**Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown | Myanmar | S01 E01 | All Documentary — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/anthony-bourdain-parts-unknown-myanmar/

Anthony Bourdain explores Myanmar in this Parts Unknown episode, examining its decades of military rule, the cautious political opening, and its food, tea-shop culture, and society.

## Key Takeaways

- Myanmar was under military rule for decades, with repression, censorship, and suppressed elections.
- Political change began gradually, but many citizens remained skeptical about whether it would last.
- Food and tea houses are central to Burmese social life and were also spaces for guarded political discussion.
- Tourism brings economic opportunity but raises questions about labor, inequality, and cultural impact.

## What the video covers

- Bourdain opens by noting how few viewers have seen Myanmar, contrasting it with dated footage and blurry phone videos.
- The episode outlines Myanmar's history: British colonial rule, independence in 1948, and a military takeover that consolidated power and ignored or silenced election results.
- Aung San Suu Kyi's release after nearly 15 years of house arrest and her entry into politics signal a loosening of government control.
- Tea shops in Yangon serve as the main forum for discussing news and politics, a place where people had to speak carefully under censorship.
- Journalist U Tin Aung Soe describes the press censorship regime, including magazines being cut apart and stories removed before publication.
- Bourdain explores local food such as mohinga, fish-based dishes, pastries, and tea culture, tying cuisine to daily life.
- Residents remain cautious, doubting whether the reforms are real and noting that informants were common during decades of repression.
- The episode covers Buddhist culture, including monastic life and donation traditions, and a Yangon punk rock scene.
- A train journey shows the country's infrastructure and the areas of the country open to tourist travel.
- The episode closes by raising concerns about tourism's economic impact, labor conditions, and whether freedoms gained can be sustained.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction: A Hidden Place
2. 04:00 Military Rule and Political Opening
3. 09:00 Yangon Tea Shops and Daily Life
4. 16:40 Censorship and Press Freedom
5. 24:40 Food Culture and Local Dishes
6. 35:00 Buddhism, Music, and Urban Life
7. 48:20 Train Journey and Travel Restrictions
8. 58:20 Tourism, Economics, and Future Uncertainty

Answers

## Questions about this video

What political change does the episode describe in Myanmar?

The episode describes decades of military rule that ignored election results and punished opposition, followed by a gradual opening. Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest and her entry into politics are presented as signs of this shift, though locals remain uncertain whether it will last.

Why are tea shops important in Yangon according to the episode?

Tea shops served as the main place for discussing news and politics during years of censorship and surveillance. Journalist U Tin Aung Soe explains that people spoke more cautiously there, since informants and secret police were common.

What concerns about tourism does Bourdain raise?

Bourdain asks how tourism will affect Burmese people, including whether workers earn fair wages and how the economic and cultural changes will affect people's lives. He closes by questioning what happens to the people left behind.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:01

Speaker A

Chances are you haven't been to this place. Chances are this is a place you've never seen.

00:22

Speaker A

[Applause] Other than maybe blurry cell phone videos, old black and white news reels from World War II.

00:30

Speaker A

Other than maybe blurry cell phone videos, old black and white news reels from World War II.

00:41

Speaker A

And it's pretty incredible. I took a walk through this beautiful world. Felt the cool rain on my shoulder.

00:55

Speaker A

Chances are bad things were happening in the footage you saw. Myanmar. After 50 years of nightmare, something unexpected is happening here.

01:28

Speaker A

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.

01:42

Speaker A

And it's pretty incredible. I took a walk through this beautiful world. Felt the cool rain on my shoulder.

01:59

Speaker A

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.

02:13

Speaker A

Heat. Heat. Heat.

02:30

Speaker A

[Music] 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.

02:45

Speaker A

In Yangon, capital city of Myanmar.

02:56

Speaker A

Nobel Prizewinning democracy champion Angan Suchi, for nearly 15 years under house arrest, was released and has now taken an active role in politics.

03:08

Speaker A

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.

03:22

Speaker A

to see what's next. And will this loosening of government grip last? Of course, morning in Yanggon has always been about tea.

03:39

Speaker A

For almost a hundred 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.

04:06

Speaker A

I said I'm normally less sweet and a bit strong. Journalist and publisher Utia Saw. We meet at the Satai Cha tea shop.

04:15

Speaker A

After a decade of instability, however, the military consolidated power and never let go. Elections came and went. The results were ignored, opposition punished, or silenced entirely.

04:23

Speaker A

For 50 years of paranoia and repression, tea houses 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

04:37

Speaker A

Burma, now Myanmar, where Orwell had once served as a colonial policeman, where he'd first 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.

04:46

Speaker A

So given your profession, how have you managed to stay out of prison all of these years?

04:50

Speaker A

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.

04:58

Speaker A

Right. So why not there and I talk the last 89 days in the present there was this very serious control that came with the first military government press scrutiny in registration department so that doesn't sound good we need to send in our copies to that

05:20

Speaker A

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 in sight.

05:29

Speaker A

out the the pieces. People under this kind of tight censorship people become more I think creative. Take a look. Careful reading.

05:37

Speaker A

Nobel Prize-winning democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, for nearly 15 years under house arrest, was released and has now taken an active role in politics.

05:55

Speaker A

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.

06:05

Speaker A

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.

06:20

Speaker A

Mohinga. Uh, this I must have. Correct me if I'm wrong. If there's a national dish, a fundamental most beloved dish, would it be would it be this?

06:27

Speaker A

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.

06:38

Speaker A

fish paste with some rice noodles with sometimes we put in some crispies like fried beans or fried guts. So these are some coriander leaves. Yeah.

06:48

Speaker A

I said I'm normally less sweet and a bit strong. Journalist and publisher U Tin Aung Soe. We meet at the Sataing Cha tea shop.

07:06

Speaker A

Yeah. There's one thing which is quite significant for take a look around all kinds of people all age groups. Let's say a couple of years ago people will be if you're talking about politics you you're tone down right

07:18

Speaker A

Anything can happen in a tea shop. This place means a lot of things, not just a place for breakfast and snacks.

07:30

Speaker A

we mean publishers editors and the director general of the department said the boss okay 48 years and 20 days of censorship is gone that's it feel Good.

07:42

Speaker A

For 50 years of paranoia and repression, tea houses 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.

07:48

Speaker A

Yeah. First people within the country, we have some doubt about okay, is it real? The changes and the reforms, but as now it's about a couple of years and then now people start believing that oh maybe it's real. The process is still

08:02

Speaker A

So given your profession, how have you managed to stay out of prison all of these years?

08:14

Speaker A

[Music] In Yangon, motorbikes are outlawed. Why is a matter of much rumor and speculation, so it's the bus for me.

08:29

Speaker A

No, I was there. Oh, really? Two times. Two times. Once, advantageous, call me. Hey, would you please come into our office? We need to talk.

08:47

Speaker A

In 2007, a Japanese journalist was shot point blank 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.

08:59

Speaker A

Right. So why not? There, and I talk the last 89 days. In the present, there was this very serious control that came with the first military government: press scrutiny, registration department. So that doesn't sound good. We need to send in our copies to that office, and then they would take a look at everything. They would say, you take this out, take that out, or black this out, or just take the whole story out. Magazines that would come into the country, they would cut out, literally cut out the pieces.

09:14

Speaker A

We love to eat and don't forget for 50 years we were under dictatorships and especially under socialist era not a lot of things to do but you know cook and share food and you know this is Maangi a famous and very

09:28

Speaker A

People under this kind of tight censorship become, I think, more creative. Take a look. Careful reading. There may be something between the lines, messages. Something you were accused of, sending secret messages in the back.

09:46

Speaker A

an apologist for the regime. Fairly or not, I leave to others. Sometimes outsiders um act as if you know it's only after the military went away that you know things happened.

09:59

Speaker A

A cauldron of salty little fish bubbles over hardwood coals. Fingers work mounds of sweet bean, one of the fillings for the variety of pastries that are stuffed, shaped, and put into an old stone oven.

10:13

Speaker A

You're very passionate about the cooking and the cuisine here. And well, it's just that I like to eat and I eat like a pig.

10:20

Speaker A

In another corner, the heartening slap of fresh bread pressed against the clay wall of a tandoori. And of course, eggs bob and spin in the magical hell broth of fish, spice, and herb.

10:34

Speaker A

lime leaf, long bean salad with sesame and fish sauce, penny leaf salad, even this salad of India style samosa.

10:42

Speaker A

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?

10:50

Speaker A

Covered. And it's really about the interaction between a lot of colors, textures, and flavors in one dish or different.

10:58

Speaker A

Yeah. For example, take a look at all these foodstuffs. This is Indian. These are Chinese, et cetera. But then mohinga is a local thing, and it's popular not only in the city but also in the rural areas too. A fish paste with some rice noodles, with sometimes we put in some crispies, like fried beans or fried gourd. So these are some coriander leaves.

11:09

Speaker A

You make a lot of different combinations with each mouthful. Ah, this is something very confusing in general in this part of the world.

11:15

Speaker A

Yeah. You can put some 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.

11:31

Speaker A

[Music] credit cards accepted almost nowhere. Cash machines, uh-uh. Wi-Fi, internet, rare. 3G? You got to be kidding. If you need to exchange money here, only crisp, absolutely new $100 bills accept it. In Myanmar, it's another older world.

12:07

Speaker A

Yeah. There's one thing which is quite significant. Take a look around. All kinds of people, all age groups. Let's say a couple of years ago, if you were talking about politics, you'd tone it down, right? Maybe you would be whispering. But nowadays people just speak more, or people are more outspoken. So the society has become much more open. Last July they sort of relaxed the rules about censorship. August 20th, we were called into that PSR office, we publishers, editors, and the director general of the department said, "Okay, 48 years and 20 days of censorship is gone. That's it." Feel good.

12:22

Speaker A

at [ \_\_ ] This is how you summon a waiter in Myanmar. I know, I know. Try that at Hooters and you will be rightly ejected.

12:31

Speaker A

Yeah, that's what we've been waiting for so many years. I love that that ends. It's a careful yes.

12:46

Speaker A

around here. See, now we're talking. So, prawn curry is one of those one of those things everybody tells you you got to eat here. Prawns from the river. The tomato curry. Tell you this good sauce.

12:58

Speaker A

Yeah. First, people within the country had some doubt. Okay, is it real? The changes and the reforms. But now it's been a couple of years, and people are starting to believe that, oh, maybe it's real. The process is still very young. It is still possible that when the generals stop and think, okay, that's enough, is enough, let's turn back or let's stop. I'm optimistic about the changes and the reforms, but I'm still cautiously optimistic.

13:11

Speaker A

Early morning in Yangong, among the crush of commuters, shoppers, people trying to make a living rise up the last remnants of empire.

13:21

Speaker A

In Yangon, motorbikes are outlawed. Why is a matter of much rumor and speculation. So it's the bus for me.

13:38

Speaker A

[Music] The sofaer building was once one of the swankiest department stores in Rangon. [Music] A century ago in Kipling's poem Manderlay was beckoning the overheated imaginations of a generation of young Englishmen. Here you could buy fine Egyptian cigarettes, French lurs. The

14:00

Speaker A

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.

14:15

Speaker A

colonial subjugation. For others, a vestage of a golden time. [Music] 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

14:39

Speaker A

In 2007, a Japanese journalist was shot point-blank 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.

14:49

Speaker A

Hey chef. How are you doing? It figures, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Welcome to Mamura.

14:56

Speaker A

Yet so far, confronted with our cameras, a few smiles and mostly indifference, at worst. Shocking, considering how recently the government has started to relax its grip.

15:05

Speaker A

Back before anything, before I wrote the book that changed my life from brokeass 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.

15:19

Speaker A

We love to eat. And don't forget, for 50 years we were under dictatorships, especially under the socialist era. Not a lot of things to do, but you know, cook and share food. And this is Ma Ngwe, a famous and very controversial figure in public life in Burma, because that's the original name since the 13th century. Many, like U Tin Aung Soe, have also spent time in prison. But on emerging after three years, she became, in the minds of many, an apologist for the regime. Fairly or not, I leave to others. Sometimes outsiders act as if, you know, it's only after the military went away that things happened.

15:36

Speaker A

It's fantastic. It makes perfect sense then that over cold brew and chicken necks in the port of Yangon, Phipe is the one joining me to explore this particular moment in Myanmar.

15:48

Speaker A

First we were sort of like in a 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.

15:58

Speaker A

Full moon party. Now, what that means, we have no idea. We don't know. There's only one way to find out, I suppose.

16:10

Speaker A

You're very passionate about the cooking and the cuisine here.

16:32

Speaker A

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.

16:48

Speaker A

Well, it's just that I like to eat, and I eat like a pig.

16:54

Speaker A

I tell you, it's the backbone of every street fair in the world. Is it a deep fried food?

16:58

Speaker A

This is Yangon's Feel restaurant. Salads, I think, are the best of our food. I'm going to order a lot of salads that you haven't had. You know, it's go

17:07

Speaker A

That's it. He's happy. All right. This is so tasty. Much less greasy than I thought it would be. In fact, rather delicate. Yeah.

17:14

Speaker A

Anytime you tell me crispy little bird, I'm all over it. Good head. Good beak, too. Good beef.

17:20

Speaker A

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?

17:38

Speaker A

[Music] It's human power. You have to save the minimally 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.

18:01

Speaker A

Wow, look at this thing tilting out too. And that's a break. Three guys the other way.

18:10

Speaker A

Note the footwear, by the way. And it's not just this one. Every couple of blocks, bigger and bigger ferris wheels.

18:17

Speaker A

Each one with its own troop of acrobatic spinners. And sure, going for a ride is tempting, but CNN host implicated in death of four underage caries. Guess the thing just came off the hinges and next thing you know is rolling down the

18:32

Speaker A

street and sending those kids flying. If I'd had any idea, I never would have taken the ride, 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

18:44

Speaker A

aboard and the circus begins again. Good luck. May you return to Earth safely with all of your limbs intact.

18:52

Speaker A

[Music] [Applause] [Music] next day of the full moon festival. And whether you look it out the window at a rural village or at the streets of Yangon, what's happening is probably pretty similar.

19:22

Speaker A

A tableau of dancing, body painting, car-mounted speakers blasting. [Music] But it's also three days of merit acrewing, the practice of performing charitable or otherwise good works in the hopes of jacking up your karma.

19:44

Speaker A

Money trees are paraded around pinned with cash donations for monks. Free banquetss and feasts are held and many moments of spiritual reflection.

19:56

Speaker A

The majority of people here practice Terravada 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.

20:11

Speaker A

[Music] Very noisy. Very noisy. Yes. [Music] the Morning Star tea house where I've come well for a couple of reasons.

20:26

Speaker A

Reason one, the must-have bone deep old school favorite around here, lapetto, a salad of fermented tea leaves. I know that does not sound good, but you'd be wrong to think that.

20:41

Speaker A

Take the fermented tea leaves, add cabbage, tomatoes, lots and lots of crunchy bits like toasted peanuts, seasoned with lime and fish sauce. This is absolutely delicious.

20:51

Speaker A

You like it? Oh, yeah. It's fantastic. 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, Zari B, activist, astrologer, and three times convict.

21:04

Speaker A

Yeah. Everyone I've met in this country so far, in fact, has been to prison.

21:07

Speaker A

It's this happens again and again for us in my almost six six years. Nearly six years.

21:13

Speaker A

All the judgments are made by the kangaroo court. The navy, army, and the air force. These three officials are sitting all together. They read off.

21:20

Speaker A

This is your sentence. Like that it happens only minutes like that. What is life like inside prison?

21:27

Speaker A

Nice. Nice. Very nice. I have a hard time believing. Very nice. We can talk each other, you know, saying some things and use a mirror to look each other.

21:37

Speaker A

Access to books. No book, no writing thing, 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.

21:50

Speaker A

How's the food? The food in prison. Soup rice with pea soup. Only one meat meal for a week. That's on Thursday. Do you know that in prison in prison all the fish has no body only the head and

22:04

Speaker A

the tail, no middle part can look like this. So there is hope for this country in your view? Yes. Yes. Yes. Especially with the Buddhist belief know how to live in situations. Dictators, you know, anthropolitical passions or even

22:21

Speaker A

discrimination, everything is happening to us. But the Buddhist say, "Okay, that's about past life love. If we go do something, okay, next life will be good." There's something pretty cool about meeting people who've been for so long unable to speak, now so unguarded about

22:41

Speaker A

their hopes and their feelings. [Music] Sizzling meets the clink of beer glasses ringing bicycle bells. This is Yanggon's 19th Street. Does Yangon rock? Can it rock?

23:16

Speaker A

98 Street is like a Mexico place when you are in Yang. Meet Burmese punk rockers Side Effect and lead singer Darko.

23:26

Speaker A

Uh you can come here anytime. There will be lots of people like here. So if you sit here long enough, you'll see every musician in town.

23:35

Speaker A

Yeah, you can say that. The citywide 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 barbecue late into the night.

23:47

Speaker A

Wow. What do we have here? What? Grilled tofu. Yeah. And this is a pork tail.

23:52

Speaker A

Pork tail. Oh, it's barbecue is was awesome. These young men show exactly how determined you've got to be to rock, especially in Burma.

24:03

Speaker A

I'd like to say my early influence was nana and then Sex Pistol Mo and stuff like that.

24:12

Speaker A

What American bands do you hate? Uh um Creed. Yes. Yeah. They are like the worst band in the history of like the world.

24:27

Speaker A

So what's it like having an indie band in Myanmar? Is it difficult? For sure. For sure. Yeah. Before you record the song, so you know like when you got the lyrics, you got to submit the lyrics. So they're going to censor

24:42

Speaker A

it. They're going to check it and even sometime they they will, you know, suggest you some walls to change.

24:50

Speaker A

Oh, that must be funny. Very funny, actually. You know, now is that still the case?

24:56

Speaker A

No, it's not like that anymore. 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.

25:07

Speaker A

So, let me ask this. If all your dreams came true, where would you want to play?

25:12

Speaker A

New York City. You want to go to New York City? Oh, it's my dream.

25:16

Speaker A

You just need to be strong. So that's why that's what I'm keep telling my bandmates. Come on, be strong. Have faith. So I hope people reach out to you because making rock and roll is hard enough.

25:28

Speaker A

Truly independent rock and 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.

25:44

Speaker A

[Music] So, you heard the sleeping car lost the wheel. The what? The sleeping car lost the wheel or the and the dining car. So, we get Well, no, we lost the dining car. I hear we lost the dining car, but even our

26:05

Speaker A

original sleeping car lost the wheel. So, we just have to hope for the best.

26:12

Speaker A

The Night Express to Bean. 600 kilometers of what will turn out to be kidney softening travel by rail. But Bean, Myanmar's ancient capital, I've been told, is a mustsee.

26:25

Speaker A

The true old English experience. The engine is a French engine from the 70s. We've been told it's a somewhat uncomfortable 10-hour trip.

26:36

Speaker A

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 Widowmaker Express.

26:49

Speaker A

That is the choice. So that may be the signal to uh depart at some point.

26:56

Speaker A

Yep. All aboard. Whoa, we're moving. Here we go. Here we go. That's it. We have reached cruising uh speed.

27:16

Speaker A

Really? This is cruising speed? We just have it. You could literally outrun this ring.

27:21

Speaker A

We could jog ahead, have a nice meal in some uh you know, recommended restaurant.

27:26

Speaker A

We could catch up with it. It's like the digestive walk. There we go. This is stop number one of 75.

27:40

Speaker A

[Music] [Music] Heading north, the scenery opens up. The space between things gets wider, more pastoral, and more beautiful.

28:11

Speaker A

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.

28:26

Speaker A

What they all seem to have in common, however, is tanuka, a face paint and sunblock made from tree bark that masks many of their faces.

28:36

Speaker A

It's ubiquitous here. At first, jarring to see, it quickly becomes something you get used to and take for granted.

28:45

Speaker A

[Music] Yangon's gravitational pole broken and with darkness falling, the train picks up speed. At times terrifyingly so.

29:16

Speaker A

I mean, this thing is going to be a rare 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 wheel.

29:31

Speaker A

Derailments or rail slips as they are referred to here. A somewhat more benign sounding occurrence than say rolling off the tracks into a rice patty are not uncommon.

29:45

Speaker A

And one can't help wondering what the engineer and conductor are thinking as the train speeds heedlessly on faster and faster.

29:54

Speaker A

I mean, it must be what about 40 50 m hour at this point. What if anyone has ever like flown right out of their seat out the window?

30:03

Speaker A

Small people. Sure. You don't want to be like holding a lap dog or a baby or anything. That is try pissing in the bathroom and find yourself launched straight up into the ceiling, bringing to a rude conclusion what was already an omnidirectional

30:18

Speaker A

experience. It's smooth now. It's very relaxing. What kind of beer did he have? I want the same.

30:32

Speaker A

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Yes. 1,000. Done. Now, this is breakfast. [Music] Nearly 19 hours into our 10-hour trip, and the Night Express to Bean lurches and bounces onward over old and poorly maintained tracks.

31:26

Speaker A

It'll flow back to New York for breakfast. I I had time. What's in yours?

31:33

Speaker A

[Music] Potatoes. How to make good food pretty. Look at this. A bouquet of fish. Indeed.

31:47

Speaker A

So this is Edism, the plane of Bagan. [Music] 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.

32:08

Speaker A

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.

32:22

Speaker A

Whole sectors of this country, much of it in fact, are off limits. Simply put, there is [ \_\_ ] going on they do not want you to see.

32:34

Speaker A

A low inensity conflict with the ethnic catchin tribe would be one of them. A wave of persecution and deaths at Yakine state.

32:43

Speaker A

The country may be opening up at its center, but 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.

32:57

Speaker A

[Music] All right, here we come. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] A thousand years ago, Bean was the capital for a long line of Bama kings.

33:25

Speaker A

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 animist spirit-based beliefs coexist with more recent Buddhism. And in Myanmar, worship of the gnats is

33:42

Speaker A

widespread. Nats, as I understand it, are more like Greek gods, former humans, demigods, spirits, often with very human qualities and failings.

33:53

Speaker A

[Music] Dance performances pay homage to the individual nats. performers claiming to actually channel them, bringing about one hopes a beneficial spiritual possession.

34:06

Speaker A

[Applause] [Music] But I'm not just here for a note. I have a list, things to eat in Myanmar, and this is one of them. Chicken curry.

34:22

Speaker A

And from roadside joints like this nestled among the temple ruins, you're more than likely to catch a very enticing whiff.

34:31

Speaker A

Just delicious. Spicy, but not to the point that you want to scream out for mercy, but extreme heat. Slow simmered curry served with a side of sour soup made from roselle leaves. With it, you get fried ground chilies, pickled bean

34:45

Speaker A

sprouts. You get the idea. They always have like these relishes, these dippy type things, these like really interesting salads that I'm like not really a salad guy. The salads here are uh they're happening. Spicy, sour, salty, savory. It's delicious. It's

35:00

Speaker A

delicious. A plethora of textures and flavors. This is a culture that's thought a lot about their food. Clearly like eating, likes feeding people. Think a lot about those balances of flavors, colors, and textures.

35:15

Speaker A

Best best ride in the country so far, by the way. [Music] [Music] 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 no.

35:51

Speaker A

Oh, this is stunning. You'll encounter some western travelers at Bean's temple sites for sure, but generally speaking, they're a hearty bunch. Even the bus tours here are not for the faint of heart or the weak of spirit.

36:05

Speaker A

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 adoration and worshiping and and slave labor and slave labor. I'm thinking you build

36:23

Speaker A

this many temples, thousands of them in a relatively short period of time. Now, chances are somebody who's working for less than minimum wage. Let's put it that way for sure.

36:33

Speaker A

Ah, 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.

36:55

Speaker A

They say that a Bama king Anorata began this project after a conversion to Thera style Buddhism.

37:04

Speaker A

They started a new temple like every 14 days. Over 3,000 pagotas, temples, and monasteries remain today. inside almost every one of them a Buddha figure. Each one different.

37:20

Speaker A

And I like how integrated it is with the trees ostures and actually funny you should mention that people used to live here, but the government came along in the 80s, I believe, and relocated. It was a mass relocation project. So any homes,

37:35

Speaker A

anything, it was understood this is a good, you know, there's some tourist bucks here. They've relocated the entire population.

37:43

Speaker A

[Music] 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 floodgates have certainly opened. They're building hotels like crazy around this area, what's called the tourist triangle.

38:04

Speaker A

What is this? Oh, this this is this is a nice car. As Myanmar begins its shift towards accommodating, increasing tourism and a service economy to go with it, there will be adjustments.

38:16

Speaker A

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 goods, good and evils that come with tourism?

38:27

Speaker A

Okay, M. What about you? Perfect. Perfect. It's going to mean mobility. It's going to mean prosperity for some. It'll mean a lot of bad things, too. You know it'll mean prostitution. It'll mean hustling.

38:39

Speaker A

Okay. Thank you very much for all your help for them. Children everybody tell you it to you. You buy you buy you buy you but you don't buy this no fair. You buy.

38:52

Speaker A

We're told that kids are dropping out of school to do this. The double-edged sword of the service economy.

38:57

Speaker A

You want to buy for only $5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.

39:09

Speaker A

What I'm amazed is how friendly and open people are with us. And it's very easy for me to sit here and say whatever I want about the government, right? We can go home. You know, our lives will go on.

39:23

Speaker A

We don't pay the price for that show. Uh 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 to us but said,

39:35

Speaker A

"Look, I just I've already been in jail. You know, I don't I really don't want to go back. Um, it's a very real concern.

39:43

Speaker A

What happens to the people we leave behind?" You know, one would think that you can't once freedom, you know, they've tasted freedom, you know. Well, uh, you know, you can put the toothpaste back in the tube. You know, there's no

39:56

Speaker A

doubt about that. But for the moment at least, things seem to be moving in the right direction.

40:03

Speaker A

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.

40:20

Speaker A

[Music] [Music]

Topics: Myanmar Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown Yangon Aung San Suu Kyi Burmese cuisine tea shops censorship military dictatorship travel documentary

Study this video

- [Flashcards from this video](https://sozai.app/tools/ai-flashcard-generator/?from=transcript&id=88027)
- [Quiz on this video](https://sozai.app/tools/quiz-generator/?from=transcript&id=88027)

Free, made by AI from this transcript. No signup.


---
This is the markdown twin of https://sozai.app/transcript/anthony-bourdain-parts-unknown-myanmar/ — the same content, without the markup.
Published by SozAI (https://sozai.app). Reuse and quotation are allowed with attribution and a link back.
Machine-readable index: https://sozai.app/llms.txt · data API: https://sozai.app/api/