Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown S01E01 2013 1080p WEB DL H264 AAC DDHDTV

[Applause] [Music] [Music] chances are you haven't been to this place chances are this is a place you've never seen other than blurry cell phone videos old black and white news reels from World War II chances are bad things were happening in the footage you [Music] saw Myanmar after 50 years of nightmare something unexpected is happening here and it's pretty incredible I took a walk through this beautiful world felt the Rain on My Shoulder [Music] found something good in this beautiful I felt the roller [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in yangan capital city of Myanmar it's dark blackouts are frequent with the ancient power [Music] grip what sources of light there are in the street cast an eerie yellow orange Hue for almost 100 years under British rule this was rangon in 1948 after helping the British fight off the Japanese and with a new taste for self-determination the country gained independence [Music] after a decade of instability however the military Consolidated power and never let go elections they came and went the results ignored opposition punished or silenced entirely Burma now Myanmar where Orwell had once served as a colonial policeman where he'd first grown to despise the apparatus of a security state became more orwellian than even he could have imagined a nation or 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 yangan 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 inside Nobel prize winning democracy Champion Anan Suchi 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 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 and yangan has always been about [Music] 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 said normally less sweet and a bit strong journalist and publisher uas saw we meet at the SE Tai cha tea shop anything can happen in a tea shop this place mean a lot of things not just a place for breakfast and snacks for 50 years of paranoia and repression 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 hot beds of sedition and discontent so given your profession how have you managed to stay out of prison all of these years no I was there oh really two times two times one special BR Bo call me hey U will you please come into office we need to talk right so I over there and I talk last 89 days in the [Music] prison there was this very serious control that came with the first military government scrutiny in Registration Department so oh that doesn't sound good we need to send our copies to that office and then take a look at everything they would say you take this out take that out or black this out out or just take the whole story out magazines that would come into the country would they cut out literally cut out the the pieces people under this kind of tight cens ship people become more I think creative take a look careful reading there may something between the lines messages something you were accused of uh sending secret messages in the back a cauldron of salty little fish bubble over hardwood coals fingers work mountains of sweet Bean one of the fillings for the variety of pastries that are stuffed shaped and put into an Old Stone oven in another Corner the heartening slap of fresh bread pressed against the clay wall of a Tandoori and of course eggs Bob and SPID in the magical hell broth of fish spice and Herb MinGa uh this I must have correct me if I'm wrong if there's a national dish fundamental most beloved dish would it be would it be this yeah for example take a look at all these foodtop this is Indian these are Chinese Etc but then MinGa is a local thing and it's popular not in the city but also in the rural areas too you a fish pce with some rice noodles maybe with sometimes we put in some Crispies like fried beans or fried GS so these are some coriander leaves yeah can make some some lines sprinkle some in here M good textures particularly in the light of uh Obama's recent visit these are interesting time significant changes for the first time in 50 years 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 you but nowadays people speak more more outspoken so the society began much more were open last July they sort of relaxing the rules about censorship August 20th we were called into to that psrd office ween 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 yeah that's what we've been waiting for so many years I love that the answer it's a careful yes yeah first people within the country we have some doubt about okay is it real the changes and the reform moment but as now it's about a couple of years and then now people started believing that oh maybe it's real the process is still very young but is still possible 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 of the reforms but I'm still cautiously [Music] optimistic in yangan motorbikes 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 talk talk to anybody with a camera and there would likely be a knock on your door in the middle of the night yet so far confronted with our cameras a few smiles and mostly indifference at worst shocking considering how recently the government has started to relax its grip we love to eat and don't forget for 50 years we were under ductor ships and especially under the Socialist era not a lot of things you do but you know cook and share [Music] this is maangi a famous and very controversial figure in public life Myanmar or Burma Yar because that's original name since the uh 13th century mangi like uas saw has also spent time in prison but on emerging after 3 years she became in the minds of many 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 hun went away that you know things happened first we were sort of like in the Frozen State like sow White dead but her many well-known books on The Culinary traditions of Myanmar make her a compelling advocate for burmes Cuisine 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 big this is yangon's f restaurant salads I think are the the best of our food I'm going to order a lot of salads you haven't had you know it's going to be like a sort of a tasting thing there's pigh head salad with cafir Lime Leaf long bean salad with Sesame and fish sauce Penny Leaf salad even this salad of India style Samosa everything's out there at the same time yes no first course second course no no no no if I'm invited to a friend's house the table would be covered with dishes right covered and it's really about the interaction between a lot of colors textures and flavors in one dish or different different yeah wow I'm in love that's good yes it is and of course there's the maddeningly delicious condiments and pickles with which to make each dish your own you make a lot of different combinations with each mouthful a and this is something very confusing in general in this part of the world everybody eats everything differently to to very much to their taste anything goes anything goes you make every mouthful you can make as different as you want [Music] [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 Chris absolutely new $100 bills accepted in Myanmar it's another older [Music] world oh and what's up with this with all the kissing sounds that smooching kissing you know sound that you're hearing all over the place my wife would have been in like 10 fights so far sorry who who you smooching at [ __ ] this is how you summon a waiter in Myanmar I know I know try that at Hooters and you will be rightly ejected it takes them getting used to for sure Min L is a big noisy seafood house where fish is prepared in the style of yak the coastal Province to the West named for the yakin people one of over 135 distinct ethnic groups around here see now we're talking you prawn gar is one of those one of those things everybody tells you got to eat here prawns from the river good tomato Curry TR this good sauce oh that's good that is some good [ __ ] my friends we shall know them by the number of their dead early morning in yangong 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 the sof far building was once one of the swankest apartment stores in rangon a century ago in Kipling's poem Mandalay was beckoning the overheated imagination of a generation of young Englishmen here you could buy fine Egyptian cigarettes French lurs the floor tiles were shipped over from Manchester now people live here a half century as a pariah state has left very few of these buildings in good repair and there are Divergent views on whether to preserve them for many a reminder of 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 bustle of yangon's Port appears even busier today as workers prepare for the oncoming holiday hey Chef how you doing it figures doesn't it yeah it does welcome to mamora Philip Lon owner proprietor of my old restaurant Leo it seems only natural that uh you'd be in Burma Myanmar at the same time as me back before anything before I wrote the book that changed my life from broke ass 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 well there we go oh nice chicken head yeah that is the perfect mood awakener oh yeah Philipe travels constantly he's been bouncing around Asia for decades like all good Travelers he's relentlessly curious and without fear or Prejudice it's fantastic it makes perfect sense then that over cold brew and chicken necks in the port of yangan Philipe is the one joining me to explore this particular moment in Myanmar that's the Mony oh it is going to be a party yeah full moon party tonight full moon party now what that means we have no idea we don't know there's only one way to find out as [Music] suppose right sounds like a party it gets crazy from now on it's Tong D full full moon Day a holiday marking the end of the rainy season and today marks the beginning of 3 days of break out the crazy giant speakers compete for attention everybody cheerfully oblivious to the Distortion cotton candy trinkets tube socks just like a New York street fair but with infinitely better food oh these are little birds yeah these guys are really good was flying just a earlier this morning I'll tell you it's the backbone of every street fair in the world is it a deep fried food that's right and here they also have the the little uh uh batter with the break a qu egg in it one shot it's pretty good that's it he happy all right this is so tasty much less greasy than I thought it would be in fact rather delicate anytime you tell me crispy little bird I'm all over it good head good beak too good beak crispy and tender oh and they have rides check this out okay it's a ferris wheel but the power source Not Unusual for these parts is not electric it ain't gas oh man are you kidding me it's human power you have to to it an absolutely insanely dangerous closely choreographed process of first getting the giant heavily Laden wheel in motion and then getting it up to top speed and keeping it there wow look at this thing tilting out too that's a break swe guys the other way note the Footwear by the way and it's not just this one every couple of blocks bigger and bigger Ferris wheels each one with its own troop of acrobatic Spinners ensure going for a ride is tempting but CNN host implicated in death of four underage cars gu the thing just came off the hinges the next thing you know is rolling down the street and sending those kids flying if I'd had any idea I never would have taken the ride says bouran 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 begins again good luck may you return to Earth safely with all of your lives intact [Music] [Applause] [Music] next day of the Full Moon Festival and whether you look it out the window at a rural [Music] Village we at the streets of Yangon what's happening is probably pretty similar a tableau of dancing body painting car mounted speakers [Music] blasting but it's also 3 days of Merit ACR the practice of Performing charitable or otherwise good works in the hopes of jacking up your karma money trees are paraded around pinned with cash donations for months free Banquets and feasts are held and many moments of spiritual reflection the majority of people here practice terraa 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 [Music] rebirth very noisy very noisy yes the morning start tea house where I've come well for a couple of reasons reason one the musthave bone deep old school favorite around here lopet to a salad of fermented tea leaves I know that does not sound good but you'd be wrong to think that 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 you like it oh yeah it's fantastic yeah it's fantastic simple delicious things not to be taken for granted if you've been in and out of the joint like this guy zarne B activist astrologer and three times convict you everyone I've met in this country so far in fact has been to prison it this happens again and again for us in my almost six six years six years nearly six years all the judgments are made by the kangaroo Cod the Navy Army and the Air Force these three officials are sitting all together they read off this is your sentence like it happened only minutes like that what is life like inside prison nice nice very nice I have a hard time very nice we can talk to each other you know saying some things and use a mirror to look each other 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 how's the food the food in prison soup rise with P only one meat meal for a week that's on Thursday do you know that in prison in inent prison all the fish has no body only the head and the tail no middle pot I can look like this so there is hope for this country in your view yes yes yes especially with the Buddhist Bel know how to live in situations dictators you know and the political pressures or even discrimination everything is happening to us but the Buddhist say okay that's about past life love if we could do something okay next life will be [Music] good there's something pretty cool about meeting people who've been for so long unable to speak now so unguarded about their hopes and their feelings [Music] sizzling meets the clink of beer glasses ringing bicycle bells this is yangon's 19th Street does Yangon Rock can It Rock 90th Street is like a me go place when you are in yango meet Burmese punk rockers side effect and lead singer Darko 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 yeah you can say that the Citywide curfew used to Bean 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 in of the night wow what do we have here what grilled tofu this is a poke to pil oh it's 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 early influence was Nana and then sex pistol remot and stuff like that what American bands do you hate Creed yes yeah they are like the worst band the history of like the world so what's it like having an indie band in Myanmar and 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 it they're going to check it and even sometime they they will you know suggest you someone to change oh that must be funny very funny you know now is that still the case 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 ride and sing something wrong so let me ask this if all your dreams came true where would you want to play New York City you want to go to New York City it's my dream we just need to be strong so that's why that's what I keep telling my band mates like come on be strong have faith so so I hope people reach out to you because making rock and roll is hard enough 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 [Music] so you heard the sleeping car lost the wheel the what the sleeping car lost the wheel end the dining car so we get well no we lost a dining car here we lost a dining car but even our original sleeping car lost a wheel so we just have to hope for the best the night express to beun 600 kmet of what will turn out to be kidneys softening travel by rail but beone myanmar's ancient Capital I've been told is a mustsee the true Old English experience the engine is a French engine from the70s we've been told it's a somewhat uncomfortable 10-hour trip so really the question on this end of the journey is come back on the train or flying coffin mishaps on both Burmese planes and trains are not shall we say unheard of the Widowmaker Express that is the choice so that may be the signal to depart at some point Y All [Music] Aboard who we're moving here we go here we go that's it we have reached at cruising uh speed really this is cruising speed we you could literally outrun this ring we could jog ahead a nice meal in some uh you know recommended restaurant we' catch up with it it's like the digestive walk there we go this is stop number one of 75 [Music] [Music] heading north the scenery opens up the space between things gets wider more pastoral and more [Music] beautiful looking around at my fellow passengers it could be hard to distinguish between the 135 plus ethnic groups that make up the Burmese population the very name Burma refers actually to only one of these groups what they all seem to have in common however is Tanica a face paint and sunblock made from tree bark that masks many of their faces it's ubiquitous here at first jarring to see it quickly becomes something you get used to and take for granted [Music] ganon's gravitational pole broken and with Darkness falling the train picks up speed at times terrifyingly so I mean this thing is going to derail at some point they have lost how many Wheels yesterday on this one train so truly it's about being in the right car the one that gives its will 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 and one can't help wondering what the engineer and conductor are thinking as the train speeds heedlessly on faster and faster I mean it must be what about 40 50 m hour at this point what if anyone is ever to like flow right out of their seat out the window hey SMY B sure you don't want to be like holding a lap dog or baby or anything I mean try pissing in the bathroom and find yourself launched straight up into the ceiling bringing to a rude conclusion what was already an omnidirectional experience smooth now it's very relaxing what kind of fear did he have I thought the same [Music] [Music] [Music] 1,000 done now this is breakfast nearly 19 hours into to our 10-hour trip and the night express to Bean lurches and bounces on W over old and poorly maintained tracks going to flow back to New York for breakfast I I had time what's in yours potatoes how to make good food pretty look at this a bouquet of fish indeed so this is it is the plane of ban [Music] 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 they do not want you to see a low intensity conflict with the ethnic catchin tribe would be one of them a wave of persecution and deaths in yakin state 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 [Music] good all right byan here we [Music] [Laughter] [Music] come a thousand years ago Bean was the capital for long line of Bak Kings it's the sort of place where the old coexists with the even older as elsewhere in this part of the world in many of the Buddhist temples here far older animist spirit-based beliefs coexist with more recent Buddhism and in Myanmar worship of the gats is widespread gats as I understand it are more like Greek gods former humans demigods Spirits often with very human qualities and [Music] failings dance performances pay homage to the individual gats performers claiming to actually Channel them bringing about one hopes a beneficial spiritual [Music] [Applause] [Music] possession but I'm not just here for a not po I have a list things to eat in Myanmar and 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 that you want to scream out for Mercy but Str heat slow simmered Curry served with a side of sour soup made from Roselle leaves with it you get fried ground chilies pickled bean sprouts you get the idea they always have like these relishes these dippy type things these like really interesting salads like not really a salad guy the salads here are uh they're happening spicy sour salty Savory it's delicious it's delicious a plethora of textures and flavors this is a culture that's thought a lot about their food clearly like eating like feeding people I think a lot about those classic balances of flavors colors and textures best restaurant 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 oh this is T I think 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 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 OD to human you know beliefs and adoration and worshiping and and slave labor and slave labor I'm thinking you build this many temples thousands of them in a relatively short period of time now chances are if somebody was working for less than minimum wage on 20,000 for sure 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 they say that a Bama King anara began this project after a conversion to theava style Buddhism they started a new Temple like every 14 days over 3,000 pagodas temples and monasteries remain today inside almost every one of them a Buddha figure each one different and I like how integrated it is with the trees postures and actually funny you should mention that people used to live here but the government came along in the 80s I believe and relocate it it was a mass relocation project so any homes anything it was understood this is a good you know there some tourist bucks here they've relocated the entire [Music] population we're in one of the first mass waves of tourists European tourists have been coming here in relative small numbers for a long time but the floodgates have certainly open they're building hotels like crazy around this area What's called the Tourist Triangle what is this here 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 there will be of course a downside how you what's that going to mean how will burmes react to all of the goods good and evils that come with tourism okay 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 your for the children everybody it to you you you you you but you don't bu no fair you we're told that kids are dropping out of school to do this the double-edged sword of the service economy you want to buy for only $5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 what I'm amazed is how friendly and open people are with us 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 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 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 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 with 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