KAREN STATE, Myanmar – At first light, a haze from dry-season fires hung low over the Moie River, which marks the border between Thailand and Myanmar (also known as Burma).

It was a good time of day for a discrete crossing from one of the many small clearings in the thick tropical undergrowth lining the Moei's muddy waters.

It took just moments for our long-tailed boat to reach the Myanmar side, where after making our way over a rickety make-shift bridge and climbing the steep river bank we were welcomed to the seventh brigade headquarters of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the military wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), which has been fighting the Myanmar government for decades.

We were greeted by Saw Hla Hgwe of the KNU, a short bespectacled man, wearing a red Ferrari baseball cap.

"We have two big problems in this country, ethnic rights and democratic rights," he said, "and until both these problems are solved there can be no peace and stability."

The mostly Christian Karen people have been fighting against Myanmar’s central government for 62 years, which makes this one of world's longest-running – and most brutal – civil wars.

It's also one of the world's great forgotten conflicts. Not even Rambo could change that; his last movie was set here (though filmed in Thailand), with Sylvester Stallone taking on what appeared to be the entire Myanmar Army in an effort to rescue a bunch of Christian missionaries kidnapped by soldiers as they were taking aid to Karen villagers.

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New era?
In January, though, the KNU signed a ceasefire deal with the Myanmar government, and KNU leaders are in Yangon this weekend for further talks. They are also planning to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose election to parliament last weekend is just the latest and most significant development in a fast-moving reform process.

But it’s a reform process that has been greeted with extreme caution by the KNU.

"Right now I think that they are not trustworthy," Saw Hla Hgwe told me. "We have heard this kind of talk many times, but it never comes to reality, so this time we are being careful and cautious."

It doesn't help that the KNU itself is faction-ridden and has been much weakened by successive army onslaughts. It is also just one of a patchwork of ethnic groups that make up 30 percent of Myanmar's population. Most have their own militias, and the U.S. has said that ethnic peace is a precondition for fully lifting sanctions on Myanmar.

"For genuine peace, the government must prove that it is willing to share power," said the KNU's Saw Hla Hgwe.

Soldiers in flip flops
The seventh brigade camp consisted of a series of small wooden buildings, set around a dusty parade ground, where their commander, Saw Jorny, gathered about 50 members of his rag-tag army for a pep-talk, reminding them not to break the ceasefire – but to remain on their guard.

His soldiers carried a variety of weapons – from ageing AK-47s to newer-looking M-16s. Many wore only flip flops on their feet.

One young soldier had a prosthetic foot, and when I asked him what had happened he just shrugged. "Landmine," he said. "Over there, behind the mountain."

In fact I was surprised not to see more missing limbs, since this is one of the most mine-infested areas on the planet.

The Myanmar army has been accused of gross human rights abuses against the country's ethnic minorities – ranging from rape and forced labor to torture and murder.

Tens of thousands of Karen have been forced from their homes, their villages destroyed. Many have fled across the Moie River to take refuge in sprawling camps that cling to the Thai side of the river.

Aid groups say there are around 160,000 refugees in Thai camps and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced inside the country. The biggest single group is the Karen people.

‘Hope to go back’
Most Karen refugees we met said they wanted to return to Myanmar – someday. Few had heard about the reform process in Yangon, and for many the horrors they'd experience were still raw.

"They came to our village, shooting at us and planting landmines," said Ma Aye, who fled to Thailand with her children two years ago. "We just couldn't stay anymore."

Nearby, Wee Thwa was building a new home from wood and dried leaves. "We were afraid. We couldn't stay after the army came to our village," he told me. He too had heard nothing of the reforms sweeping Myanmar, but he added: "I hope to go back when the situation is good."

By all rights, Karen State should be a prosperous place, sitting on a wealth of raw materials and minerals, including rich deposits of gold. But the conflict has impoverished the area, now riddled with malaria and malnutrition.

The success of Myanmar's reforms may well be determined here, and in other ethnic areas, rather than in Yangon or Naypyitaw (the newly created capital city), and by the government's ability – and willingness – to make a lasting peace and overcome decades of conflict and mistrust.

"It's all about trust," Saw Jorny, the seventh brigade commander, told me. "The Karen people want peace – but genuine peace."

YANGON, Myanmar –  A dilapidated  three-story house on Yangon's busy Shwe Gone Dine Road has become the unlikely focus of celebration and hope over the last few days.

It used to be a place of fear.

The house is the headquarters of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), which swept most of the votes in Sunday's by-election.

There were wild scenes here as thousands gathered after the polls closed Sunday and reports began to emerge about the scale of the victory – the NLD won 43 out of the 44 seats in parliament they contested. Suu Kyi, the country’s longtime democracy icon who won one of the parliamentary seats, gave a speech from the gate of the NLD’s headquarters Monday. She proclaimed the election a triumph for the people and the start of “a new era” for the long-repressed country.

Suu Kyi hails 'triumph of the people' after Myanmar election win

When I visited the house on Tuesday, the cramped and usually gloomy reception area was packed with well-wishers. On the sidewalk outside, stalls selling t-shirts, caps and bandannas were doing a brisk trade.

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Yet there was a time not so long ago when visiting here could be a nerve-racking experience.

Close call
Across the road sits a small tea shop that was always packed with military intelligence officers who would photograph people coming and going from the house. They would note car registrations and follow visitors in their beat-up white Toyotas when they left.

A few years ago, during a time when Suu Kyi was briefly at liberty (she was under house arrest for about 15 years) I did a TV interview with her at the party headquarters, only to be followed to the airport by one of those beat-up Toyotas. I was detained with my cameraman and taken to a small room where military intelligence officers methodically went through our luggage, confiscating several video tapes.

Eventually, minutes before our flight, they told us to go. We slipped on our shoes, which in accordance with Buddhist tradition, had been left outside the room.

My cameraman appeared to be walking awkwardly toward the plane. It was only after we had boarded the plane and were well on our way to Thailand that he produced from his left sneaker the key tape from the interview.

It had sat there tucked in his shoe outside the room throughout our brief detention.

Of course, after we broadcast the interview, I was black-listed from entering Myanmar for about a decade.

A new era
Among journalists there are many similar stories about the NLD headquarters. Some of the funnier ones focus on the sometimes extreme lengths reporters would go to disguise themselves from the prying cameras of the spooks, who in turn would go to absurd lengths to creep up on the reporters with their large and unwieldy cameras. They sometimes resembled a grotesque cross between George Orwell and the Keystone Cops.

There was, however, nothing funny about them to those who risked their lives working for the NLD and whose latest and usually disheartening briefings we went to hear.

How things have changed.

On Monday, television crews were traipsing through the military intelligence’s tea shop to climb a hill behind it in order to get a better shot of the NLD house. It seemed like the ultimate indignity for the men whose word has been law here for decades.

But they haven't completely abandoned their old haunt. As we came back down the hill and around the back of the tea shop we were confronted by an officious-looking man with a dog-eared notebook demanding to know our names.

We ignored him and left.

As our van pulled away I couldn't help but look behind, searching for the beat-up Toyota on our tail.

It was nowhere to be seen, which might sound trivial against the background of the weekend's historic elections, but in its own way it's an enormous sign of change.

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Ploy Bunluesilp is the NBC News Bureau Producer in Bangkok. She has reported from Myanmar five times since 2006. She was most recently on assignment in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, in early December for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting with pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

YANGON, Myanmar – A thumping rock and hip hop beat, entranced teenagers clutching beer cans, hundreds of people smiling happily – it sure wasn't the Myanmar I am used to.

I've had plenty of memorable experiences in Myanmar, most of them unpleasant. I've been kicked out of the country by officials not once, but twice.

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In 2007, when journalists were forbidden from covering the so-called "Saffron Uprising," I posed as a tourist to get into the country and played cat-and-mouse with the security forces to grab some footage when escalating political protests, initially led by monks, were crushed by the military. I watched soldiers beat cowering Burmese men and women with batons on the streets of the capital. It was an exceptionally dangerous time: a Japanese journalist was among those killed. 
 
The following year I was back again to cover the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis.  I saw people who literally lost everything – I remember one man who was clutching photographs of his wife and children to help officials find their corpses. Reporters were banned from the whole cyclone-hit area, so again we had to film in secret. Eventually our team was spotted, and police later tracked me down to a hotel in the capital and threw me out of the country.

 

During all of my previous trips, most people I met were terrified to talk, fearing they could be jailed just for speaking to a journalist. Even the guide who took me to the barricaded house where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was imprisoned begged me not to take photographs, saying it could put him in danger.

So it was wonderful to be able to move freely around Yangon during my last visit, and to find optimistic people unafraid to talk. That alone showed me how profoundly things have changed already.
 
This time I was there on Dec. 2, 2011,  the same day U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Suu Kyi. I went to a huge rock concert, and I had a lot of fun.

Rocking out of a rut
Myanmar has stagnated for decades under the oppressive rule of a paranoid military dictatorship, but over the past year the country has suddenly started to make progress toward greater democracy and freedom of expression – and more tolerance of rock and hip hop.

So I found myself at a nearly-sold-out concert at an indoor stadium in Yangon. Burmese stars belted out rock and hip hop tunes to an audience of girls in tight skirts and young men in skinny jeans, instead of the traditional sarongs usually worn in the country.

The music was full of energy, and got me moving, but there was little boisterous enthusiasm and dancing among the audience – most stayed seated, tapping their feet and nodding their heads to the music.

They were mostly rich kids, teenagers who arrived at the stadium in expensive cars while poor children in tattered clothes collected garbage around the stadium.

“Only rich or middle class people can afford to buy a ticket as you have to spend at least 50 kyats ($7),” a Burmese friend told me. That would be cheap for a concert in most countries, but Myanmar remains mired in poverty and most people earn just a few dollars a day.

There were still plenty of reminders of the old repressive Myanmar: the atmosphere at the concert was not helped by the presence of several stern-looking armed guards.

Singing for change
Backstage the celebrity musicians were hanging out before the concert started, and I met the hip hop group ACID in their room. Their first album, also Myanmar’s first hip hop album, was the country’s best seller in 2000.  But their non-traditional style, lack of deference for authority and controversial lyrics about the hardships of life in Myanmar eventually got them in trouble.

 “Our music was new to people. The government doesn’t like us because we did not follow the traditional style,” said Anegga, a 32-year-old ACID band member who goes by one name.

Two of the band's members were arrested in 2008 for allegedly illegal political activities. One of them, Zayar Thaw, 32, was dressed in shorts, a tee-shirt, a baseball cap and his arms were covered with tattoos – not exactly the traditional Myanmar ideal of a quiet, well-behaved young man.  
 
He was released from prison in May, and told me he still has to watch his words. “I have to be careful about saying things now, Big Brother is watching.” 

But now, the band is back together and ACID is performing again. They are among more than 50 musicians and singers who have pledged their support for the election campaign of Suu Kyi, who has been released after years of house arrest and is now running for a seat in parliament. 

Suu Kyi's musical supporters are producing a special album, with songs designed to raise awareness about politics and encourage people to stand up for their rights. One of the songs contributed by ACID asks: “How can I talk, How can I see, If you close my eyes and ears?”

The musicians hope their songs can help push the boundaries and educate people in their country after 49 years of censorship and military rule.

“Everything for Aung San Suu Kyi, we love to do it for her. We love her,” said female pop singer Than That Win.

After elections in November 2010, which were widely condemned as rigged, Myanmar's ruling generals exchanged their uniforms for civilian suits – but few expected much to change.

Then beginning in October of this year, the government introduced a series of dizzying changes: The new government led by a former general, Thein Sein, eased censorship, released political prisoners, introduced a limited right to strike and protest, and started a dialogue with the Suu Kyi.

The United States has shown its support for the political reforms – Clinton was in town when the concert was held, to see the progress for herself.

Like many Burmese, the musicians worry that the recent changes could be a false dawn. They are optimistic, but still wary.

 “This is the beginning of change in the country," Anegga told me. "We hope nobody will be arrested this time.”   

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could be forgiven for believing she's visiting two different countries – one called Naypyitaw, the other Myanmar.

Naypyitaw is the new capital of Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma. It’s been built from scratch in the middle of nowhere. It's still a work in progress, it was only designated as the administrative capital in 2005, and until recently was largely off-limits to foreigners.

It’s a sprawling, surreal place with so few people that its eight-lane highways are almost deserted – a somewhat shocking site in this congested part of the world.

For several miles down one stretch, I saw just three motorcycles and a truck transporting a group of workers who had been tending the landscaped gardens on either side of the road.

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Despite the apparent lack of people, Naypyitaw does have plenty of monstrous government buildings and villas, and several hotels and an international airport are under construction.

"Where's downtown?" I asked a Myanmar journalist. "I keep asking them that," he replied, “But nobody seems to know."

For many, Naypyitaw is a symbol of military ego, a metaphor for the former junta's isolation from the world – and its own people.

Myanmar's new president, Thein Sein, a former army officer, is reportedly a modest man. But there's little modesty about his sprawling palace, where he and other officials from the new and nominally civilian government received Clinton in an ornate reception room. It was so new you could almost smell the paint.

The police made a big show of stopping what little traffic there was to make way for the Clinton cavalcade as it crisscrossed the city.

There was never any danger of congestion.

Myanmar has been so secretive that it's not clear precisely when work began on the city, nor how much it cost. It is lavish by any standards, but almost obscenely so against the backdrop of the enormous poverty elsewhere in the country.

It's hard to say where the money came from – but the military had its finger in many business pies, of various degrees of legitimacy. China has also been a big benefactor.

The government justified the move by saying Yangon was too crowded, and that Naypyitaw was chosen because it is smack in the middle of the country. Though one bizarre explanation was that former military strongman Than Shwe was shaken by an astrologer's warning that an American attack was imminent and Yangon was too exposed. Cynics suggested he was afraid of his own people as well.

The real Myanmar
Clinton flew late in the afternoon Thursday to the country’s old capital, Yangon, the city also known as Rangoon, seemingly a world away. Yangon, 200 miles from Naypyitaw, is a city of stunning pagodas and dilapidated, colonial-era buildings, including the run-down lakeside residence of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

It’s a real city, with real people and a real soul. And for the most part, its residents are giving the benefit of the doubt to the reforms coming from Naypyitaw.

Clinton met Suu Kyi for a private dinner Thursday evening, the meeting itself a remarkable sign of change.

Many are still skeptical about the government's intentions – although Suu Kyi isn't among them.

She was expected to tell Clinton she thinks President Thein Sein is sincere in wanting change, that he truly believes it is the best way forward for the country.

Suu Kyi will likely test the reforms by standing for a vacant parliamentary seat early next year.

It is an unusually positive response to the government’s claims of reform – she’s been persecuted for years by the regime for her pursuit of democracy, spending 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest.

Thursday evening was the first time the two have met, and Clinton, while welcoming the reforms, is taking a more cautious public line.

That, after all, is her job.

Though it’s my guess that she'll be enchanted both by Suu Kyi and Yangon – a good deal more so than the sterile meeting rooms of Naypyitaw.

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Myanmar’s President Thein Sein on Thursday to discuss how the reclusive regime can continue its reform efforts and enter the international mainstream. 

“I am here today because President Obama and myself are encouraged by the steps that you and your government have taken to provide for your people,” Clinton said.

Sein called the secretary’s visit “historic” and a “new chapter” for Myanmar.  Clinton presented Myanmar’s president with a letter from President Obama.  The meeting took place at the presidential palace in Naypyitaw and lasted several hours.

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In her remarks to reporters after the meeting, Clinton said while the progress that Myanmar has taken is welcome it is just a start. She called on the country to release all political prisoners, hold free and fair elections and sever its “illicit ties with North Korea.”

The U.S. has long suspected that Mynamar might be working with North Korea to obtain nuclear weapons. Taking a frank tone, Clinton said, “the most consequential question facing this country is not its relationship with America or any other nation.  It is whether leaders will let their people live up to their God-given potential and claim their place at the heart of a Pacific Century? Or will this country, once again, be left behind?”

Clinton said the United States is prepared to take steps that would lessen Myanmar's isolation including:  an invitation to join a regional development initiative as an observer, allowing the IMF and World Bank assessment missions to start studying needs on the ground and possibly a joint effort to recover the remains of Americans who were lost during World War II – a step that helped the U.S. repair relations with Vietnam. 

In the long term the United States said they are discussing upgrading diplomatic relations with Myanmar and exchanging ambassadors. The United States hasn’t had an ambassador in the region for more than two decades.

Clinton ended her remarks with a challenge to Myanmar:  “President Obama spoke of ‘flickers of progress’ we know from history that flickers can die out. They can be stamped out. It will be up to the leaders of this country to fan flickers of progress into a flame of freedom that lights the path toward a better future.”

On Thursday evening Clinton met pro-democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for a private home of the top-ranking U.S. diplomat  in Myanmar before a more formal meeting at Suu Kyi's residence on Friday.

Suu Kyi was a political prisoner in the country for the better part of the past two decades and was just released last year. She recently announced she would re-enter the political process.

It is the first time the pair have met in person, though they have spoken by telephone. Clinton will also present her with a letter from Obama.  

Related link: Clinton to get first top-level peek at Myanmar in over 50 years

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar – On the first full day of her three-day Asia trip, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, delivered the keynote address at a development forum in Busan, South Korea. 

She hailed the progress that has been made toward elevating development in South Korea. “Child mortality rates have fallen and millions of people have escaped poverty in the past 60 years,” Clinton said. But she also warned, “We can and must do better.”

After her remarks, Clinton shifted to the main focus of her trip: Visiting Myanmar and pressing top officials to enact greater reforms in the country.

Changes welcome, lets see more
Clinton landed in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, on Wednesday afternoon (local time is ET + 12.5 hours) and will meet with the President Thein Sein, the foreign minister and parliament officials on Thursday.

The United States has been encouraged by some recent steps Myanmar has taken to create a more open society – including opening up a dialogue with democratic opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, releasing some political prisoners and relaxing some restrictions on the media. But the U.S. wants to see more progress. 

“I am looking to determine for myself, and on behalf of my government, what is the intention of the current government with respect to continuing reforms both politically and economically,” Clinton said. 

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According to a senior State Department official, Clinton’s message will be twofold. “One, some initial steps have been taken; we welcome those steps. Frankly, we have been surprised by some of those steps, but that this is simply a first step and several other things will need to take root and happen for the United States to be able to work closely to support the overall effort.”

The official also said that Clinton will propose a series of next steps that the Obama administration would like to see take effect.

The official said the Secretary of State is mindful of the risks of increasing relations with Myanmar and will be “careful” moving forward. “The areas that we are primarily concerned with in terms of the relationship between North Korea and Burma are in the realm of missiles and other military equipment,” the State Department official said. 

Myanmar in the country’s official name, it used to be known as Burma.

The highlight of Clinton’s trip will likely be meeting the pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi for the first time.

Suu Kyi spent most of the past two decades under detention after her party won a victory in the 1990 elections but was denied power. She won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991 and was released from house arrest last year. 

Suu Kyi recently announced that she will re-enter the political system by running for parliament – an encouraging sing to be sure – but experts warn there is no guarantee that Myanmar will continue to become a more open and democratic society. 

 

Updated at 5:15 a.m. ET: Hillary Clinton arrives in Myanmar, becoming the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the country in decades.

YANGON, Myanmar – U Nine Nine has spent 17 of the past 21 years behind bars as a political prisoner, and on the face of it, he would seem to have little reason to be upbeat about Myanmar's recent reforms.

"Time will tell," he told me. "But I'm cautiously optimistic. It is difficult for them to turn back now [from the recent changes]. The next few weeks will be crucial."

After 49 years of totalitarian rule, Myanmar’s military junta is beginning to loosen up.

Just last November, in what was widely condemned as a rigged election, Myanmar's ruling generals exchanged their uniforms for civilian suits. There was little hope for change.   

Yet beginning in October of this year, the government has introduced a series of dizzying changes: The new government led by a former general, Thein Sein, has eased censorship, released political prisoners, introduced a limited right to strike and protest, and started a dialogue with the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that has convinced her not only of their good intentions, but also to run for what she had dismissed as a rubber-stamp parliament. 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is flying in here Wednesday to judge the "Burma Spring" for herself – she is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country in more than 50 years.

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Political party back in action
The recent developments are cause for excitement at Nine Nine’s office. He runs an assistance program for political prisoners and is also in charge of the Yangon division of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi, which has just decided to contest elections again.

Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest, is now planning to stand in an election before the end of the year.

I met Nine Nine at the bustling office of the NLD, which is close to Yangon's famous Shwedagon Pagoda. He told me that by his calculations around 290 political prisoners have so far been released, but close to 500 remain in jail.

There's a real buzz at the NLD office, but they are quick to remind you that they won the last freely contested election, in 1990, by a landslide, only to have the result annulled by the generals. That heralded the beginning of Nine Nine's first stint in prison.

Yet something is stirring in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma.

‘Hillary repairs’
Myanmar authorities have thrown the door open to international journalists to cover Clinton’s trip. It's the first time that I have been issued an official visa in 10 years, and while they didn't quite roll out the red carpet, our welcome has been warm.

My guide pointed to the hasty road repairs on the drive in from the airport. "Hillary repairs," he called them. And later, on a visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda, I came across a group of giggling young women scrubbing the floor. "Hillary Clinton is coming," they said.

Along one of the city's many dilapidated streets, I came across a stall heaving with photographs of Suu Kyi and her father, the independence hero Aung San. That would have been a dangerous act of defiance and almost unheard of just a few weeks ago, but no longer. It was clearly still a novelty, though, and I watched as passersby stopped and pointed out the signs to friends. 

An elderly monk stopped me in the street and handed me an old currency note, no longer in circulation, but sporting a picture of Aung San. "For you. A real hero," he told me, before moving off into the crowd. A monk-led uprising four years ago was crushed by the generals.

Local newspapers, which have been carrying prominent stories about Suu Kyi – again unheard of until very recently – were carrying upbeat features Tuesday about the desire for closer relations with the U.S. (and by implication, a little loosening of their dependence on China, which goes down well in Washington these days).  

Real change?
There certainly does seem to be hope here, but many remain wary. Can one of the world's most thuggish regimes really change its stripes so quickly?

Clinton will meet with President Thein Sein on Thursday and will likely push for faster democratic change. She'll meet Suu Kyi on Friday to gauge more fully how Myanmar's pro-democracy leader judges the reforms, and whether an easing of international sanctions might be merited.

Among the former political prisoners released so far is Zarganar, Myanmar's most famous comedian, who got into hot water for poking fun at the generals. He was jailed for criticizing their response to Cyclone Nargis, a 2008 disaster that left 135,000 people dead or missing. 

On his release from prison he reportedly cracked another joke at the expense of the president. This time he got away with it, and is expected to be among those briefing Clinton on Friday about the intentions of the former generals, not known for humor or compassion, but who just might have decided that change and dialogue is the only way forward for impoverished Myanmar.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embarks on an historic trip to Myanmar (also known as Burma) this week – it will be the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to the isolated country in more than 50 years. 

Clinton is also scheduled to meet for the first time with Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and has been a political prisoner in Myanmar for 15 of the last 22 years until she was freed last year.

President Barack Obama announced on Nov. 18 that he was sending Clinton to Myanmar saying that he had seen “flickers of progress” in the country which has been governed by military rule for half a century.

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“President Thein Sein and the Burmese Parliament have taken important steps on the path toward reform,” the president said speaking from Bali, Indonesia. “A dialogue between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi has begun. The government has released some political prisoners. Media restrictions have been relaxed. And legislation has been approved that could open the political environment.” Obama also said he had spoken with Suu Kyi and confirmed that she supports American engagement in the region and that she welcomed the visit by Clinton.

Still the trip is a potential foreign policy risk. On the one hand the United States could help Myanmar usher in a new era of open government while loosening China’s influence in the region. But Myanmar still has a long way to go – it currently holds a number of political prisoners, has been heavily criticized for its treatment of minorities and its relationship with North Korea.

U.S. Senator Richard Lugar released a statement saying that Myanmar’s relationship with North Korea should be closely scrutinized. “North Korea is believed to be continuing development of its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons program…over five years ago, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was informed…of Burma’s reported intention to develop nuclear weapons in coordination with North Korea,” Lugar said. For years the United States has imposed a number of sanctions against Myanmar and there is almost no chance that this trip will lead to a loosening of those sanctions.

Clinton has said that she will press Myanmar to enact more reforms and will assess how the United States can help the country move toward democracy.

Clinton’s first stop on her trip will be in Busan, South Korea where she will attend the world’s largest forum on international aid – the fourth High Level Forum on Aid and Effectiveness. The conference will focus on finding more efficient ways to give international aid to developing nations.

Then she will head to Myanmar where she will hold talks with government officials in Myanmar’s capital of Naypyidaw on Thursday and will meet with Suu Kyi on Friday – a moment that will undoubtedly be the highlight of the trip.

Clinton – who called for Suu Kyi’s release when she was first lady – has only spoken to Suu Kyi by telephone but has never met her in person – until now. 

By NBC News contributor*

When I told my mom I was going to Myanmar, her response was: “Myanmar? A lot of drugs there, right? Be careful!”

I wouldn’t call my mom ignorant. Most Chinese people know very little about their neighboring country, despite the long 1,242 mile border shared by northeast Myanmar and China’s Yunnan province. Chinese media doesn’t report much information on the country except occasional news stories on energy cooperation, the soon-to-be-built high-speed railway connecting Kunming (Yunnan province’s capital) and Yangon, (Myanmar’s largest city), the drug war skirmishes near the border area and about Burmese girls who are smuggled into China.

As the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy and a persistent champion for democracy and human rights, Aung San Suu Kyi is not frequently mentioned in Chinese media.

Which made me all the more curious to meet her when NBC News recently had the chance to interview her after  her release from seven years under house arrest.

Given the fact that Myanmar’s military rulers appear to be taking a hardline against Sui Kyi and her opposition party just three months after her release in November, we were probably lucky that we interviewed her when we got the chance. Myanmar’s rulers recently said that she and her party could meet “tragic ends” if they continue to support international economic and political sanctions against the country. 

What struck me most was that despite being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for “her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights” and still being revered by many Burmese for being a voice of freedom in repressive Myanmar, she spoke with us like she was just a next-door neighbor. 

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Family steeped in Burmese history
As we waited for a while in the yard outside her house before the interview, I noticed her yard was fenced off by some very new looking wire; I wondered if that was to prevent anyone from swimming up into her yard again as the American John Yettaw had done in 2009 causing an international incident by violating the terms of her then-house arrest.

Birds chirped in the blue sky, a small white-and-coffee colored puppy played at our feet, sniffing our ankles and barking from time to time. Her colleagues and friends waited outside just as we did, all wearing the traditional Burmese longyis, chatting and smoking.
As we walked in, I immediately saw a huge painted portrait of Suu Kyi’s father, the late Gen. Aung San who is still widely admired by the Burmese people as a national hero who led the fight for independence from British colonial rule.

Just a few hours earlier I tried to visit the Bogyoke Aung San Museum, dedicated to honoring him, but was rejected by a big rusted lock on the gate. The museum, along with the Martyr’s Mausoleum, located just outside the famous Shwedagon Pagodas, is open for just three hours on one day a year: July 19. The date is the anniversary of Aung San’s assassination, along with six other cabinet ministers, and has been designated as a national holiday, Martyr’s Day. But, in line with the military regime’s effort to marginalize his daughter, Suu Kyi, the museum is usually shuttered.

When Suu Kyi, 65, finally arrived for our interview, she was wearing a buttoned-up orange Burmese shirt and a blue longyi with a pattern of purple flowers. She was wearing black flip-flops, with her toes painted in almost indiscernible pink polish. And, of course, there were flowers in her hair pulled back from her face.  

During the interview conducted by my colleague, she was calm, quick, focused, and witty. With the occasional smile, she wasted no words, sometimes frowning in deep thought.

When we had finished, I thought she was going to leave since she was obviously very busy. But to my surprise she offered us tea and rice crackers, then sat down with us on her comfortable sofa.

Some words for China
She was a little bit surprised when I told her I was from China. “Do you think you can take a message back to your government?” She asked. “Tell your government…”

Please forgive my forgetfulness – I don’t remember the exact words she said. But I know what she meant.

For decades China has been Burma’s third-largest trading partner and provides the regime with extensive military and economic aid. PetroChina is investing heavily to build a major gas pipeline from the A-1 Shwe oil field off the coast of Burma’s Rakhine State to Yunnan. This pipeline would make it possible for China to bypass the traditional route of the Strait of Malacca to import oil from the Middle East.

The new route alone will save China 746 miles of transport once it’s finished, and it offers Beijing a strategically less risky channel than the Malacca Strait – much safer transport for the huge supply of oil and gas necessary to sustain China’s roaring development. Now a 1,200-mile-long high-speed railway connecting Yangon and Kunming is in the works and due to start construction within days. 

Chinese influence is big here – and there are fears it may be growing too big. When I met local Burmese and told them that I am Chinese, their reactions were: “Chinese? Rich!” and “Chinese? What kind of business are you doing here?”

That’s why it’s not hard to understand China’s response to Myanmar’s election last November, saying that the government “maintains internal social stability and the election successfully served the fundamental interests of the Burmese people.” The rest of the world criticized the election as cheating and unfair.

But Suu Kyi may be surprised to learn that recently released WikiLeaks U.S. State Department cables suggest China may actually be fed up with Myanmar's foot-dragging on reforms, facing pressure from possible political turmoil that could hurt China's economic interests.

I had to ask her what she thought about Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel Peace Prize, just as she had. “I’d tell him, stick to your beliefs!” she said. Then he added with a smile, “I have to admit I had never heard his name before he won the prize. But I do feel a person to person connection, because when I won the prize in 1991, I wasn’t allowed to go [to the ceremony in Oslo] either.”
We even made fun of the China’s own “Confucius Peace Prize,” she joked about how it was too confusing and then offered us more tea and rice crackers.

 

I told her downtown Yangon greatly reminded me of my childhood in China, when people could sell everything in the street 20 years ago, and she opened her eyes wide. “So you are saying Burma is like China 20 years ago? Ah I didn’t realize we are so behind now!”

As she finally walked out of the door, she turned back to me and said again: “Tell your government…” then she stopped and smiled. That smile reminded me of what a taxi driver told me as I explored the city earlier, “I love Aung San Suu Kyi. She’s my mother. She’s so graceful because she’s always smiling.”

Due to restrictions on journalists in Myanmar, msnbc.com is not identifying the author of this post.

YANGON, Myanmar – Yangon’s five-star hotels instantly relaxed me as soon as I checked into one after a long journey to this distant place usually closed to foreigners.

A smiling porter opened the taxi door and promptly took my luggage. Petite girls in traditional dresses spoke impeccable English at the front desk while I checked in and another young woman offered me orange juice. The sound of chanting monks echoed off a lake when I opened my balcony door; crystal waters of the hotel pool beckoned.

Clean, neat souvenir shops captured my attention with delicate puppets and “I Love Myanmar” T-shirts.

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But I was confronted with a completely different world once I walked away from the tourist area and into the old town district where cracked sidewalk stones was the norm.

Instead of fancy shop windows, a bustling market sold everything on the street. Hundreds of stalls sold fruits I couldn’t name, snacks of all colors, fresh and dried seafood, flip-flops, pancakes, remote controls, stationary, and even Justin Bieber posters.

The market had much of what you would see anywhere in Southeast Asia, but there were three things I noticed that were distinct to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma before the ruling military junta changed the name):

Smiles
I live in a country where people rarely smile at strangers – China – which may explain why I came to feel spoiled by the Burmese people’s constant, friendly and bright smiles. Women or children, monks or street peddlers, they all smiled and posed for me when I took pictures of them.

Their cheerful expressions seemed to belie the fact that they are an oppressed people under a military regime that still puts human rights activists in jail. But occasionally, out of the blue, one of them would whisper to me, “I hate my government.”

My trip was short, so I cannot say I understand the Burmese people, but I sensed they are so eager to communicate with people from the outside. They want the world to know how much they suffer – in a beautiful country with pleasant weather, but with an oppressive authority. And yet they begin that communication with the beautiful gesture of smiles. 

Betel nuts
Burmese men seem to always be either preparing a betel nut roll or chewing one. Although once banned by the government in mid-90s, chewing the mild stimulant that leaves a distinctive red mouth is still extremely popular and betel stands can be seen every few blocks.

It’s fun to watch boys and men dexterously roll up what looks like a tiny burrito made of green leaf containing a mixture of betel nuts, lime paste and tobacco. They put this tiny burrito into their mouths, chew, grind and spit it out onto the ground, leaving a thick, reddish brown spittle that dots the sidewalks of Yangon.

Magical facial paste
Another distinctive color on the streets of Yangon is the white paste that nearly every woman and child wears on their face. The whitish sticky paste, called “thanakha” in Burmese, can be made from teak, bark or other tree varieties mixed with water and other flavored ingredients.

Like in many other Asian countries, local women favor the magical paste for its supposed whitening effect, as well as its special power to smooth skin, prevent acne, and most importantly, cool skin from tropical sunburns.

Women and children apply the paste on both their cheeks and nose, in a square or round shape. They walk around with the mud on their faces all day; I couldn’t help wondering if they wear the paste when they sleep.

From the hotel souvenir shop I bought a small bottle of lime scented thanakha for $1. It didn’t seem to stay on my cheeks for very long, but I enjoyed the coolness, just like any other facial mud or moisture masks we apply at home. With the thanakha on my face and donning a blue and white flower-patterned longyi – a sheet of cloth widely worn in Myanmar – I felt like a local, at least on the outside. As for what it truly feels like to be Burmese – willing to give a smile to a stranger while living under an iron-handed government – that I can only imagine.

(Burma, Myanmar – what’s the difference? The country’s ruling military junta changed the name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989. The capital, Rangoon, also became Yangon. The United Nations has recognized the name change, but the U.S. and the U.K. do not).