I spent a few weeks in Myanmar last year when I was trying to figure out what to do next. It was an incredibly striking country -- probably the most interestin

I spent a few weeks in Myanmar last year when I was trying to figure out what to do next. It was an incredibly striking country -- probably the most interesting place I've been other than immediate post invasion Iraq or post-fuckup Afghanistan. The strangest thing is it is politically in the same position it was in 1997 -- new elections coming, and if things go well, it could IMO surpass Thailand, Malaysia, etc. in 50 years. If things go poorly, it'll remain the basketcase of Asia. It was crazy seeing so many people with cellphones, virtually none of which had SIMs or cell network service -- they were just using them as wifi tablets. Everywhere I stayed tended to have wifi (ranging from independent smaller hotels to the UN-hq Trader's Hotel in Yangon), and I had a BGAN, but getting a SIM was quoted as hundreds of dollars, so I didn't bother with buying a local SIM. It was also probably the country with the friendliest and most pro-American people I've encountered in a long time, too -- and they really liked Obama specifically because he has been the one to lift most sanctions (but not US direct investment, yet). If I had to make a far out of the money bet on an Asian success story, I'd bet on Myanmar -- the free trade zone near Thailand looks like it could be a big win.