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. ♪ ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la 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 security 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, now taking an active part in politics. just as the doors opening, our crew is the first -- meanwhile, this southeast asian country of 80 million 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. >> 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, careful reading, something between the lines. >> something you were accused of, sending secret messages? in the back, a caldron 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 tandori, and of course eggs bobs and spins in the broth of fish, surprise and herb. >> mohinga? this i must have.

correct me if i am wrong, 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 popular in the city but in 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. >> 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, i'm still cautiously optmistic. >> 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 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. cook, 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, she became to the minds of many an apologist to the regime. fairly or not -- to others. >> sometimes outsiders, 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. thank you. >> 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 this part of the world, everyone eats differently to their own taste. >> anything goes. >> anything goes. >> every mouthful, you can make a different as you want. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ credit cards accepted almost nowhere. cash machines, huh-uh. wifi? internet? rare? if you need to exchange money here, only crisp, absolutely here, only crisp, absolutely new $100 bills accepted. in myanmar, it's another older world. oh, and what's up with this?

with all kissing sounds, smooching, kissing sound 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 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. 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.

it seems only natural you would be in burma/mynmar the same time as me. 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 food wake up. 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. greasier than i thought they would be. >> 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 couple of blocks, bigger and bigger ferris wheels, each with its own troupe of acrobatic 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. hard making a buck but again and again the seats are loaded with smiling families. the team climbs aboard and the circus returns again.

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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 mounted spookers -- speakers blasting. 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 banquets and feasts are held and many moments of spirch chum reflection. the majority of people here practice buddhism, the oldest most conservative form religion which asserts that existence is a continuous cycle of suffering through birth, death and rebirth. ♪

the morning star tea house where i have come -- well, for a couple of reasons. reason one, the must have, bone deep, old school favorite here, the salad of fermented tea leaves. i know, that does not sound good but you would be wrong to think that. take the fermented tea leaves, add cabbage, tomatoes, a lot of crunchy bits like toasted peanuts, season with lime and fish sauce. this is absolutely delicious. >> you like it? >> oh, yes. >> simple, delicious. things not to be taken for granted if you have been in and out of the joint like this guy, activist, astrologer and three times convict. everyone i have met in the country so far has been in prison. >> it happens again and again

for us. >> six years. >> all the judgments are made by the kangaroo court, navy, army and air force. they read off your sentence. it happens. only minutes. >> what is life like inside of prison? >> nice, nice, very nice. >> hard time believing that. >> very nice. we can talk to each other. say some things, use the 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. only these are the things that we possess. >> how's the food? the food in prison? >> soup, pea soup. only one meat meal a week. that's on thursday. you know n prison only the head

and the tail no, mid le part. >> there is hope for this country in your view, yes? >> yes. >> the buddhist believe how to live in situations, dictators, discrimination. everything is happening to us. the buddhist say that is -- if we do something next life will be good. >> something fretty cool about meeting people who have been for so long i unable to speak. now so unguarded about their hopes and feelings. ♪

>> sizzling meats, the clink of beer glasses, ringing bicycle bells. this is yangon's 19th street. does yangon rock? >> mexico, when you are in yangon. >> meet burmese punk rockers side effect and lead singer darko. >> you can come here anytime. there will be a lot of people here. >> so if you sit here long enough, you will see every musician in town? >> yeah, you could say that. >> the city wide curfew used to mean close your doors at 11:00 p.m. most shops and restaurants still close early but not here on 19th street where you can eat bash a cue late in to the night. wow, what do we have here, grilled tofu? >> pork tail. >> oh, barbecue is awesome. >> these young men show how determined you have to be to rock. especially in burma.

>> i'd like to say my audience was nirvana and then sex pistols and stuff like that. >> what american bands do you hate? >> creed. >> yes. >> they are like the worst band in the history of, like, the world. so what's it like having an indy band in myanmar? is it difficult? >> for sure. for sure, yeah. before you record a song, you are like -- when you have the lyrics, you have to send me the lyrics, so they are going to censor it and check it and sometimes they will suggest you some words to change. >> that must be funny. >> very funny. >> now, is that still the case? >> now, it is not like that anymore. they are not going to censor you

but it will be kind of risky because you don't know what will happen to you if you write and sing something wrong. >> so let me ask this, if all of your dreams came true, where would you want to play? >> new york city. >> new york city. >> it's my dream. 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 success. people should hear you. ♪ leave early go roam sleep in sleep out star gaze dream big

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so you heard the sleeping call and the dining car. >> we lost a dining car i hear. >> we lost the dining car but now the sleeping car. so we will have to hope for the best. the night express. 600 kilometers of what will turn out to be kidney softening travel by rail. by the ancient capital i have been told is a must see. >> the true experience. the engine is a french engine from the '70s.

>> we have been told it is a somewhat uncomfortable ten-hour trip. the question on this end of the journey is come back on the train or fly in coffin? mishaps on burmese planes and trains are not, shall we say, unheard of. >> maybe the signal to depart at some point. >> 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 can literally outrun this train. >> you could jog ahead, have a nice meal in some recommended restaurant. >> we'd catch up with it. >> like a walk.

. >> there we go. this is stop number one of 75. ♪ heading north, the scenery opens up, the space between things gets wider, more pastural and 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 burma refers actually to only one of these groups. but they all seem to have in

common tanaka, a face paint and sun block made from tree bark that masks many of their faces. it is 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. >> this thing is going to derail at some point. they have lost how many wheels yesterday on this one train?

so it is about being in the right car, the one that keeps its wheel. >> derailments or rail slips as they are referred to here is somewhat more benign sounding occurrence than say rolling off the tracks in to 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. >> must be 40, 50 miles an hour at this point. >> what if someone flew out of their seat and out the win doechlt you don't want to hold a lap dog. >> or a baby or anything. >> try pissing in the bathroom and find yourself launched straight up in to the ceiling, bring to a rude conclusion what was already an omni directional experience. >> smooth now. very relaxing.

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nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your doctor about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. carnie wilson. thank you. can you hold on? ♪ hold on for one more day really? hey, i know there's pain. why do you lock yourself up in these chains? ♪ this would be so easy if you had progressive. our mobile app would let you file a claim

and help you find one of our service centers where we manage the entire repair process. things will go your way if you hold on. [ sighs ] someday somebody's gonna make you wanna turn around and say goodbye. ♪ say goodbye no, you just made it weird.

>> 1,000. done. >> this is breakfast. >> nearly 19 hours in to our ten-hour trip and the night express emerges and bounces on over old, poorly maintained tracks. fly back to new york for breakfast. i have time. what's in yours? >> i got potato. >> how to make good foot pretty, a bouquet of fish. indeed.

this is it. the plains. >> out the window the modern world seems to fade away and then disappear all together, like the last century never happened or even the century before that. >> with are 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's [ bleep ] going on they do not want you to see. a low-intensity conflict with a tribe would be one of them. a wave of persecution and

deaths. the country m.i.a. may be opening up at its center but along the edges it is wage withing a desperate war to hang on the the status quo. needless to say, the status quo is not good. >> all right. here we come. ♪ 1,000 years ago, it was the capital for a long line of kings. where the old coexists with the even older. as elsewhere in this part of the world, many in many of the buddhist temples here, far oldest spirit-based believes coexist with more recent

buddhism. and in myanmar, worship of the nats. they are like demi gods, spirits, often 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. ♪ i have a list, things to eat in myanmar and this is one of them. chicken curry. and from road side joints like this, nestled among the temple ruins you are more than likely to catch a very enticing whiff. >> just delicious. spicy but not to the point where you want to scream out for

mercy, but some heat. slow-simmered curry served with a side of sour soup made from roseelle leaves, chillies, pickled bean sprouts. you get the idea. they have these relishes, dippy things and interesting salads even though i'm not a salad guy. salads here are happening. spicy, salty, savory. it is a delicious. a plethora of plafr flavors. like feeding people. flavors, colors and textures. best restaurant in the country so far, by the way. ♪ never settle for verizon's overpriced gimmicks.

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you would expect this. a city of unparalleled city and beauty to be overrun with tourists, souvenir shops, snack bars and tours on tape but no. >> this is stunning. >> you will encounter western travelers at bagans temple sites for sure but generally speaking they are a hearty bunch. even the bus tours are not for

the faint of heart or weak of spirit. for the most part you are far more likely to bump in to a goat than a foreigner. >> this is so beautiful. so much like an ode to human, you know, believes and adoration and worshipping. >> slave labor. >> and slave labor. >> i'm thinking you build this many temples, thousand of them in a relatively short period of time, chances are someone was working for less than minimum wage. >> for sure. >> i could fly here. look at that. >> a millennia ago n a period of just under 250 years, over 4,000 structures like this were built here. they say that the king began this project after a conversion

to a different style buddhism. he started a new temple like every 14 days. over 3,000 pag goe das, temples and monasteries remain today. inside almost every one a buddha figure, each one different. >> i like how integrated it is. >> funny you should mention that. people used to live here and the government came along in the '80s and relocated. any homes, this is a tourist bucks here, they have relocated the entire population. ♪ >> we're in one of the first mass waves of tourists. european tourists have been coming for a period of time. but they have been building hotels like crazy around this

area, called the tourist triangle. >> as myanmar continues the shift there will be adjustments. there will be, of course, a down side. >> what's that going to mean? how will burmese react to the good and evils that come with tourism? it's going to be mobility, prosperity for some. will mean a lot of bad things, too. it will mean prostitution, hustling. >> everybody sell it to you. you buy. >> we're told kids are dropping out of school to do this.

the double-edged sword of the service economy. >> only $5. one two three four five six seven eight nine ten. >> i'm amazed how friendly and open people are with us. it is easy for me to sit here and say whatever i want about the government. i can go home. our lives will go on. we don't pay the price. everybody who help ed us could very well pay the price. it should be pointed out that a lot of people did not. a lot of people were very nice to us but said i have already been in jail. i really don't want to go back. it's a very real concern. what happens to the people who you leave behind? one would think you can't once they have tasted freedom. well, you know, you can put the

toothpaste back in the tube. there's no doubt about that. for the moment, at least, things seem to be moving in the right direction, a countr 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.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com [ speaking in a foreign language ] ♪ ♪ ♪