>> end of the road. ♪ -- 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 news reels from world war ii. chances are bad things were happening in the footage you saw.

myanmar.

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, 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 once served as a colonial policeman, where he first had grown to despise the apparatus of a colonial state, became more orwellian than imagined, in 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 transition is when we think that success is -- >> nobel prize-winning democracy champion, aung san suu kyi, after 15 years in 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 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. >> this place means a lot of things. not just a place to grab a snack. >> 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 position, how have you managed to stay out of prison all these years? >> no, i was there. two times. >> 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 no nine days. it was a very serious control that came with the first government. and registration. >> 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 came into the country, they would literally cut out the pieces? >> people under this kind of censorship, i think they become more creative, care 68 reading, something between the lines. >> something you were accused of, sending secret messages? in the back, a call drone of salty fish bubble over hardwood coals. fingers work mountains of sweet bean, one of the fillings for the variety of pastries stuffed, shaped and put into an old wood stove oven. in another corner, the heartening slap of fresh bread pressed against the clay wall of a tan doori, and of course eggs bobs and spins in the broth of fish, surprise and herb. >> mohinga? this i must have. if there's a national 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 fish based with rice or noodles, sometimes we put in some crispies, like fried beans, and these are some coriander leaves. >> yeah. >> lime. >> 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 50 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 -- nowadays, 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 boss, okay, 40 years and 20 days of censorship 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. people in the country, we have some doubt, is it real? the changes? 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, now let's turn back or let's stop. i'm optimistic about the

changes, but, it's a course. >> 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. people seen talking to anybody with a camera, 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 15 years, 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. emerging after three years, they became to the minds of many an fairly or not -- to others. >> you know, it's only after the military went away, you know,

that things happen, especially with the state like -- >> 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 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. it's good to be like 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. no first court or second course? >> no.

>> if i'm invited to a friend's house, the table would be covered. >> it's about the interaction between a lot of colors in one dish or -- >> or different. >> wow, i'm in love. that's good. >> yes. ♪ want to change the world? create things that help people. design safer cars. faster computers. smarter grids and smarter phones. think up new ways to produce energy.

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here, only crisp, absolutely none $100 bills accepted. in myanmar, it's another older world. oh, and what's up with this? with all kissing sounds, smooching, kissing sound ear 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 fish house. named for you this khine people.

>> now we're talking. it's one of the things we're told you have to eat here. frogs from the river, then tomato curry. try this. good sauce. that's good. that's 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 department stores in rangoon. a century ago in the poem by kipling, young englishmen, you could buy fine egyptian cigarettes, french liqueurs. the floor tiles were shipped over from manchester. 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 to trend, the busy port appears even busier today as 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. back before i wrote the book that changed my life to whatever it is i am today, i had 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. >> flip traveled constantly, bouncing around asia for decades. he's relentlessly curious, and

without fear or prejudice. >> fantastic. >> it makes perfect sense over cold brew and chicken necks, flip is the one joining mess to explore this particular moment in myanmar. >> the party. >> it is going to be a party. full moon party tonight. what's that mean? we have no idea. >> we don't know. there's only one way to find out, i suppose. ♪ >> it sounds like a party. >> it's crazy from now on. >> it's full moon day, a holiday marking the end of the rainy season. 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 street fair, but infinitely better food. >> these are very good. >> it's the backbone of every street fair, isn't it? deep fried food. >> that's it. and also the little butter where they break a quail egg in it. one shot, pretty good. all right. this is so tasty. much better than i thought. >> anytime you tell me crispy little bird, i'm all over it. >> good beak, too. 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 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. ♪

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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 you've been out of joint like 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?

you know that in prison, all the -- nobody, only the head of the fish and the tail. no middle part. >> so there is hope for this country, in your view. yes? >> 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

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this is stop number one of 75. ♪ >> heading north, the scenery opens up. the space between things gets

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 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've referred to more is more benign sounding than rolling off into the rice paddies, which are not uncommon. can 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 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've referred to more is more benign 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 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

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1,000? >> 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.