an absolutely insanely dangerous closely choreographed process of first getting the heavily laden wheel in motion and 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 coming blocks bigger and bigger, 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. >> good luck, maybe you return safely with all of your limbs intact. ♪ guys! you're not gonna believe this!

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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 speakers, but also a pratt of

charitable good works in the hopes of jacking up your karma. money trees are paraded around pinwood cash donations for months. free bang wets and feasts are held. 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. >> very noisy. very noisy, yes.

>> the morningstar teahouse where i've come for several years, the must-have bone deep, 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 of crunchy bits, season 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 this guy, zanzi. >> 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 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. >> we can talk to each other, say manage, use a mirror to look at each other?

>> 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 things 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 ♪ ♪ 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? 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 into the middle of 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 -- was nirvana, and then toes -- >> 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? difficult? >> for sure, yeah. before you record a song, like when you have the lyrics, you have to submit the lyrics, so they're going to censor it, they're going to check it. even sometimes they will, you know, suggest you some words you

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, because it's risky. you don't know what will 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? >> my dream is to be strong, so that's why -- what i'm -- what i keep telling my band mates. >> 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 even harder still. so gentlemen, you deserve success. people should hear you. >> yeah. so you heard the sleeping call

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so you heard the sleeping call of the whale? and the dining car? >> no, we lost the dining car, i hear. >> but even our car of the wheel. 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 trainer 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. whole. 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. >> we could catch up with it. >> with a digestive 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 distinguishes 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 sunscreen from tree bark that masks many of their faces. 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 be derail at some point. they have lost how many wheels

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 out of their seat out the window. you don't want to be holding a lab dog. >> or baby or anything. >> yeah, try -- in the bathroom and find yourself launched straight up into the ceiling, bringing to a rude conclusion what was already a omnidirectional experience. >> cruising now, very relaxing.

>> what kind of beer did you have? ♪ ♪ ounds likegreat deal. so i'm getting exactly what i want, then? appears so. now, um, i'm not too sure what to do with my arms right now 'cause this is when i usually start throwing things. oh, that's terrifying at&t's best-ever pricing. 2-10 lines, 10 gigs of truly shareable data, unlimited talk and text, starting at $130 a month. ♪ i thought it'd be bigger. ♪ ♪ (dad) there's nothing i can't reach in my subaru. (vo) introducing the all-new subaru outback. love. it's what makes a subaru,a subaru. what's your favorite kind of cheerios? honey nut.

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>> 1,000. >> done. now, 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. >> fly back to new york for breakfast. >> i haven't had time. >> what's yours?

>> arrowroot. >> potato. >> how do you make good -- look at this, a bouquet of fish. >> indeed. >> 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 -- going on that they do not want you to see. with the ethnic kachin tribe would be one of them. a wave of persecution and death in the thu kine state. they're waging a desperate war to hang on to the stat us 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 more spirit-based beliefs coexist with buddhism. and in myanmar, worship of the gnats are wore shipped, 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. 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 low simmered curry served with a side of sour soup made from rozelle leaves. with it you get fried ground chilies, pickled bean sprouts. you get the idea. these relishes, the dippy type of things, really interesting salad, but i'm not really a salad guy. salads here are happening. spicy, sour salty, it's delicious. delicious. a plethora of textures and flavors. they thought a lot about their food and clearly like eating, like feeding people. think a lot about the balances of flavors, colors and textures. best restaurant in the country so far by the way.

♪ 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 western travellers at bagan's travel sites for sure but they are a hearty bunch. even the bus tours here are not for the faint of heart or weak

of spirit. but for the most part you are more likely to bump into a goat than a foreigner. >> this is so beautiful. so much like an ode to human believes and admiration and worshipping. >> slave labor. >> and slave labor. you build this many temps thousands of them in a short period of time. chances are someone was working for less than minimum wage, let's put it that way. >> oh, sure. you could fly here. look at that. >> a millennia ago in a period of 250 years, over 4,000 structures like this were built here. they say that a king began this project after a conversion to buddhism. he started a new temple every 14

inside almost every one of them, a buddha figure, each one of them, different. >> and i like how integrated it is with the frieze, postures. >> funny you mention that. people used to live here and the government came along in the '80s and relocated them. it was a mass relocation project. this is tourist bucks here. they relocated the entire population. we're in one of the first mass waves of tourists. european tourists have been coming here in small numbers for a long time but it's the flood gates have opened. they are building hotels like crazy in this area called the tourist triangle. >> what is this here? this is a scarf. >> as myanmar begins the shift

to accommodating tourism and the service economy to go with it there will be adjustments. there will be a downside. >> what is that going to mean? how will burmese react to all of the good and evils that come with tourism? it's going to be 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. >> everybody tell it to you. you buy -- you don't buy -- that's no fair. >> i don't need it. >> kids are dropping out of school to do this. the double-edged sword of the service economy. >> you want one for $5. one, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, nine, ten. >> what i'm amazed is how friendly and open people are with us. it's easy for me to say whatever i want about the government. me can go home. our lives will go on. we don't pay the price for that. 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 nice to us but said i've already been in jail. you know, 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 you can win freedom. they tasted freedom.

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 maybe waking up. to what? time will tell. keith, the salary man. tokyo's willing cog in an enormous machine requiring long hours, low pay, total dedication. in sometime bhas's called haroshi. death bid over-work. here in a society of tight spaces and many expectations, 2 pressure is onto keep up appearances, to do what's expected. to not let the interior life become exterior.